My New Guitar Build

[Cookie Monster]

I need some advice and opinions to help me make the right choices as I design my new guitar build.

I'm going to get the parts from Warmoth, as I have in the past; with good results.

My style of playing and tone range is in the more extreme metal categories.

I have a Titan amp on order, which is a more metaled out version of an SLO/Avenger type amp basically; high gain with great articulation and lots of punch.

25 1/2" scale.

SG shape.

Neck will be maple with rosewood fingerboard.

Pickups most likely to be the Painkillers set.

Tough choice. The other guitar I built has a mahogany body with maple top and that thing sounds awesome. It's got that heavy mahogany tone, put it seems like the maple top gives it a sharper attack and brightness to it. This time around I just wanted one solid piece.
I'm leaning more towards the korina or the koa because they are each a bit brighter than mahogany, but not too much. The koa is a little brighter than the korina. I think I may want a little more bite and snap than mahogany so to speak. This time around there will be no maple top...


Question:

So which body wood would you recommend over the other, and why?

Here are my final choices: (No top, just one piece.)

Mahogany
or
Koa
or
Korina (black or white)

I'm really leaning towards koa right now...

[Sifu Ben]

Are you going to paint it? If so, just go with mahogany or white korina. If not, black korina and koa can have killer figuring, but they can get kinda pricey.
You haven't said what body shape you want. I believe all the woods are in the same ballpark tonally (not sure about koa), but I don't know if I'd have any of them for a high gain strat.

[gwEm]

but I don't know if I'd have any of them for a high gain strat.

+1 Tim suggests alder for painkillers

since you have a high gain amp coming, perhaps i would think about hard ash and vh2s
(edit: high gain pickup into high gain head not always a good idea)

[Cookie Monster]

OK guys, thanks for the help. I'll see what Tim says.

[Cookie Monster]

Well, it looks like koa is no longer available, and korina should have a bit more brightness and attack to it than mahogany, I think I'll go with the korina.

[Simon D]

If you aren't going to paint it and like the look of koa, you could always go for a korina back with a koa top. I went for a koa top on my Soloist, because I liked the look, but couldn't afford an all-koa body.

[MDV]

If you want a brighter mahogany, look at meranti. Bob Johnson (luthier on here, built me one guitar and is currently on another, made largely from meranti) describes it as 'the best bits of mahogany and swamp ash'. Tighter, brighter, chimier, still got plenty of thick lows and mids.

[Roobubba]

Or...
Bubinga! :)

Very midsy though. Great for that full-on grind :)

Roo