Goodall Koa Standard

1994 Koa Standard with Englemann Spruce top, Curly Koa back and sides, solid mahogony neck, Koa peghead veneer, ebony fingerboard and bridge, abalone rosette and diamond dot markets, and gold schallers. Neck is a superb, comfortable shallow d-shape, excellent finish to the wide fretwire

This guitar sounds great. It has great overtones without the problem of to much overtones. It has a solid base to it. I play mainly finger style and this guitar plays extremely well for this style. It can also be used as flat picking guitar.

Since this guitar is a has minor fret wear from a previous owner. The guitar is well build. My only issue with the guitar is that person on ebay must have gotten the case wet because it has a mildew smell to it. I had the guitar adjusted because the action was a bit high. I would give the finish on this guitar a 10 but my guitar does have a few nicks, but it from 1994 with two other owners.

This guitar is very well constructed and will last a very long time. I would perform anywhere with it. If something happen to it. I would purchase another Goodall. I would need to get another used one, because they cost to much new.

Besides the great sound of this guitar, this is where the guitar really shines. I sent multiple emails to James Goodall and he replied with a day. This is a custom guitar and obviously he cares what he makes.

If you give James what sytle of guitar that you mainly play, then he will give his suggestions on the type of woods and body styles. Check out his site, he explains the wood tones as well.

I own a Taylor, Gibson Les Paul, Lace (Fender clone), Washburn, and this goodall. This is becoming my main guitar. I would replace it with another Goodall. I really likes the RJCJ model alot. This guitar has less overtones that guitar and a bit more bass. I am hoping to get rid of the midlew smell on the guitar and then it will be a real winner of a guitar. All and all you can not go wrong with a Goodall!

1992 Koa Standard with Englemann Spruce top, Curly Koa back and sides, solid mahogony neck, Koa peghead veneer, ebony fingerboard and bridge, abalone rosette and diamond dot markets, gold schallers, EMG underbridge pickup. Body style is basically a more rounded dreadnought shape with a 16 inch lower bout. Neck is a superb, comfortable shallow d-shape, excellent finish to the wide fretwire. Came with a properly domed front and back TKL case.

This is the best sounding acoustic I have ever owned. It sounds so good it actually improves my playing - I definitely make far less mistakes playing this guitar than any of my others. It sounds equally good either fingerstyle or strumming. With a capo on the 4th or 5th fret the sound is almost unbearably good.

Action is out of this world. The easiest and most comfortable to play acoustic I have ever owned (compared to many Gibsons, Collings, Martins and Ovations which have passed through my hands over the last 30 years). Finish is astonishing, the guitar actually still smells new after 12 years! Bookmatching on soundboard, back AND sides is flawless. I have never seen frets so carefully positioned and finished on another stringed instrument. The guitar is all wood construnction with the exception of the bone nut, saddle and bridge pins. The maple binding is a particularly nice touch as are the gold schallers which complement the rich Koa peghead veneers. There are hand made instruments and then there are Goodalls, which make other hand made instruments look mass produced!

It is twelve years old and it has the truest, straightest neck I have ever seen. No sign of stress on the soundboard, no telltale lacquer cracks etc. Feel incredibly well made and solid, without being heavy or cumbersome.

James Goodall has personally responded to several of my e-mails and appears to be conscientious and patient. Must be something to do with the part of the world he lives in!

This is by far and away the best acoustic I've ever owned, and by a large margin. First of all, it really does feel hand made. I have discovered so many individual features and touches that I don't have room to list them all here. I would definitely replace it if it were lost or stolen, in fact, I'd like to add another Goodall to my collection with a Koa/Adirondak build as soon as I can raise the dough to have one built. Worth every penny, these are guitars that really will last a lifetime and probably those of your children and their children as well. They are expensive but when factored over the lifetime of ownership a very modest outlay for an exceptional instrument.

My Goodall is a 1994 Koa Standard with a Spruce top, mahogany neck, ebony fretboard and bridge, a bone nut and saddle, an abalone rosette and abalone inlays on the fretboard. The guitar has good solid tuners, though I may replace them with grovers or waverlys, and the guitar has a high gloss finish. The neck is nice and tight and really rest perfectly in my hand. All the woods are solid, and you really get what you pay for!! This guitar is decked out. It is a unique variation on the standard dreadnaught size and shape, with more rounded bouts, but it offers every feature that I could want with the exception of a solid electronics system. For that I give it a 9.

I play every style of music, and I find that this guitar suits them all. It rings out under any style of playing (flatpicking, fingerpicking, strumming, etc.) and I found that it performs a little better with a thinner pick, because the bass can be a little overwhelming when playing certain styles. I play a lot of stuff like Jack Johnson and other chill stuff, but I like to break it down and play hard too. This guitar does it all while singing out all the notes one by one and with a fluidity that I haven't found yet on another acoustic, ever. This is as close to a 10 as I have ever played or heard.

I purchased the guitar used, but it is still in excellent condition. I haven't had any problems with anything on the guitar, and as long as it stays humidified, I don't think I'll ever have problems. I thoroughly inspected the guitar for any flaws, and all I could find was the ding that the previous owner described to me. The bracing is so tight and the frets are so smooth and the guitar is a joy to play or just to look at!!

I haven't gigged with this guitar yet, mainly because I'm afraid that somebody will touch it when I'm not looking or something. I wipe down the guitar after every time that I play it, oil the fretboard and clean up the gloss regularly, so it is in tip top shape. Not that it needs this pampering, but I feel that it deserves it. I pick up the guitar and it just feels "right" in my hands. It almost feels like a part of me when I play it, and I couldn't be happier. The gloss finish hasn't faded at all, the strap buttons are solid, and I play the crap out of it and it just takes the abuse and sings like an angel. Anyways, no problems yet and no foreseen future problems, so I give it a 10.

I have had no interaction with the company at all, so my comments mean nothing here.

I've been playing for quite some time now, and I've been the owner of at least 200 guitars in my day, buying and selling them, and this is the best acoustic guitar that I've ever played or heard. No questions asked, and no doubt about it. I have numerous other guitars, 2 godin LGX's, a 1993 PRS CE24, a 1988 PRS CE24, and a 1983 USA Strat(the year with the really sweet neck). This is my only acoustic because I can't even play any other acoustics and be happy with their sound, so why own them? This is a magnificent instrument, and All my praises go out to James Goodall and his company for building it. Thanks!!

1995 James Goodall Koa Standard. Hand made in Hawaii. Flamed Koa back and sides, Spruce top, Mahogany neck, curly Maple binding, heel and back stripe, Ebony fretboard, bridge, tuner buttons, truss rod cover and headstock veneer, Abalone rosette and abalone/brass bridge pins. Bone nut and saddle. Clear pickguard. An undulating cinnamon stripe in the honey Koa sides skirts the entire guitar. Beautifully matched wood. This is Goodall's unique version of a dreadnought with very rounded upper and lower bouts. Bigger than a dreadnought. Wide neck and flat fretboard, reminiscent of a classical neck. No electronics.

Absolutley fits my desire for a big, rich, complex and free rolling sound. This guitar just breathes out notes. The bass is full and clear. The mid-range is strong. The treble rings. Long sustain. I had been looking at a number of guitars, especially Lowdens, and I still love those guitars, but when I pulled this Goodall down, its sound sold me. So big. Resonant. I can play pounding delta blues bass lines, fast and clear blue grass flat picking leads and rich jazz chords. I can do and hear more and thus must grow as a musician to realize the instrument's potential.

This is a four year old demo. Not a scratch on it. I have just purchased it with the warranty to me intact. After some visits to the dealer's tech, we have it set up where I can get deep resonant heavy handed bass as well as very responsive flat picking action. This guitar is perfectly matched in all its details. The Koa back and sides shimmer with flame. The interior is spotless.

The Goodall philosophy, if I may paraphrase, is, build it strong where it needs to be. Bolt on neck. The braces are not scalloped or split, but full sized beams. The soundboard is graduated around its perimeter, Benade's "hinge", which ads a richness, a depth, a freedom to its sound. This guitar is meant to be played, and I play it hard, but it is so exquisite I wouldn't take it to an open mike night. It is just too beautiful.

I have communicated with the luthier, James Goodall, who is highly respected by his fellow luthiers around the world, on the set up of the instrument by the dealer tech. He was generous with his time, informative and patient with my incessant questions, guaranteeing my satisfaction. This demo guitar is under warranty.

I have been playing for 27 years. I did the coffee house circuit while in college. I have owned a Gibson dreadnought, a 23 year old Guild Mahogany D-4NT which I still have, since the day it came into the shop, on which I play open tunings and an Eric Claption "Blackie" Stratocaster to which I have done upgrades, i.e., black Schaller locking staggered post tuning machines, white tri-ply moto-pearl pickguard, black volume/tone knobs and a fret dressing.
I wish I had done more research into the sensitiveness of these exotic hand made guitars. They take quite a bit more care and I have purchased a hygrometer to maintain the humidity levels in my house. If it were stolen I would hunt down the thief and.... This guitar is inspiring in its free open sound. Every detail in finish and design is subtle yet rich. I played nearly the entire lines of Bourgeois, Breedlove, Collings, Froggy Bottom, Larrivee, Lowden which I almost bought, Martin, Santa Cruz and Taylor. This was over a one year search. It just has a sound that inspires me.