Tell me a little about Hisoric Korina Juniors

Ive never had a junior and am gassing for one right now. I found a Historic Korina junior and it really grabbed my attention and like to here peoples thoughts on them... Sound quality in the Korina vrs mahogany and so fourth...

Thanks much... Ward...
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I find it a bit Ironic that they use the term "historic" when talking about a Korina Junior! Well I guess a wrap '55 custom goes too!

I think they are cool, they have more of a treble Bite to them then the regular Mahogany models.

They're expensive -- that's about all I know.

I have many guitars and the korina jr that I own is one of my favorite. I has massive tone and cuts like no other in my harem

Did Gibson really make a Korina Junior? I have never seen one. Tha'ts what I am in the process of building right now. Its my first ground up build. I had this piece of American Cherry that I have been holding on to for about 40 years with the thought that it would make a beautiful guitar neck. Covid hit and I found myself with too much time on my hands so I decided to give it a shot. Bought a very nice slab of White Limba from an Estate sale. The guy was a retirerd luthier and had many interesting item but that chunk of Korina was calling me. It's been about 2-1/2 months now and coming down to the wire. I am just about done with spraying it. two or three more coats of clear and thats it. I had quite a few set back or should I say learning experiences. Like when I started spraying I had built a rig to hold the guitar up at a comfortable level from a screw and washer I screwed into the butt end where the strap button would go. I was just about finished wit a coat and the guitar came loose , landed right on the head stock and flopped face down on the front side. Well that was bad enough on the lacquer job, but after a closer examination I noticed the top of the fretboard looked like it was starting to separate from the neck.. Sure enough it was and the neck was starting to crack on the head stock side of the scarf joint. So I had to go back into build mode. This forum and the years of experience and knowledge that is present on these boards has helped me so much in the process. I want to thank you all but why didn't someone tell me about keeping an eye on that screw in the butt end while your spraying and turning the dam thing the wrong way . That wasn't the only set back but it was definitely the worst. Anyway, thank you all again.

Yes, early 2000's. Some were CS prefixed, others numeric only S/N.

Sorry about the mishap. Goo luck with the build!



PS, there were also Koa R9s during that timeframe, and I regrettably passed on a sweet Koa CS-356.

I have a 2017 one from Music Zoo that used Torified wood and Hide Glue for both body & neck! It sounds as good as an old, original one. I did drop a late `50's P-90 and a set of Centralab pots into it! But it plays great, sounds great and feels like an old one!!

Hey, TM1, Just out of curiosity, What size pots did you drop in there? I read some where that in the late 50's Gibson put in a 500K volume pot and a 250K tone pot in LP juniors. Was that the case? If so what size cap did they use? I am almost to that stage where I need to decide what I am going to use in the controls department. I am using a Seymour Duncan Antiquity P90 at the bridge and I routed out for a Lollar Charlie Christian at the neck. I am going to stick with one volume and one tone pot with Pups being switched before going down to the controls. I was going to try that old style set up with the 500K volume and the 250K tone . Can't decide the value cap I should use. I'm thinking a 47uf. or maybe a 33uf. Think I will just have to try em out and see what happens. Anyone have any suggestions?

Responding to the above- I think part of the madgick here is the single pickup. I am not a physicist- but the lack of magnetic interaction of the neck pickup definitely does something to the bestiality of Jr's (and Esq's). I sold a great CS Jr to pay for another 2 pick up P90 animal and I do miss it (love the new one but miss the Jr). BTW- the Esquires are all routed for two pick ups- built for teles. If there's no magnet there's no interaction- if ya follow. And Danelectro can build a pick guard for every day of the week.

Point well taken. The build started out as a simple 58 junior but as I was doing research on dimensions and the like I ran across the Gibson Custom Shop John Lennon Junior. I saw that with the Charlie Christian neck pup and thought it was pretty cool. So I modeled my build to mimic that .. Well all except for the mahogany. Any way I am not even sure what to expect from it. Whatever it ends up sounding like if I don't like it, I figure I can always change it. Right now it is hanging on the rack waiting for the clear be ready wet sand and polish but I can tell you that just tapping on the Korina body and Cherry neck will tell you that it is going to sound great with just about anything that gets put in it. I'll post some pics when its done. Thanks for the wisdom and I will keep that in mind when dialing it in .