Originally Posted by: RazboWas the body made of Korina wood or not?[/quote]
This issue has never been publicly cleared up to my knowledge. EVH and others have claimed it was made of Korina (a nice wood!). But existing evidence from Ibanez states they were made from ash but the finish was called "Korina finish". Those looked like a light brown wood grain finish. Very nice looking. But there is no photographic evidence that EVH even had one of those!

In fact the only evidence to my knowledge is the opposite. There are several old pix of EVH playing his Destroyer before he modified it and it seems to be white, grey or silverish. He might have painted over the wood finish, though.

In any event, the body wood was ash.

The original Gibson Explorers were made out of korina wood. So perhaps Ibanez was trying to get some kind of similarity in naming the finish after the actual wood. Even though it was a different actual wood. :rolleyes:

FWIW I've played a few original 50s Explorers and two 70s Destoyers (both were the Korina finish on an ash body). The Ibanez guitars were very nice machines. I mean really wonderful things. The Gibsons were nice too, of course. Actually felt a little too chunky for my personal preference. Which is weird because the Destroyers were "supposed" to be almost exact replicas.

Another FWIW I had a star-body Warmoth project guitar years ago. It had a Dimarzio super-distortion HB and an original Floyd Rose. The body was mahogany. Man, that guitar was thick and heavy. The bass end was really warm and rich. The treble end was OK, not quite as bright as I would have liked, but I made up for that with EQing. The mids were really well balanced. So it might be a good choice. Seems like I've heard it's a really hard wood, though. So, it might be a little harder to work with.

Originally Posted by: Razbo
Fretboard will be rosewood ... (Ordering the neck from Womoth).
[/quote]
Good deal. They have great quality. :)

Originally Posted by: Razbo
In reaching for that 'brown sound' I'm open to suggestions for pick ups. I am not sure I can order the "PAF" any more and I just don't know a thing about pick ups.

Sure you can. Look at StewMac.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Pickups:_Guitar,_electric.html

I think any config of pots and switches will be fine. Won't affect the tone too much either way if they are standard passive electronics. Unless you go with active electronics or on-board pre-amps or some other stuff.

Pickups are typically measured in ohm resistance and voltage output. What is interesting is that years ago a "hot HB" was like 8-10 ohms. Nowdays a "hot HB" for a metal guitar can be like 12-15 ohms!

So you might get more "crunch" out of a hotter pickup. But to get a less "buzzy" tone and thus more like the classic EVH "brown sound" you might be better off with a "classic" or "vintage" HB with a lower ohmage. Just a thought.

Another thing here: The EVH "brown sound" on the albums is a bit more complex in a couple of other ways.

1. It was recorded in a studio very loud. So his Marshall (and various EQs) were pumped through his power amp (supposedly H&H) and then through at least 2 Marshall 4x12 cabs for maximum punch. Nothing, I repeat, nothing moves air like a power overdriven Marshall 4x12!

2. It was recorded in a studio totally dry. But then it was mixed with that huge Templeman reverb. So what you hear on the album is a tone that was very loud and totally dry (no reverb or echo) and has been somewhat compressed and lots of reverb was added after the fact.

Point: you and I aren't going to simulate EVHs brown sound in exactly the same way he did. So we are trying to duplicate it by "re-engineering" as opposed to "reverse-engineering". :)
[QUOTE=Razbo]
p.s. I finally did crank out some VH while restringing the guitar this weekend.

About time! :p
[QUOTE=Razbo]
Thanks so much for the input so far. Chris, I wish you were my neighbour. lol!