Best Koa Acoustic Guitars of 2025

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Koa acoustic guitars are a popular choice among musicians for their unique sound and beautiful appearance. These guitars are made with koa wood, which is native to Hawaii and prized for its rich tones and striking grain patterns. Koa guitars are known for their warm, balanced sound and are often used for fingerstyle playing. They are also highly collectible due to their rarity and beauty. If you're looking for a high-quality acoustic guitar with a distinctive sound and appearance, a koa guitar may be the perfect choice for you.
At a Glance: Our Top Picks
Top 10 Koa Acoustic Guitars
Martin D-X1E Koa Guitar
The Martin D-X1E Koa is a versatile 6-string acoustic-electric guitar designed for musicians who value quality and playability. Its HPL top provides durability while ensuring a balanced sound, perfect for both strumming and fingerpicking. The Richlite fingerboard, made from figured koa, offers a smooth playing experience, enhancing your comfort during long practice sessions. With HPL back and sides, this guitar is resistant to changes in humidity, making it ideal for performers on the go. The birch neck adds stability and ease of play, allowing you to focus on your music without distractions.
Taylor GS Mini-e Koa Plus ES2 Acoustic-electric Guitar
The Taylor GS Mini-e Koa Plus ES2 Acoustic-electric Guitar is an exceptional instrument with solid Koa top, ebony fingerboard in shaded edgeburst, Koa back, sides, and a mahogany neck. The guitar is perfect for those who want an acoustic-electric guitar that is comfortable to play and has a beautiful tonality. The guitar has a scale length of 23.5 Inches, making it easy to play, even for beginners. The nickel strings produce a bright and vibrant sound, while the layered Koa back material type enhances the guitar's durability and stability. The guitar is designed for right-handed players and comes with a gig bag, making it easy to carry and store.
Washburn G-Mini 55 Koa Guitar
The Washburn G-Mini Guitar is a compact travel-sized instrument designed for musicians on the go. Its solid spruce top combined with mahogany back and sides produces a rich, resonant sound, making it perfect for both practice and performance. The ebony bridge and fretboard enhance playability and comfort, allowing you to enjoy longer playing sessions without strain. With a scale length of 23-1/4 inches and a nut width of 1-11/16 inches, this guitar is easy to handle and ideal for various playing styles. Plus, it comes with a gig bag for convenient transport.
Taylor Baby BT Koa Guitar
The Taylor Baby BT Guitar features a stunning Koa top that not only enhances its visual appeal but also provides a warm, rich tone. With an ebony fingerboard, you can enjoy smooth playability and quick response, making it easier to express your musical ideas. The laminate back and sides contribute to the guitar's durability, ensuring it withstands the test of time. Additionally, the maple neck offers stability and comfort, allowing you to play for hours without discomfort. This combination of features makes the Taylor Baby BT Guitar a fantastic choice for both beginners and experienced players alike.
Luna Safari Koa Supreme Guitar
The Luna Safari Koa Guitar is designed for musicians who appreciate quality craftsmanship. It features a set neck construction, providing stability and ease of playability, which is perfect for both beginners and advanced players. The body is made from solid "A" grade Koa, offering a warm and rich sound that enhances your music. With a mahogany neck, you'll experience smooth transitions along the fretboard, making it comfortable to play. The pau ferro fretboard and bridge add durability and a touch of elegance, ensuring your guitar not only sounds great but looks stunning too.
Taylor GS Mini-e Koa Guitar
The Taylor GS Mini-e Guitar is an excellent choice for travel and beginner musicians alike. Its compact size makes it easy to carry, allowing you to play music wherever you go. The included gig bag ensures your guitar stays protected during transport. With a stunning Koa top, this guitar not only sounds great but also looks beautiful, enhancing your playing experience. Additionally, its impressive build quality ensures durability, giving you confidence that it will last through your musical journey.
Little Martin LXK2 Acoustic Guitar
The Little Martin LXK2 is a high-quality steel-string acoustic guitar that has a Sitka spruce and koa high-pressure laminate (HPL) construction. It produces professional sound, making it ideal for playing around a campfire or practicing around the house. The guitar is built with sustainable wood certified parts, features a mortise and tenon neck joint, non-scalloped X-Brace, standard tapered neck, and chrome-enclosed gear tuners, which make it as captivating as it sounds. It delivers enhanced playability, making playing a pleasure, no matter your experience or skill level. Little Martin guitars are built to stand up to late-night jams, long studio sessions, and plenty of strumming or picking.
Oscar Schmidt OG2KOA-A
The Oscar Schmidt OG2KOA-A, also known as the Oscar Schmidt Dreadnought Guitar, is a 6-string acoustic guitar that belongs to the steel-string acoustic guitars category. This guitar features a dreadnought style, which provides a rich and full sound. The fully adjustable truss rod allows you to easily adjust the neck of the guitar to suit your playing style and preferences. The chrome die-cast tuners ensure precise tuning and stability, so you can play with confidence. With standard x bracing, this guitar offers enhanced support and resonance for a more balanced and powerful sound. The Oscar Schmidt OG2KOA-A comes with a lifetime warranty, giving you peace of mind and assurance of its quality and durability.
Journey Instruments Acacia Koa Travel Guitar
The Journey Instruments Travel Guitar is designed for musicians on the go. Its innovative collapsible neck system allows you to set it up or take it down in about 20 seconds, making it incredibly convenient for travel. You’ll appreciate the guitar's exceptional sound quality, thanks to its advanced bracing that enhances resonance and volume for any performance size. Plus, the included TSA-compliant backpack case ensures your guitar is protected and easy to carry on airplanes. With a lifetime warranty on the neck locking system, you can enjoy peace of mind while you travel with your music.
GAEA 36 inch Solid Koa Top Travel style Acoustic Guitar
The GAEA Solid Koa Acoustic Guitar is a travel-style acoustic guitar with a 36-inch size. It features a solid A+ grade Koa top and Koa back and side, providing a rich and resonant sound. The black chrome die-cast machine heads ensure stable intonation, while the EXP-16 coated phosphor bronze string sets offer excellent tone and durability. With a nut width of 1 3/4'' and a scale length of 23 1/2'', this guitar is comfortable to play. The mahogany neck adds to the overall quality and feel of the instrument. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced player, the GAEA Solid Koa Acoustic Guitar is a reliable and versatile choice.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Are koa guitars good?
Lightweight, rigid, yet bendable, Koa is a great material for guitar manufacturers to work with. When paired with the right soundboard, it also has a wonderful tonal quality.
2. What does koa mean in guitars?
Because koa is a 'tonewood,' it is used to make ukuleles, acoustic guitars, and Weissenborn-style Hawaiian steel guitars. In Hawaiian, the word koa itself means brave, bold, fearless or warrior. The Hawaiian music fad of the 1900s-1920s brought farther reaching awareness to this unique and beautiful wood.
3. What do koa guitars sound like?
Due to its density, a new koa guitar tends to start out sounding a little bright and tight, somewhat like maple. But the more a koa guitar is played, the more the sound opens up, expanding the midrange and rewarding the player with a richer, sweeter, more resonant tone.
4. Does Martin make a koa guitar?
With the 000-12E Koa in Martin's lineup, now more players can turn their dreams of owning a koa guitar into reality. The back and side of this gorgeous model are constructed with koa fine veneer, which is an environmentally conscious, alternative-wood option, made by bonding koa hardwood to an African mahogany core.
During our koa acoustic guitar research, we found 24 koa acoustic guitar products and shortlisted 10 quality products. We collected and analyzed 2,880 customer reviews through our big data system to write the koa acoustic guitars list. We found that most customers choose koa acoustic guitars with an average price of $1,011.10.
The koa acoustic guitars are available for purchase. We have researched hundreds of brands and picked the top brands of koa acoustic guitars, including MARTIN, Taylor, Washburn, LUNA, Oscar Schmidt. The seller of top 1 product has received honest feedback from 74 consumers with an average rating of 4.8.

Nicole Kim has been a music teacher and a private piano instructor for six years now. She is a very talented musician who plays piano to a high standard and won several awards in international piano competitions. Lately, she has been sharing her music expertise online, giving incredible tips on how to select the right musical instruments.