Froggy Bottom Guitars P-12 Deluxe Koa - 12-Fret

The Beauty of Koa, Magnified

Wildwoodians, koa is one of the most beautiful woods in the world, and Froggy Bottom makes some of the most gorgeous-sounding guitars in the world. What happens when Froggy Bottom makes a guitar out of some of the very best exhibition-grade koa in the world? Well, the pictures to the right are the answer! This beautiful P-12 Deluxe Koa 12-Fret is in the running for one of the coolest guitars to ever come out of Froggy Bottom's Vermont workshop. it puts the sweet, sunny sound of koa on full display, and the small body allows you to hear all the nuances and subtle shades of sonic color contained in the wood. And, the best part about koa is that--as amazing as this serial sounds now--it will sound even better in the future with additional play as it opens up and develops even more stunning resonance. On top of all of that, the 12-fret body construction lends this guitar a wonderful piano-like fullness and boosts responsiveness.

Frankly, if you're a fingerstyle player looking to harness the power of koa (heck, even if you're NOT looking for a koa guitar specifically), you owe it to yourself to take this magnificent wooden steed for a spin. We have no doubt that you'll want to ride off into the sunset with it after playing just a couple chords!

Pure Acoustic Joy

I will never forget the first time I played a Froggy Bottom guitar. It was my first week at Wildwood, and I was settling into my role as the shop’s copywriter and resident sonic evaluator. One morning, our acoustic guitar specialist Brian asked me if I was into acoustic guitars. “They’re my favorite thing to nerd out about,” I replied. He replied that he had a special treat for me, popped open a case, and presented me with the most gorgeous parlor guitar I’d ever seen. “It’s a Froggy Bottom,” he said, smiling expectantly. I played a couple chords and completely lost my grasp of the English language as well as most of my motor functions.

“I…what…this guitar is…how…how…how is this guitar?” I sputtered as my brain short-circuited. Brian grinned and shrugged his shoulders, palms upturned. “That’s just what Froggy Bottom does.”

I was transfixed, so I had no choice but to take this beautiful parlor guitar—I believe it had an Adirondack spruce top and koa back and sides—for a test drive. Ten minutes turned to twenty, then thirty, and then I started feeling guilty. This wasn’t working, was it? So, with much pain in my heart, I put my new favorite guitar back in its case. I spent almost an hour writing a six hundred-word essay about what a magical experience I had exploring its fretboard. Anything less seemed like an insult to the artistry of the build. It may have been overkill, but surely I wouldn’t have to do that for every Froggy Bottom guitar. They couldn’t all be that good, could they?

I am happy to report that I was completely wrong. Over the last two years, I’ve had the privilege of playing dozens of Froggy Bottoms (there are certainly perks to being their biggest dealer!), and each and every one of them was just as jaw-dropping as that first serial.