Yes, veneer, there is some soft whitish wood underneath that my luthier described as "some kind of limba, very dent prone, but not bad-sounding at all". I agree. That wood sounds fuzzy and "velvety", giving the Explorer a much warmer sound than you would expect from the looks of its shape.
Terminalia superba (Superb Terminalia or Limba, Afara (UK), Korina (US) ) is a large tree in the family Combretaceae, native to tropical western Africa.Limba IS korina, or rather korina is the US name for limba. My recently arrived Epi Explorer appears to be solid. From the dings and scraping the route under the P/G it's limba/korina, yes fuzzy and velvety. Does not appear to be veneered but could be in the same way 80s Ibanez Destroyers were very thin rotary cut birch over basswood. Probably white limba over black limba core on the Epi IMO.
From Wikipedia:
Terminalia superba (Superb Terminalia or Limba, Afara (UK), Korina (US) ) is a large tree in the family Combretaceae, native to tropical western Africa. The wood is either a light ('white limba') or with dark stripes ('black limba' or 'korina') hardwood. Used for making furniture, table tennis blades (as outer ply) and musical instruments and prized for its workability and excellent colour and finish. The most famous example of its use in guitars is when it was used by Gibson in producing their now highly sought-after Flying V and Explorer guitars in 1958. For table tennis blades, limba and in particular black limba is chosen for its flexibility and it is thought to enhance top spin play. Limba is used in some blades made by Stiga and OSP. When finished in a clear coat, 'White Limba' results in an attractive light golden colour.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not rare and expensive due to overharvesting and there is plenty of supply due to efforts in the 1950s to preserve natural supply of the wood. This species is reported to be relatively secure, with little or no threat to its population within its natural growth range, according to the World Conservation Monitoring Center in 1992.
