| Select your preference of grain on a lacquer body. |
| Birdseye |
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41% |
[ 25 ] |
| Curly Maple |
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58% |
[ 35 ] |
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| Total Votes : 60 |
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| Author |
Topic: Birdseye or Curly Maple? |
Cameron Parsons
From:
Angleton, Texas
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Posted 27 Jan 2018 9:49 pm |
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Which of these two types of grain do you prefer on a lacquer (non-mica) body? Asking for a friend ...  |
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Jim Smith
From:
Midlothian, TX, USA
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Posted 27 Jan 2018 10:02 pm
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| Birds eye looks better but "they" say that curly maple sounds better. |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Marco Schouten
From:
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Posted 28 Jan 2018 6:04 am
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| Mike Perlowin wrote: |
Is this tiger stripe maple? I think thus is the most beautiful steel I've ever seen.
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That's a beauty for sure.
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 28 Jan 2018 7:13 am
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Don Suleky's Weenik SD-10 has the blue tiger stripe. Looks great. I wish I had a picture to post.
_________________
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Ross Shafer
From:
Petaluma, California
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Posted 28 Jan 2018 7:56 am
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| curly(flame) for me by far....quilted, oh yeah!!! |
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Tony Glassman
From:
The Great Northwest
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Posted 28 Jan 2018 8:53 am
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I like both equally. Each has its charms.
Last edited by Tony Glassman on 28 Jan 2018 11:17 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Bill Ford
From:
Graniteville SC Aiken
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Posted 28 Jan 2018 11:03 am
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Any highly figured maple with a seethrough stain color of your choice.
_________________
Bill Ford S12 CLR, S12 Lamar keyless, Misc amps&toys Sharp Covers
Steeling for Jesus now!!! |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 28 Jan 2018 11:20 am
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I have a Baritone guitar neck from Warmoth that is curly and loaded with bird's eyes.
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'73 Bud S-10 3&5(under construction)
'63 Fingertip S-10, at James awaiting 6 knees
'57 Strat, LP Blue
'91 Tele with 60's Maple neck
Dozen more guitars!
Dozens of amps, but SF Quad reverb, Rick Johnson cabs. JBL 15, '64 Vibroverb for at home.
'52 and '56 Pro Amps |
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Larry Allen
From:
Kapaa, Kauai,Hawaii
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Posted 28 Jan 2018 2:45 pm
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Not steels but these maple Taylors sound amazing...louder and brighter than Koa, Rosewood and Walnut Taylors.. 
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Excel steels & Peavey amps,Old Chevys & Motorcycles & Women on the Trashy Side |
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Tyler Hall
From:
Mt. Juliet, TN
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Posted 28 Jan 2018 9:34 pm
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Maybe it's coincidence but some of the best sounding guitars I've ever seen were birdseye with aluminum necks. I happen to own one of them too.
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www.ghsstrings.com |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 29 Jan 2018 9:17 am
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| If I'm not mistaken, on their lacquered guitars, Emmons used a hard rock maple for the cabinet and then put a fancy maple veneer over that on the front. |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 29 Jan 2018 9:23 am
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Mike,
Yes, that's what I understand also.
And that's why Emmons did what they did. 
Erv |
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Brint Hannay
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 29 Jan 2018 10:51 am
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| I wonder if Sho-Bud used hard rock maple for the black (not black stain) Super Pro? You'd think they wouldn't want to waste birdseye under black paint. |
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Patrick Thornhill
From:
Austin Texas, USA
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Posted 29 Jan 2018 12:16 pm
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| If my understanding is correct (which it may well not be), the curly/tiger/flame figure is more common - or at least more prominent - in the species of tree sold as “soft maple†(e.g. Silver, Big Leaf) and birdseye is found in “hard maple†(e.g. Sugar). |
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Tony Glassman
From:
The Great Northwest
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Posted 30 Jan 2018 8:50 am
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| I like both equally |
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Bruce Derr
From:
Lee, New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 30 Jan 2018 10:46 am
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| Erv Niehaus wrote: |
| If I'm not mistaken, on their lacquered guitars, Emmons used a hard rock maple for the cabinet and then put a fancy maple veneer over that on the front. |
Ditto for the Carter lacquer guitars. At least it's true of mine. |
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Peter Leavenworth
From:
Madbury, New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 31 Jan 2018 5:55 am
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I believe birdseye and curly maple are most often marketed in "hard" maple, but many species of hardwood can be curly or have birdseye quilting (sugar maple, black walnut, yellow birch, some mahoganies). Flamed maple is caused by stress points in tree trunks and limbs moving in the wind over the life of the tree, while specialists appear to be uncertain what caused birdseye. My Emmons has both birdseye and flamed grain in the veneer.
I would be willing to bet that the reason for using maple veneer over a solid maple cabinet is that is was less expensive than figured solid wood and offered flexibility in deciding which finish to use over the pre-made cabinets - wood veneer or plastic laminate. Laminate is much faster to install, as you can imagine.
http://www.bellforestproducts.com/woodworking-articles/v/birdseye-and-curly-maple-lumber/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird%27s_eye_figure
_________________
2008 Zum D-10, 1996 Mullens PRP D-10, 1974 Emmons D-10, 1976 Emmons D-10, early 70s Emmons GS-10, Milkman Sideman head w/Telonics 15" speaker, 1966 Fender Super Reverb, 1970 Fender Dual Showman head, Wechter/Scheerhorn and Beard Dobros, 1962 Supro lap steels, Gibson 1939 RB-11 banjo, Gibson 1978 RB-250
banjo......and way too much more |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 31 Jan 2018 8:17 am
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| I was always led to believe that birds eye maple was caused by birds pecking the tree looking for bugs. |
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Patrick Thornhill
From:
Austin Texas, USA
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Posted 31 Jan 2018 1:13 pm
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Nah. They‘re both developmental abnormalities that most likely involve stress due to limited physiological resources (nutrients, trace minerals, etc) or parasitism.
As most non-genetic abnormalities in most living organisms do... |
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Bill C. Buntin
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Posted 3 Feb 2018 6:20 pm
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| I'm going with HOT flamed Curly (Chalker) Maple on this one. LOL! |
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Harry Dove
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 3 Feb 2018 7:25 pm
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| I have cut a lot of trees both for firewood and for lumber. My observation has been that trees that grow out by themselves, like in a fence row or the very edge of a woods, show a lot more twisting or curling of the grain. That also makes them very hard to split for firewood. I could be wrong about birds-eye but it appears to me that trees that grow too close together have most of that. Trees grown in a tight woods only have limbs at the very top of the tree. When the trees are young they keep trying to put out new shoots all along their trunk but they soon die off due to the lack of sunlight. This leaves a little pocket which the tree fills in as it grows, but the swirl or peck is left behind. This can all happen within the same species. In addition to that, there are several different varieties of hard maple. Maple lumber is so light colored that it is hard to tell what it is going to look like until you put something on it to bring out the grain. |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 5 Feb 2018 7:14 pm
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| Quote: |
| I was always led to believe that birds eye maple was caused by birds pecking the tree looking for bugs. |
FWIW - after you add an aluminum neck to the tonal equation the type of maple will be essentially moot.
_________________
No chops, but great tone
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Rick Barnhart
From:
Arizona, USA
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Posted 9 Feb 2018 6:33 am
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Can you guess which way I voted?
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