Flamed maple top: flat sawn or quarter sawn?

[Fons]

Hi all,

Yesterday I went to a local guitar builder to talk specs for a guitar. One of the things I wish is a flamed maple top on a mahogany body.

The builder has a very nice piece of flamed maple, but it was flat sawn. Is it not better to go for a quarter sawn top for stability reasons?

Hope you guys want to give me some info on this.
Thanks!

Fons

 

[DamianP]

What sort of guitar is it?

Unless it`s an acoustic guitar then there really should`t be a problem. Most Electric guitars with maple tops are flat sawn.

I build solid and hollow bodied electric guitars with flat sawn tops. I`m fussy about what wood I use and I`m particular about my wood preparation and I`ve never had a problem.

Damian.

 

[Fons]

Hi Damian,

Thank you for your reply! It's an electric. It looks like the tops with better flame have closer grain when I look at some of the pictures that can be found on this great forum or on the net. So that made me think thay all are quarter sawn?

Thanks!

Fons

 

[verhoevenc]

Flatsawn is perfectly fine. I mean... quilt doesn't exist out of the flatsawn realm and we all know people love their quilt!
That said, I generally like the LOOK of curl on a quartered face. However, like I just said, I like the LOOK better. IE: If you like how the piece looks, then that's your piece
Chris

 

[daddyo]

Body stability is not an issue. The flame only shows up flat sawn. Quarter sawn maple is a different look with all vertical lines and no swirl. We use it a lot for office doors and millwork. Trying to find a quarter sawn board large enough for a top would be tough.

 

[Fons]

I have some pictures from tops. Is this quarter sawn?

...and maybe this flat sawn?

Thanks for all your help!!!

Fons

 

[verhoevenc]

The second one HAS to be flatsawn cause it's quilt. The first I can't tell. It's easy to tell flatsawn, but to tell quartered is REALLY hard cause it could also just be riftsawn and have the same appearance. So I can't answer that one.
As for flame only showing up in flatsawn this is not true. Like I said, I actually prefer quartered curl maple. I'm building a neck with some right now, so it must exist hahah.
As for it being harder to find, that's definitely true. Finding quartersawn maple (curly or not) is much more difficult than flatsawn. There's a reason Fender with with flatsawn for their necks back in the day
Chris

 

[Rick Maguire]

I work with and cut this stuff almost daily.

The blue topped guitar is quarter sawn. The bottom guitar is flat sawn quilt.

If you cut a tree that has quilted figure and quarter saw it you get this amazing wild fat flame figure.

There is also " off quarter " cut too and that produces a lot of 3D movement in the figure and grain.

Flat sawn flame is usually has more surface movement . Meaning the pattern is more irregular. Quarter sawn flame is usually more straight flame. I call it "pencil " flame.

And when a maple top is thicker and used in a carve top. The portion that is carved away will take on some movement. It will change direction as it is carved. After all it is wood and is naturally imperfect.

There is typically a lot more variety in figure in western maple than mid west and eastern maple.

Finally on a solid body it does not matter if it is quarter sawn or flat sawn.

I agree with all aspects of this post!

 

[C-4]

Quarter sawn maple tops for guitars tend to be called BBQ tops as they look like a BBQ grill. While some people really like these tops, a lot more don't as they lack character and movement. They tend to look boring after a while and don't have the personality of a rift or flat sawn top.
The more tops you look at over the years, the harder it becomes to choose the one that you like the best.

 

[Terry McInturff]

Possibly the best option is to let the luthier choose the top that has the closest thing to the correct resonance relationship with the back wood.

 

[donnievaz]

Possibly the best option is to let the luthier choose the top that has the closest thing to the correct resonance relationship with the back wood.

That's just crazy talk

 

[Yossi]

This guitar is quarter sawn:

 

[amc]

Possibly the best option is to let the luthier choose the top that has the closest thing to the correct resonance relationship with the back wood.

yet again, terry mcinturff has the answer!

we are so lucky at tgp to have terry and other luthiers on this board

thanks terry.............

 

[TresGatos]

That's just crazy talk

Never let solid luthier knowledge get in the way of a nice flamey top!

Terry, the customer is always right, even when they're wrong.

 

[scott]

Quarter sawn doesnt nessesarily mean its going to be BBQ flame. Ive had plenty of wide wavy quater sawn flame tops

 

[amc]

Quarter sawn doesnt nessesarily mean its going to be BBQ flame. Ive had plenty of wide wavy quater sawn flame tops

scott heatley builds some beautiful guitars...............

 

[Fons]

Possibly the best option is to let the luthier choose the top that has the closest thing to the correct resonance relationship with the back wood.

???? How??? I mean: there is a mahogany back and the luthier says to me "dont pick that beautiful flamed maple top! Here's one which isn't that beautiful or is maybe less to your liking, but it will sound much better on this piece of Mahogany and this is why"

Can you please explain how this works? Thanks!

Fons

 

[cram]

from knowing wood from wood working (non musical applications), I've only known that quarter sawn wood will be less likely to swell, twist, cup and even takes finish better because of some significance with the ring angle being 30-60 degrees.

I've always wanted to chew the fat with a builder of musical instruments concerned with this wood selection. It has to translate to the timbre of an instrument.

 

[merman]

This is a guitar that is being built for me. I picked out the top and have no idea . I don't remember looking at the end grain. I'm guessing flatsawn, what do you guys think?

 

[Flinto2002]

It's the top.... it doesn't matter re: stability, its an aesthetic choice. If you like how it looks the go with it.

Don't go getting all hung up on silly details like this, you're over thinking it bigtime