birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

[Xeromus]

I too, have heard the rumors that birdseye maple for a neck is prone to twists and warps. Is this a bunch of crap or does it have any validity?

 

[bryvincent]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

IIRC birdseye maple is almost exclusively eastern maple which is the harder variety of maple along with hard rock maple. so it is perfect for necks. but whatever maple it is still a more stable neck than more porous woods like mahogany.

 

[Willis]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

Are birdseye maple necks usually quartersawn or flatsawn?

 

[Zerberus]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

:bsflag: Birdseye is almost always eastern Maple. Maple doesn´t get much stronger.

 

[Willis]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

It depends on the mill.
Some places specialize in quartersawing others will cut as much usable stock as they can.
Quartersawing creates a lot less yield so many places will either avoid it or charge more.

Which would you recommend (for both birdseye and plain)?

 

[ex-250]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

i love birdseye maple. feels great, looks great, holds up very well. .....too bad all the guitars with it are so damn expensive :smack:

 

[Zerberus]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

Which would you recommend (for both birdseye and plain)?

Assuming you want it for a neck: you´ll want quartersawn, because the vertical grain lines add more stability.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

Holzkunde (general woodworking and species identification) was an essential part of my training

 

[Zerberus]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

Oh,sorry Zerb.We must've posted at the same time.I meant the guys who heard these rumours.

Ah, I was already wondering how you could have not known that already, surprised me a bit :beerchug:

 

[Xeromus]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

Oh,sorry Zerb.We must've posted at the same time.I meant the guys who heard these rumours.

Tom Anderson states he doesn't use birdseye for that reason. Plus it's a rumor that floats about. I've heard it multiple times.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

Tom is definitely one of the better builders out there, and I respect his work highly.

But not unlike PRS I take quite a few of the things he says with a grain of salt..... Especially things like this that training and personal experience show the clear opposite of....

 

[Quencho092]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

this sounds like something ed roman would say....never trust non guitar playing luthiers....

 

[Sprinter]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

G&L guitars, says that it is indeed not as stable as straight grain maple. G&L, no longer offers birdseye maple necks for thier basses. You can order a bass with a birdeye fretboard however. They also don't suggest using birdseye for necks on guitars that will get a lot of use.


Sprinter

 

[TattooedCarrot]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

I heard it was FLAMED maple necks that were considered structually weaker, not Birdseye. And I don't know if that's true or not either.

 

[Xeromus]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

G&L guitars, says that it is indeed not as stable as straight grain maple. G&L, no longer offers birdseye maple necks for thier basses. You can order a bass with a birdeye fretboard however. They also don't suggest using birdseye for necks on guitars that will get a lot of use.


Sprinter

Now that I recall, this is another place I've heard it.

 

[TheGZeus]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

All things equal, it WILL be less stable.
Whether or not it will affect you, it all depends.

 

[krankguitarist]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

If you ask me, though I admit I dont have a ton of experience with birdseye, what experience I have had with it has not been good.

I bought a fender lite ash strat a little while ago, and I loved the neck on it. It had a sort of medium-to-soft-V shape, and a beautiful birdseye with abalone inlays.

Couple of months into it, I notice some real prevelant buzzing on the gutiar. So I look down on the neck and the thing is real twisted. I had already swapped out the tuners on it, so the warranty was void.

I'm sure there are plenty of birdseye necks out there that are pretty stable, but non-birdseye maple is likely to always be comparitively stronger.

 

[Xeromus]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

Man this sucks, I was planning on going with birdseye for my warmoth. Well we'll see.

 

[jaeger28]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

i love birdseye maple. feels great, looks great, holds up very well. .....too bad all the guitars with it are so damn expensive :smack:

Not true. Look at Fender Lite Ash Strat, sells for $629 at Guitarcenter and even has Seymor Duncan PUps - Korean made though ...

 

[theodie]

Re: birdseye maple not structurally sound? Bogus or not?

Man this sucks, I was planning on going with birdseye for my warmoth. Well we'll see.

No biggie, get some graphite re-inforcing rods in it if you are worried. USA custom guitars will build it. BTW, if you like warmoth necks, I think you will REALLY like USACG. In my opinion, they are alot better made (not to take anything away from warmoth.)