Tell me about birdseye maple
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Vasshu the humanoid typhoon
Unseen
Re: Tell me about birdseye maple
No tonal difference from normal maple...just has more eyes
No tonal difference from normal maple...just has more eyes
y2stevo
New member
Re: Tell me about birdseye maple
I just have to say that after playing a few guitars in a store yesterday adn i never appeciated birdseye so much after it..Although those guitars played great they didnt compare to my wolfie, after having it for a while i just cant go back..:laugh2:
I just have to say that after playing a few guitars in a store yesterday adn i never appeciated birdseye so much after it..Although those guitars played great they didnt compare to my wolfie, after having it for a while i just cant go back..:laugh2:
beandip
Frito's Better Half
Re: Tell me about birdseye maple
Only regarding the issue of stiffness, the figure in curly, or flamed, or tiger, or fiddleback maple--whatever you want to call it-comes from the structural fibers of the wood undulating through the wood. Where you see darkness is the end of a fiber cut as it exits the surface of the wood, pointed at your eye. Where you see lightness, you're seeing light reflected from the sides of fibers traveling parallel to your eye, reflecting light like mirrors. If you were to snap a guitar back made of highly flamed maple along a line parallel to the center, you'd see the fibers along the broken edge look like this:
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
a non-figured piece would have the fibers running like this:
-----------------
through the length of the back.
What this means for strength is that a highly figured piece of wood is made of, essentially, bands of endgrain wood, which is, relative to straight grain, weak and not stiff, resulting in less stiffness along the length of the piece.
Whether this matters or not is the subject of debate among violin makers. Some people claim that plain wood, having more theoretical stiffness along its length, makes a better violins. No one really knows, though.
I couldn't find a photo on the web of a split piece, which makes it really obvious what's going on, but I did find this piece of furniture, which is sort of a visual pun on what's going on with the internal structure of the wood used to make the piece
http://www.stenderdesign.com/NewFiles/Wave-Goodbye.html
You're Birdseye maple is the same. Although this is only in theory, you shouldnt have any problems what-so-ever with it warping or twisting due to the wood. Now the construction on the other hand is a different story, but remember, even warping happens on $3000 Fender guitars, or the $75 Mighty Mite neck. You never know.
Interesting thought here - We don't want grain runout but we're willing to pay higher prices for a piece of wood that has lots of grain runout, so long as the runout alternates direction a lot.
Hope this helps you bro
RCM78 said:
Only regarding the issue of stiffness, the figure in curly, or flamed, or tiger, or fiddleback maple--whatever you want to call it-comes from the structural fibers of the wood undulating through the wood. Where you see darkness is the end of a fiber cut as it exits the surface of the wood, pointed at your eye. Where you see lightness, you're seeing light reflected from the sides of fibers traveling parallel to your eye, reflecting light like mirrors. If you were to snap a guitar back made of highly flamed maple along a line parallel to the center, you'd see the fibers along the broken edge look like this:
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
a non-figured piece would have the fibers running like this:
-----------------
through the length of the back.
What this means for strength is that a highly figured piece of wood is made of, essentially, bands of endgrain wood, which is, relative to straight grain, weak and not stiff, resulting in less stiffness along the length of the piece.
Whether this matters or not is the subject of debate among violin makers. Some people claim that plain wood, having more theoretical stiffness along its length, makes a better violins. No one really knows, though.
I couldn't find a photo on the web of a split piece, which makes it really obvious what's going on, but I did find this piece of furniture, which is sort of a visual pun on what's going on with the internal structure of the wood used to make the piece
http://www.stenderdesign.com/NewFiles/Wave-Goodbye.html You're Birdseye maple is the same. Although this is only in theory, you shouldnt have any problems what-so-ever with it warping or twisting due to the wood. Now the construction on the other hand is a different story, but remember, even warping happens on $3000 Fender guitars, or the $75 Mighty Mite neck. You never know.
Interesting thought here - We don't want grain runout but we're willing to pay higher prices for a piece of wood that has lots of grain runout, so long as the runout alternates direction a lot.
Hope this helps you bro
Last edited:
texasguitarslinger
Mo Cow Bellologist
Re: Tell me about birdseye maple
:eek2:beandip said:Only regarding the issue of stiffness, the figure in curly, or flamed, or tiger, or fiddleback maple--whatever you want to call it-comes from the structural fibers of the wood undulating through the wood. Where you see darkness is the end of a fiber cut as it exits the surface of the wood, pointed at your eye. Where you see lightness, you're seeing light reflected from the sides of fibers traveling parallel to your eye, reflecting light like mirrors. If you were to snap a guitar back made of highly flamed maple along a line parallel to the center, you'd see the fibers along the broken edge look like this:
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
a non-figured piece would have the fibers running like this:
-----------------
through the length of the back.
What this means for strength is that a highly figured piece of wood is made of, essentially, bands of endgrain wood, which is, relative to straight grain, weak and not stiff, resulting in less stiffness along the length of the piece.
Whether this matters or not is the subject of debate among violin makers. Some people claim that plain wood, having more theoretical stiffness along its length, makes a better violins. No one really knows, though.
I couldn't find a photo on the web of a split piece, which makes it really obvious what's going on, but I did find this piece of furniture, which is sort of a visual pun on what's going on with the internal structure of the wood used to make the piece
You're Birdseye maple is the same. Although this is only in theory, you shouldnt have any problems what-so-ever with it warping or twisting due to the wood. Now the construction on the other hand is a different story, but remember, even warping happens on $3000 Fender guitars, or the $75 Mighty Mite neck. You never know.
Interesting thought here - We don't want grain runout but we're willing to pay higher prices for a piece of wood that has lots of grain runout, so long as the runout alternates direction a lot.
Hope this helps you bro
PUCKBOY99
Irish Flagologist
Re: Tell me about birdseye maple
Aside from it looking great, as was already said, sounds just like Maple. EXACTLY what I was gonna do if I got that hard-tail body from Fatty...good luck with that !!!
Jeff H.....put me down for a piece of the top & a drawer front!!! :laugh2:
Aside from it looking great, as was already said, sounds just like Maple. EXACTLY what I was gonna do if I got that hard-tail body from Fatty...good luck with that !!!
Jeff H.....put me down for a piece of the top & a drawer front!!! :laugh2:
sweet_lou
New member
Re: Tell me about birdseye maple
WOW cool info Bean.
Thanks for taking the time
Lou
beandip said:Only regarding the issue of stiffness, the figure in curly, or flamed, or tiger, or fiddleback maple--whatever you want to call it-comes from the structural fibers of the wood undulating through the wood. Where you see darkness is the end of a fiber cut as it exits the surface of the wood, pointed at your eye. Where you see lightness, you're seeing light reflected from the sides of fibers traveling parallel to your eye, reflecting light like mirrors. If you were to snap a guitar back made of highly flamed maple along a line parallel to the center, you'd see the fibers along the broken edge look like this:
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
a non-figured piece would have the fibers running like this:
-----------------
through the length of the back.
What this means for strength is that a highly figured piece of wood is made of, essentially, bands of endgrain wood, which is, relative to straight grain, weak and not stiff, resulting in less stiffness along the length of the piece.
Whether this matters or not is the subject of debate among violin makers. Some people claim that plain wood, having more theoretical stiffness along its length, makes a better violins. No one really knows, though.
I couldn't find a photo on the web of a split piece, which makes it really obvious what's going on, but I did find this piece of furniture, which is sort of a visual pun on what's going on with the internal structure of the wood used to make the piece
You're Birdseye maple is the same. Although this is only in theory, you shouldnt have any problems what-so-ever with it warping or twisting due to the wood. Now the construction on the other hand is a different story, but remember, even warping happens on $3000 Fender guitars, or the $75 Mighty Mite neck. You never know.
Interesting thought here - We don't want grain runout but we're willing to pay higher prices for a piece of wood that has lots of grain runout, so long as the runout alternates direction a lot.
Hope this helps you bro
WOW cool info Bean.
Thanks for taking the time
Lou
