HELP: Rarest maple?

[Pizzanetor]

Hi guys, I'm doing some research on rare woods and I'm rapidly falling in love with the various types of maple.

I would like a maple neck on a custom built guitar, I still have to decide which type of maple (I know well that it's often suggested to reinforce the neck in the case of figured woods, as they are less stable).

Anyway, I was wondering which was the rarest variety of maple: birdseye, flamed or quilt?
I searched on the internet but couldn't find anything satisfactory!
Hope for your help!

[stormin1155]

None of the three are particularly rare. Maple burl would be more rare, but finding it in large enough pieces for a neck would be a challenge, and I would be concerned about its stability as well. For a neck I would stick with flamed or birdseye, as the patterns of quilted maple are too large to really show up well on a small area like a neck.

[generalliamsayn]

Originally Posted by Pizzanetor

I was wondering which was the rarest variety of maple: birdseye, flamed or quilt?

FYI super-tight flamed i.e. curly maple is also known as "fiddleback" - and is highly prized among violin makers - as if the name didn't tip that off!

[Br1ck]

I once ordered a bass neck from USA Custom guitars. They refused to use fancy figured maple as not stable enough.I ended up with a great piece of straight grained maple and a Brazilian fret board. A short mandolin neck is one thing, a longer guitar neck another. Beware.

I get my maple fix with mandolins.

[warfrat73]

I'd think spalted is probably the scarcest. Though, as mentioned, really nice fiddleback/curly is probably up there too.

[MarkLee]

I could be wrong but I'm fairly sure that quilted maple is only visible in flatsawn pieces, and birdseye is best displayed when flatsawn. For a neck you really want quartersawn wood for the additional strength. Flame/fiddleback figure shows up on quartersawn wood, so get the nicest flame you can find and you'll have a rare and stable neck.

[Stevien]

For a neck, I would stay away from any figured maple. You want strength & stability. Eastern hard rock maple is what many builders use for necks. It's straight grained, but very strong & stable.
Steve

[27R]

Quilted maple is pretty rare as it only occurs reliably within one species of maple - big leaf - and even then in a very small % of that. You may notice that the prices for it have gone crazy within the past couple years compared to other types of maple. Some builders are charging quite a bit extra to use it.

That said, it's rare/impossible to see it used on a neck. I have seen it on a fingerboard (electric guitar, PRS) but never a full neck/fingerboard combo. Big leaf maple is one of the softest maples and I suspect most luthiers would be nervous about making a full neck out of it for long-term stability.

They have been using flamed/fiddleback maple for hundreds of years on stringed instruments so stability of that is not really an issue - from Europe to Michigan, it's still pretty plentiful although the best most highly-figured billets will command a serious price.

Anyway, I would not have a guitar built based on the rarity of materials alone - you'll have a museum piece but not necessarily a good-sounding stable instrument.

[Alan Carruth]

I've used both soft and hard curly maple for laminated necks, and find them quite stable in that application. The trick is to 'book match' the laminations from the same plank, with a stripe (which need net be more than veneer) down the center. The matching causes any 'wiggle' in the grain to be matched by an equal and opposite one on the other side, so any motion from one is cancelled by the other. This construction goes 'way back: you see it all the time in 19th century banjos with long, skinny necks and no truss rods. Some of them even still work!

[J Patrick]

….personally I love and prefer the look of flame maple even though it’s probably the most common figure in maple…..for me a beautiful flame maple neck is as good as it gets….maple is generally a plentiful fast growing tree so none of the figured examples are all that rare…I agree with an earlier post that spalted maple is probably the rarest.

[EZYPIKINS]

My J-185 has 5 piece maple/hog/maple/hog/maple. The maple is quilt.

[gmel555]

Originally Posted by Pizzanetor

I would like a maple neck on a custom built guitar, I still have to decide which type of maple

Rarest could be cool, though I'd ask the luthiers about any differences in stability of the various figures AND the different species of Acer. I'd want to know which types of wood (Norway, Big Leaf, Sugar/Rock Maple, Silver, etc.) makes the best neck material. Are you considering having a one piece neck, with the fretboard being the upper surface of the neck? (Apologies if you already know all this)Maple necks/fretboards are very popular among electric players for Fender-type guitars. Many go for torrefied necks as it stabilizes the wood, not a bad idea for necks. Torrefied maple can also be left unfinished, which some/many electric players like. The comments above about laminated maple necks is also something to consider, IMHO, though it obviously eliminates the idea of a one piece. Just some food for thought...it's an interesting idea for an acoustic.

[TTiimm]

Mapele.

Its a cross pollination of Maple and Sapele. Extremely rare.

Woody sound with all of the flame.

Taylor developed it at their experimental tonewood farm.

It's going to be publicly announced April 1.

[MarkLee]

Originally Posted by TTiimm

Mapele.

Its a cross pollination of Maple and Sapele. Extremely rare.

Woody sound with all of the flame.

Taylor developed it at their experimental tonewood farm.

It's going to be publicly announced April 1.

Considering it's mid-February and this is a public forum, the only April fool here is you.