Official Luthiers Forum!

Maple is great for a bunch of reasons.....sounds good, many different grain patterns available, looks great plain, dyed or sunbursted.....and NO PORE FILLING
But most peoples' tastes get very conservative when buying an expensive guitar. If it ain't brown wood it can't be worth big bucks.

So...let's keep maple our little secret. If you all start selling maple guitars the cost of wood will go crazy. (anyone priced walnut lately??)

I agree with what the "guitarwhisperer" said (Is that your given name by the way?).

A great builder by the name of Mario Proulx who you used to participate on the OLF had a great expression -- "choose the top to please your ears, back and sides to please your eyes".

Maple in the hands of a good builder and later played by a good player is going to sound great. In the mean time I am going to continue to diss maple as a tonewood, because I really like it and like that it is still relatively cheap.

Mr. Hall, great looking guitar. As I scrolled down and saw the first picture I apologize for initially thinking, "oh oh John Hall has lost it, he is now building guitar bird houses".

Best to stock-up on domestic hardwoods - oak, cherry, walnut, ash, maple, etc. China is starting to buy large amounts of our North American woods, and it is driving our prices higher.
I spoke with someone in the exotic/domestic retail lumber business, and he told me to expect maple to reach prices like in the early 1990's of approx. $9/bf, and everything else higher as well. Locally, I could get walnut for about $5.50/bf late last year, now it is $7.49/bf. Maple was $3.53, now $4.63
Thats about a 35% increase in the last 3-4 months. Hold on to your wallets!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I've sold many Maple guitars!
Some
"teachers/players"of high standing & pros players
were amazed that they sounded like"Rosewood" guitars!!!!!

WoW!

Just make one & let the players decide!

Maple should not be treated like Rosewood!!!
It's a great B & S wood!
Back-2.7mm
Sides 2.3mm
Remember the top is VERY important!!!!!!!!!!
as are ports & body size.
Mike

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Mike Collins

What's not to like about maple? Readily available, easy to work, smells nice, finishes easily with no pore filling, etc. Plain, curly, quilted, birdseye... there's something for everyone. One of my favorites:

I can't agree maple being cheap... plain maple sure, anything with flame or quilt still costs a lot...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Tai, true that highly figured quarter sawn maple costs a premium over plain grained but relative to a lot of the more "exotic" species of tonewoods, it is still relatively cheap.

Where highly figured maple gets pricey is billets for archtop guitars.

I like maple. 2 of the best guitars I have owned were maple banner guitars. I am finishing my new maple L-00 style, with red spruce top, right now.

If the question is about the marketability of maple guitars, we have to put our preferences to one side and look not only at what sells, but how quickly and for how much.

This is covered in the first post over at LTB

http://www.theluthierblog.com/articles/ ... hat-sells/

Nigel
http://www.theluthierblog.com
http://www.nkforsterguitars.com/luthier-book/

Nigel thanks for nudging us back on topic. There is unanimous agreement amongst a lot of builders here as to the attributes of Maple.

Your average guitar buyer doesn't reach for a maple back/sides flat top when given the choice of say EIR, walnut or mahogany for example and likely won't until those tonewoods become rarer or really increase in price. -- OR -- a savvy manufacturer builds a model that gets multiple endorsements in all the guitar gear rags.

Question for the pros here who build commissioned guitars -- how many of your customers elect maple or elect maple when you suggest it for a guitar?

I personally love maple too, whats not to love about it? I've only ever built one acoustic guitar with it but I love using it to embellish things such as bindings or other decorative lines like the center of a neck or something. I can't attest to the marketability of it but my feeling is there is a niche.

What is the name of that ragtime song?

Hehe, well Paul's business relies on quality audio samples to help sell guitars, so he spares no expense. However, I get great results with my home studio setup, at a small fraction of the cost. It is fun to get to use the good stuff, though.


Ken Jones
Mountain Song Guitars

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin?

Thanks again for all the replies. I will do a short write up of it in my journal for reference.

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久保
美智え