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One Piece Maple Guitar


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http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/options/options_bodywoods.cfm

That site should explain about everything.

It's definitely on the bright side. It's not glassy or anything, but it won't sound warm like a Les Paul style.

Maple isn't that hard to find that big. Just look around. When it's used for guitar tops it's usually book-matched, but you can find it large enough for one piece bodies. I personally don't like how it looks. It's so shiny sometimes it doesn't look like wood.

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Seriously, just shop around. I've made a one piece from African mahogany before and I've definitely seen maple that big. Ebay, believe it or not, often has large pieces like that. Try looking up hardwood stores in your area. Here in Denver there's a place that sell huge pieces of maple, mahogany, wenge, and about any tonewood you want.

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I have a book with a guitar by Tom Anfield that is made out of one piece of bubinga. If you build a guitar out of solid maple, it will be extremely heavy. If you want to build a guitar out of maple, I would recommend hollowing out the body (or the wings for a neck-thru) and capping the top with a nice flame maple. Maple should have a pretty bright tone.

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Dudes...are you guys kidding or do you just not pay attention to the guitar market?

The KH ESP neck thru is solid maple...the KK V AND warlock are all maple...Most of the Lynch models are all maple,as are a ton of others...Those guitars are not that "bright".

All maple is nothing new,and it is not unduly heavy....cutting it out of one slab of maple is not going to make it heavier...Glue lines are not made of helium.

Bubinga...now that IS heavy...and you will never make a Bubinga solidbody weigh less than 12 pounds or so...unless it is an ultrathin...

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Sounds like a lot of wasted wood for no particularly good effect other than some perceived mojo coolness that was one piece of wood. Using a neck through with bookmatched wings allows you to select the choice wood for the job with very similar affect and be structurally stronger and more likely more attractive...

Yeah, but it would be really cool

I have a feeling it might encourage some spinal tap philosophy...but what is the nature of this coolness of which you speak?

pete

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Dudes...are you guys kidding or do you just not pay attention to the guitar market?

The KH ESP neck thru is solid maple...the KK V AND warlock are all maple...Most of the Lynch models are all maple,as are a ton of others...Those guitars are not that "bright".

All maple is nothing new,and it is not unduly heavy....cutting it out of one slab of maple is not going to make it heavier...Glue lines are not made of helium.

Bubinga...now that IS heavy...and you will never make a Bubinga solidbody weigh less than 12 pounds or so...unless it is an ultrathin...

WES i have 1 word (moreso an html link)

kustom2tt4.jpg

my first guitar, solid bubinga wings, maple./bubinga/maple neck thru ebony board

haha this guitar....breaks backs, but sounds very....well...here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrc2dCSWg50

its bright, but not as bright as you would except

in my experience with guitars, the wood doesnt effect the sound so much on electrics as do the pickups, strings, and amp you use. but naturally there is some noticible differnce between mahagony and maple, just not as much as on an acoustic, becuase the vibrations create and amplify the sounds there, here they just assist transfer to pickups...

Kenny

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Stone_08-1.jpg

This guitar is two pieces of solid BE maple glued together and it's a little less than 1.5" thick, Maple bolt on neck with a rosewood board. Has a guitarheads active pickup with a drop orange tone cap on it.

It's not overly heavy and it's tone is not super bright. It may be the cap and the pickup but it's pretty warm sounding. I thought it would be super bright but I was wrong.

BCR made a few solid maple guitars (including the fretboard) and Neal Moser indicated to me that they were usually warm too.

Just because it's dense doesn't mean it has to be bright!

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The type of maple can change the tone considerably. There are different variations of maple such as the different forms of flamed, quilted, birdseye, hard/rock, and soft maple. There's an incredibly light old British made maple table in my house that is enormous but weighs less than 15 lbs at 1/3 inch thick about 5 ft long and 3 ft wide. I have given this table a tap test and found it had a warm sound with a nice ring while snce it was maple I expected a bright thud to it which tempts me to cut it up and make a guitar however even though it has and never will be used I cannot. The density of the maple and where it came from can have a huge impact on tone.

Edited by Dudz
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My friend told me that a guitar made out of one big piece of maple would actually have a warm tone. Has anyone done this? What does it sound like?

I'd still like to see someone justify the cool factor of making a guitar out of one piece of wood...maple or otherwise...that seems to be the crux of the topic.

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I guess it depends on your definition of one piece. If you mean there are no glue lines or joints in the entire thing, that does seem rather wasteful. I did make a neck-thru from one board of maple, but there are glue lines connecting the wings to the neck. It is very light and with an EMG 81/85 set, is has a metal tone that is out of this world. I made the thing several years ago before I knew anything, but it has turned out mighty nice.

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My friend told me that a guitar made out of one big piece of maple would actually have a warm tone. Has anyone done this? What does it sound like?

I'd still like to see someone justify the cool factor of making a guitar out of one piece of wood...maple or otherwise...that seems to be the crux of the topic.

If it's not painted it'll looked nicer sometimes. If you want only one kind of wood, no binding, and no paint, you need to have one piece or it'll look odd. I've seen seen one before with no binding that looked nice, but it's uncommon.

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Nahhh...I see a neck join...

Nice guitar though...don't think I've seen that one before...

Actually,the point of my post was the weight of bubinga...one piece bubinga body with a set flame maple/walnut/flame maple/walnut/flame maple neck...

If it's not painted it'll looked nicer sometimes. If you want only one kind of wood, no binding, and no paint, you need to have one piece or it'll look odd. I've seen seen one before with no binding that looked nice, but it's uncommon.

Ummm Gibson?(solid mahogany explorers with set necks.)

No,It will not look odd...especially if your joins are good.

There ARE no one piece guitars manufactured for you to buy...where are you seeing these guitars you are using as examples?

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Maybe I misread the intention of the post...I thought the original question was an entire guitar, neck and all, from one piece of wood (not just the body)...and this would in some way make it "cooler"...

Maybe someone could invent a guitar shaped tree so the grain naturally followed the curves in the body...

No...I may be taking things a little to literally lately

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Nahhh...I see a neck join...

Nice guitar though...don't think I've seen that one before...

Actually,the point of my post was the weight of bubinga...one piece bubinga body with a set flame maple/walnut/flame maple/walnut/flame maple neck...

If it's not painted it'll looked nicer sometimes. If you want only one kind of wood, no binding, and no paint, you need to have one piece or it'll look odd. I've seen seen one before with no binding that looked nice, but it's uncommon.

Ummm Gibson?(solid mahogany explorers with set necks.)

No,It will not look odd...especially if your joins are good.

There ARE no one piece guitars manufactured for you to buy...where are you seeing these guitars you are using as examples?

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/8748/picture4du0.png

Two piece body, all mahogany, and the binding doesn't go all the way around. Probably the only time I've seen it done that looks decent. I wasn't talking about the neck. There are tons of guitars that use the same wood for the neck and body. I've done it before and Gibson has been doing it for years.

I'm starting think what you guys mean by "one piece" is the neck and body all one piece. In that case, it's been done, but, besides novelty, there's no reason for it, unless you're so **** you want the neck grain to perfectly match the body grain. It'll cost you a lot too.

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