All Maple Guitar?

[crxeffect]

well, as stated im making a v, 2pc maple neck thru with maple wings. at this point im finnishing up on the neck and approaching the point of no return. anyone want to talk me out of it??? originally im going for tone and sustain. i've read about wieght, but the wings being rather small im not horribly concerned about that. i've read this and that about all maple guitars most being bad but i can't really find a definate answer why. only reason i originally cut it all out of maple is cause i have a 13 ft board so if i have to make another trip to the lumber yard, thats alright to. I want to be happy with the end result. Thanks in advance! Andy

[westhemann]

Maple just does not sound all that good to me by itself...I always pair it with alder or mahogany...or Limba...but I have not finished any limba guitars yet.

[Crusader]

Have to agree. I made an all maple guitar ONCE, and each guitar since has less and less maple

Don't be discouraged though. Its a 'different' sound and not necessarily BAD. Its all about personal taste

[WezV]

one example is the ESP george lynch kamikaze guitars which are maple body and necks with ebony fretboards. it works for some styles, but most people dont get on with it

remember that maple varies a great deal and there are a few types available

[DC Ross]

IIRC, ESP uses soft maple for their bodies. I have an ESP bari w/ an all-maple body & neck. The tone is clear & well-defined, but not harsh.

[Southpa]

It depends on what kind of maple you have in mind for an all maple guitar. I made a tele with a bolt-on eastern maple neck and 1 piece wrn. maple body a few years back and I'm VERY happy with the results. I wouldn't hesitate to make another if I had a chunk of wood that size again.

[crxeffect]

thanks for all the info, i'll have to kick it around awhile. I was wondering if it had to do with resonance or something to that effect. Its the first of many im hoping so either way will see what happens

[Mitja]

I have a really nicely hand built Italian EKO m-24 (sold as D´agostino Benchmark in the US) from the 80´s.

It has a blazing fast thin maple neck, but unfortunately also the body is made of hard maple.

The sound is so trebly that i can´t find any use for the guitar.

If you find darker sounding and light weight maple, why not trying it, but it´s always a risk.

I´d leave maple bodies for some basses.

For some reason many guitars were made from maple in the early eighties.

For exemple BC rich used it, gibson made some models etc. and by all standards they sound too bright.

Lots of sustain but no attack.

[Drak]

I came across a good amount of free Eastern Hardrock Maple awhile back, so I am right now building a guitar out of it as I have just returned to building again after a 2+ year 'layoff'.

Being aware of the problems associated with Maple, and not wanting to waste time on projects I wouldn't like in the end, I chambered the -crap- out of it. I had a nice figured Maple cap for the top, so it's still all Maple, but heavily chambered, which I believe is going to make a large tone difference for the better, it's turning out really nice so far.

It made a difference in two areas: weight and tone.

The tap tone before and after chambering was -remarkably- different, it went from your standard Maple very 'tight' and high resonance tap-tone to a -much- lower, much more 'relaxed' tap sound, and the weight now is really comfortable, it's the same weight as my Alder bodied Telecasters or maybe even a little less, which is perfect for me, it's really comfortable now, and it started out as your standard heavy as hell Maple body.

I'm hoping for the best.

It's going to be a 2-HB guitar anyway, so I think it's going to balance out.

I don't think I would want to build a Maple body and use SC's on it, that would sort of give me the shudders

Some '80's Kramers also had solid Maple bodies.

[Quarter]

I don't think I would want to build a Maple body and use SC's on it, that would sort of give me the shudders

Actually, that combo can sound pretty good. Here is a video of Albert Lee playing an all maple prototype of his MusicMan sig guitar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC9jHcmrE94

The production guitar ended up being "southern ash" according to the sales literature. The change was probably due to either or a weight or stock consistency, maple can be all over the map tone wise.

Edited February 26, 2009 by Quarter

[Crusader]

I agree with above about single coils

The best guitar I made so far is a Strat copy with an all maple neck and mahogany body. I was hoping it would look like a Strat and sound like a Les Paul but its still too bright.

I've tried SC's and HB's in it and it seems to me if the guitar is bright then go with it. Trying to make it warmer via pickups makes the sound unbalanced (warm in some areas and bright in others) Also with humbuckers when playing clean its 'bright' - but under distortion its very 'dark' and rather muddy - a complete turnaround

It may just be low-grade timber though and it depends what type of music you want to play. If you're not going from clean to distortion then its not an issue

EDIT: Just wondering if you're going to have a solid maple neck or fretboard of some other timber - I would definately go with a rosewood fretboard

Edited February 26, 2009 by Crusader

[crxeffect]

ya, maple neck, rosewood fretboard