DRAK - when looking from the bottom of the guitar up, you'll see the left half figure, but the right half will look sort of dead, and then when you look from the top of the guitar down, the right half will explode with figure and chatoyance, but the left half will look dead.
I'd appreaciate a bit more explanation on this. I've just finished my first build and one thing I notice is that, on my three piece maple laminated neck, two laminations catch the figure one way and the other goes the other way. I'd like to understand this so in the future I can have a way to read the wood grain and control this. My theory was that it must be to do with the angle the wood cells approach the surface? If this was true, then you should be able to read it by looking at the edge of the pieces and getting them all the same way. Your description of the bookmatched top seems to suggest something else. If you look from the bottom (the strap button end toward the neck, right?) they should read the same in my theory. The top bookmatch would look different than the bottom if viewed straight on, with the guitar level as being played. What am i missing?