Eastern Maple Tops

I'm curious, it seems that most flamed maple tops on most guitars I've seen (at least USA-made guitars, anyway), have had Western 'Big Leaf' Maple tops on them, with a part-rationale that the flame found on this wood tends to be more spectacular than that found on Eastern 'Hard Rock' Maple. The actual '50's LP Standards had Eastern Maple tops, and Eastern Maple is used very commonly in Maple-necked guitars because of it's hardness (Western Maple is supposedly a bit softer). It's said that the distinguishing characteristic of Eastern Maple is the little brown flecks here and there, you can find the flecks very often on Eastern Maple necks. I've heard a rumor (maybe here on this forum) that the Maple tops used on Hamer Goldtops are Eastern Maple, because they finish very smoothly, even more so than Western Maple. Anybody know for sure about any of this? TIA!

I am pretty sure some of the Archtop GTs were Rock Maple tops but I'm sure someone who knows for sure will chime in soon.

When I think about Eastern wood I think about import line guitars made from Eastern wood.

Eastern is used in all sorts of cool guitars. IIRC Eastern was the original wood for the vintage Les Pauls. I'm not sure what year they started to use the Western Flamed stuff but I'm pretty sure that the 50's Les Pauls were Eastern. Hardly import stuff...

+1! Rickenbacker uses Eastern Maple for it's guitars...as far as I know, they've ONLY EVER used Eastern Maple when they use Maple. Eastern refers to the Eastern Seaboard (U.S. and Canada), Western refers to...well, Western Seaboard.

Still curious about Eastern Maple being used on Hamers...was the veneer used on early Hamers (like 70's and early '80's Specials and Sunbursts) Eastern or Western Maple? Was Eastern Maple used on special runs, like the Triple Threat? It's interesting how the most expensive LP Standard replicas use Eastern Maple (like the originals...again, look for the little brown flecks), while it seems practically any other Gibsons (LPs included) use Western Maple when they use Maple. Maybe Murkat can weigh in on that.

From Hamer Workshop Blog

Setting the Standard

Posted in Uncategorized with tags Custom Guitars, Hamer, luthiery, Standard on December 21, 2010 by hamerblog

For over 30 years Hamer has been setting the standard in electric guitars. Over the years we have refined our earliest models while introducing many new ones. Our first model was the Hamer Standard. It has remained our flagship ever since.

Some may speculate that our glory years are behind us. Ohers may be misinformed as to our history. We look at Hamer as a continuum, learning and moving forward while remaining true to our heritage.

This Standard epitomizes that philosophy and is very much like the original, a bound body with a dot unbound neck. A primary difference is that rather than bonding an eastern curly maple veneer to the body we use a massive big leaf (western) flame maple cap; we view this as an improvement.

We actually asked the people at the Heritage plant (the old Gibson plant) in Kalamazoo about where they got their maple from. According to one of the founders, who was in charge of necks when the original Les Pauls were made (he's close to 80), they get their maple tops from where they've always gotten them: locally. Michigan or the surrounding area. I don't know if that counts as the "eastern maple" variety.

Got this from the weblog too.

Black is one of the most difficult colors to buff. Every scratch shows with black so attaining a high gloss finish is vital. Having a hard rock maple top on this Standard provides a solid base for the finish and results in a flatter finish that will sink less over time. With the hard rock maple top and lack of a sound chamber this guitar has some heft.

I don't know if "hard rock maple" is eastern or western but seems to be an appropriate name for the top on a black Hamer standard.

Bobby Marshall said:

Got this from the weblog too.

Black is one of the most difficult colors to buff. Every scratch shows with black so attaining a high gloss finish is vital. Having a hard rock maple top on this Standard provides a solid base for the finish and results in a flatter finish that will sink less over time. With the hard rock maple top and lack of a sound chamber this guitar has some heft.

I don't know if "hard rock maple" is eastern or western but seems to be an appropriate name for the top on a black Hamer standard.

Click to expand...

Pretty sure that "hard rock" maple is eastern maple.

Eastern maple was used on early PRS Custom 24s.