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blasphemy thread: Anyone NOT a fan of flamed maple guitars?


sirDaniel

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I cant remember the last time I owned one. I keep saying they look nice, but never vote with my wallet. My favorite LP was a plain top. I just dont understand myself somedays. And the PRS craze never flipped my dripper. What is WRONG with me.

:wacko:

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I've owned a few. My LP Axcess is heavily flamed. But I think it's safe to say that most everyone on here knows my tastes in finishes runs a bit to the graphic and tasteless side. It's a fucking instrument of rawk, dammit. Not a flippin' coffee table or other piece of furniture. Save the lovely wood grain for the cabinet you display it in. Poser. :lol:

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Plain top is fine with me for playing but I must admit that Maple does such a great job of being beautiful that it would be a shame to just paint over all of it with black or gold.

I like flame more than quilt MOST of the time, there are always exceptions.

http://www.hamerfanclub.com/forums/topic/69176-crazy-quilt-top-no-hamer-content-just-a-crazy-quilt-top/

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I like my maple-topped Hamer but that's the only one I have, and I also tend to dislike the look of heavily flamed or quilted maple (or maybe it's because the guitars that have it are typically heavily ornamented). I did recently buy a PRS, however: a used, solid mahogany, fairly bling-free Mira. Oddly, I was thinking of getting a 335-style guitar, realized I love the sound of a solid slab of mahogany and came across the Mira.

So, I don't think anything's wrong with you.

For some more blasphemy: I've gone acoustic shopping twice, once with a fairly modest budget and once to find "the one." While listening to and reading reviews and tonal descriptions I was nearly convinced I'd want a rosewood/spruce guitar, especially while searching for "the one" as my modest budget choice was all sepale. The one I wound up choosing is mahogany/spruce and has very little ornamentation. (But for possibly the true blasphemy: I haven't had acoustic GAS since getting it).

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I've also never paid for fancy flame. It might be nice to have, but it's like buying a hammer with a curly maple double-stained handle. At the end of the day, it's a tool and how it works is all that matters.

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All my guitars in the past but for just a couple had" Flames" or "Quilted" tops, sides, backs, etc.......... so I can appreciate "GOOD WOOD"....................now all my guitars are Black. :lol: And they all have "GOOD WOOD", you just can't see it. :wub: Well maybe just a little. :Dwbxc9d.jpg

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Fancy tops are wasted on me.

Oh wait.....I think it is my BANK ACCOUNT that is wasted on THEM.

DSC00764.jpg

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I never buy based on the look of a guitar.

Having said that I have a couple of nice flame tops on my L.P. and on a couple of Hamers but I don't have them because they look good.

TBH I was put off a lot of flame/curly tops when the photoflame thing happened and it was hard to tell if it was a real top or just painted on.

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FWIW, if the choice is between using fancy woods for guitars or furniture, I choose both. As an example, I used some figured wood (Ambrosia Maple) to build cabinets and a counter top in an "empty" length of one of our rooms........I chose the longest boards I could get so I could cut the drawer fronts at each level from one continuous piece, thereby extending the grain pattern horizontally. For the top, I cut boards on edge to "bookmatch" them, then glued them to a sheet of MDF to make "custom plywood" (with roughly a 3/8" thick "veneer" on top).

Jan2010028.jpg

Did something similar with walnut and butternut in another "empty" space.

IMG_0046.jpg

One of these days I do need to take a stab at making some "display cases" for guitars too. But I know my amateur status is NOT a good base for taking on guitar making!

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Those are lovely, Django. Nice, nice work.

I also like pretty guitars, including maple, but I only have one. I've another one ordered, and from what I can tell, it will be gorgeous, and I'm willing to bet will sound great, even when I play it.

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Here's my "Fanciest" maple top guitar I own. This is my '80 Gibson "Jimmy Wallace" LP Standard

I picked up for peanunts back in '84

wow, i remember jimmy from riding my bike from richardson over to garland to gawk at guitars at the store he worked, arnold & morgan music

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I have a love/hate relationship with figured/flame/quilted maple on guitars, because once I get a guitar that has it, I automatically start comparing that guitar to every other figured top guitar on the freakin' planet, and start looking for something better looking immediately...which leads to absolute GAS madness. :lol::ph34r:

My main player guitars nowadays are black opaque and white opaque painted LP Studios, so the figure of the maple top (if there even IS figure under that paint) isn't a distraction to playing them.

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I like looking at them. For my own, I prefer a slight flame, if any. Nothing too fancy.

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Here's my "Fanciest" maple top guitar I own. This is my '80 Gibson "Jimmy Wallace" LP Standard

I picked up for peanunts back in '84

12225332516_1d37a19628_b.jpg

12224766825_8fbafd7102_h.jpg

I remember you showing me that one Skip! Beautiful!! :wub: That was another guitar you got a great deal on,was it not!

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Here's my "Fanciest" maple top guitar I own. This is my '80 Gibson "Jimmy Wallace" LP Standard

I picked up for peanunts back in '84

12225332516_1d37a19628_b.jpg

12224766825_8fbafd7102_h.jpg

I remember you showing me that one Skip! Beautiful!! :wub: That was another guitar you got a great deal on,was it not!

Yea Gary. I got a deal on it back in '84. I paid $500 for it all original w/ OHSC. In todays dollar conversion, I would have purshased this guitar for $1158 in 2015.

I guess it was a steal either then or now. This one is definitely being passed down to my guitar playing son. I'd hope this would be the last one standing if he ever had

to sell all the others.

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