Flamed maple necks ?

[Nagash02]

I first didn't even know these were available... I saw on YouTube that Roope Latvala (Children Of Bodom) has a flamed maple neck on one of his old Jacksons, and since they are still an option in the Jackson Custom Shop Quote, I wanted to know a bit more about it.

Everyone seems to say quartersawn maple is the best quality or so, but flamed maple necks look cool ^^ and I wanted to know if there are major tonal differencies between QS maple and flamed maple.

[Rich#6]

I think if you get a flamed maple neck it's going to be qtrsawn.

[Nagash02]

okay then differences between raw maple and flamed maple ?

[Grim]

okay then differences between raw maple and flamed maple ?

Flamed maple looks different?

[toejam]

Flamed maple can also be raw or have a finish put on it. Flame is just a pattern in the wood, just like quilt or spalt.

[Nagash02]

Yeah I'm messing up with the words... as you might remember, I'm not a native speaker.

So finally what are the differences between "normal" and flamed maple, talking about SOUND ?

[Grandturk]

So finally what are the differences between "normal" and flamed maple, talking about SOUND ?

None. Its all maple. The figure in the wood does not affect the "tone."

But then again, there's no way to really compare it - i.e. you can't try the same piece of wood with and without flame... but I digress.

Flame, birdseye, quilt - its just for looks.

I don't think you can have qtr sawn and quilt or birdseye in combination, though...

[dg]

Seconding Rich & GT. Flame is visible in quartersawn wood. Birdseye & quilt show up in flatsawn. Lots of folks (mostly people just repeating what the read on boards, imo) will just say that figured wood is less stable for necks, but I think a flamed neck will be just as stable as any quartersawn neck, and a birdseye neck will probably be about as stable as most other flatsawn necks. The biggest variable with neck stability, in my experience, has always been whether they are finished or not.

[Nagash02]

which one is most stable, finished or unfinished ? I prefer unfinished necks...

[Grandturk]

If you like an unfinished, or oiled neck, go for quartersawn. You'll pay extra for quartersawn, and a premium for flamed quartersawn.

[sully]

Figured wood is generally less stable than unfigured wood. If you're going to get a figured neck, I'd highly recommend putting in graphite rods along the truss rod to help keep it straight.

Sully

[Acesofbelkan]

Figured wood is generally less stable than unfigured wood. If you're going to get a figured neck, I'd highly recommend putting in graphite rods along the truss rod to help keep it straight.

Sully

Yeah, I was going to say this too, I've heard that figured woods are actually weaker than their unfigured counterparts.

[neilli]

Figured wood is generally less stable than unfigured wood. If you're going to get a figured neck, I'd highly recommend putting in graphite rods along the truss rod to help keep it straight.

I would strongly advise against using flamed maple on a neck thru if you want an oiled neck, even with the graphite rods. I had a CS Jackson with that and the neck moved a lot...

[Scribner]

Quarter Sawn neck is supposedly more stable. A guitar tech told me this and i searched for 'quarter sawn table' with google.

Also seems like quarter saw is just as stable as far as warpage or even more stable. And supposedly feels\plays more stable which is hard for me to tell. Also QS is brighter sounding so good for a Strat. Not sure if non-quarter sawn neck are flamed though.

[Confuse-a-Cat]

I'm not sure if there's an inherent difference in the stability between regular and figured maple, but somebody did once point something out to me that makes a lot of sense. That is that guitar builders might use figured neck blanks that would have been rejected as not quite good enough if they were just regular maple. I suppose they are a lot more expensive, so I could easily see that happening.