Birdseye maple guitar

Fraxinus · January 30, 2005, 05:48:02 PM

I thought some of you might be interested in this picture.
http://www.redpowermagazine.com/uploads/upload.cgi/mapleguitar.jpg
This piece of birdseye maple is one that I sawed out roughly 25 years ago. My SiL had the guitar made. My son now has it. Not sure who owns it. But it sure is a pretty piece of wood.
I have no interest in non-acoustic instruments. That thing sure does sound great in the hands of a skilled player (like my SiL) but mostly I just like to look at it!

Texas Ranger · January 30, 2005, 06:17:20 PM

fantastic grain.

MemphisLogger · January 30, 2005, 07:20:20 PM

Absolutely beautiful!

I'm stashin' all the nice curl and crotch I can so I can make some myself in 20 years or so ;)

Percy · January 30, 2005, 07:50:50 PM

WOW THATS NICE

I play guitar,have several of each(acoustic and non-acoustic). Thats a beauty. ;D

Fraxinus · January 30, 2005, 08:59:11 PM

I worked in a band mill from 1975 to 1983. We sawed a lot of 6/4 rock maple. It was turned into bobbins for looms so the birdseye was something that could not be used. Whenever I'd see a particularly nice board come along, I'd set it aside and take it home. This is some if the nicest, tightest birdseye I ever saw. I still have a mess of it, all nicely air dried for all these years.

palmerstreeservice · January 30, 2005, 09:03:09 PM

a friend of mine just asked me for a pice of maple to do the same thing. I will share this with them. Thanks for sharing.

Kyle Palmer

SwampDonkey · January 31, 2005, 04:18:58 PM

Nice piece of woodwork. Nice quitar also.

Not to take away from this thread.......
I find that most the birdseye in my area are on public lands. Some private stands of really old rock maple 'may' have some. Sometimes the figure is only in the sapwood to and not very desireable.

In the forestry school I attended some of the tables in the laboratories were of bird's eye. They were made and donated to the school at a time the the birdseye market was pretty much unheard of. The steps inside and out where made of polished slate from local quarries.