Eastern Hard Rock vs. Western Big Leaf Maple

[bhyatt]

Tom,

In the May issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine, there is a debate of sorts between George Gruhn and Ken Warmoth as to which variety of maple is better, aesthetically, for tops. They do agree that the eastern variety is harder and thus produces a brighter tone but Ken Warmoth prefered the quilts from the westen variety where George Grun preferes the eastern. This peaked my curiosity about which type(s) you use and for what specific applications.

The quilt top on my new HDTC is incredible. Am I correct in assuming that it is Western Big Leaf Maple?

Bob

[tom]

we only use western maple. i don't know anyone who uses eastern hard maple for tops, except gibson on some of the plain top les pauls from the 70's and 80's. i have never seen eastern maple with the quilt pattern, flame only. a debate over which is better looking seems pointless since beauty is in the eye of the beholder. which flavor of ice cream is best? i personally like the look of western maple better and also prefer the tone.

[michaelomiya]

Originally posted by tom
a debate over which is better looking seems pointless since beauty is in the eye of the beholder. which flavor of ice cream is best?

personally, i prefer rocky road w/ those chunky almonds smeared all over a nice symmetrical tubular quilt, preferably in T yellow or Cajun Red. :p:D :cool:

(kids, don't try this at home)

[Stan Malinowski]

i don't know anyone who uses eastern hard maple for tops, except gibson on some of the plain top les pauls from the 70's and 80's

PRS uses Eastern Maple for tops on their McCarty models. For all models they uses the Western Big Leaf Maple.

[bhyatt]

Thanks for the replies. As you said Tom, beauty IS in the eye of the beholder. It's all good! :)

Personally, the wild top on mine trips my trigger just fine (and sounds awsome as well). :D

[tom]

sorry, i saw hard rock in the question and responded that way. yes prs and gibson use eastern soft maple for some of their tops.