Quilted vs. Flamed

[jlb]

A friend of mine at work fancies himself an expert in tonewoods, and for all I know perhaps he is. We were talking about maple, to be honest in how it sounds on guitars, and he introduced the concept that quilted maple (which is my personal favorite to look at) generally produces a poor tone...one inferior to flamed or even solid (what I mean is unfigured, flat...don't know the correct word...whatever the Big Mando Company uses on their low end mandos) maple.

As someone who is interested sometime in the future in getting a custom job done (by the time I'm be able to afford one, I won't be able to afford one http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif ), I'd be interested to hear everyone's thoughts and experiences with the tone quilted maple produces.

[sunburst]

Quilted maple is usually a soft maple, it sounds the same as any soft maple whether it's curly, straight or whatever.
There might be some sound difference between quartered maple and flatsawn, and to really get the quilted figure the wood has to be flatsawn.
I've built two or three quilted maple mandolins, but I tried to get the grain as near as possible to quartered orientation, and the sound was consistent with the other mandolins I was making at the time with curley maple.

[Spruce]

"A friend of mine at work fancies himself an expert in tonewoods..."

Uh oh....

"...and he introduced the concept that quilted maple (which is my personal favorite to look at) generally produces a poor tone"

Quilted maple can be hard and heavy, or it can be very light in weight and rather soft.
Or it can be somewhere in between...
It varies far more in it's weights from tree-to-tree than Eastern North American maples or European maple.

So how in the world can he make a blanket statement about the way it sounds?

For the record, I've played lots of fine-sounding instruments made from quilted Bigleaf maple, both quarter and slab-sawn, and expect to play quite a few more...

I've also played a lot of doggie-doo mandos and guitars made from the other maple figurings...

So,ooo, it sounds to me like your friend is barking up the wrong tree...

[Stephen Perry]

From a different perspective, big leaf maple hasn't proven capable of making a really good classical violin, but makes great fiddles and violas. The pure intensity possible with European or nice quartersawn red maple doesn't seem to be there. But is that really required for a mandolin? I suppose that if one seeks a certain tone, that big leaf might not do it. But I would think given what I hear mandolin players liking that the tone would generally be quite acceptable. I hope it works, anyway. I've got a big piece of quilted big leaf I need to use up sometime!

[Spruce]

"The pure intensity possible with European or nice quartersawn red maple doesn't seem to be there."

There is a definite trend against using quartered Bigleaf in fine classical violin making these days (justified IMHO), but I've always thought that this was based on cosmetics and not tone. #The prominant and wide graining just doesn't look right in the back of a fine fiddle...
It is used on the slab by some big-name makers, with the issues of wide and prominant graining not coming into play....

"I suppose that if one seeks a certain (mandolin) tone, that big leaf might not do it. "

Bigleaf can sound (and look) great in a traditional F5 mandolin, as Monteleone, Smart, Sullivan, Heiden, Brock, and companies like Flatiron and Weber can attest...

[Stephen Perry]

I like the bigleaf myself. I like the sound in traditional F5 mandolins. I suspect that some kinds of tone might not be possible with it. I've actually used slab and quartered bigleaf in violins. I have a quilted piece now I'm thinking of putting into a 5 string. Should be fun! I do notice when carving, voicing, etc. that the characteristics are quite different and that I can't get the edge of European or red maple. Others report this to me as well. But it isn't a big difference and probably doesn't really matter for 90% plus of players! I happen to like wide wild grain and figure myself.

[Dale Ludewig]

I've built 3 mandolins with one piece quilted big leaf purchased from Spruce. #They're really knockout to look at. #I kept one for myself and it is a powerhouse, IMHO. #Image: (I hope)

Dale Ludewig

[Spruce]

Nice to see the wood come out the other end of the pipe....

Nice looking mando!

Thanks for that, Dale....

[Luthier Vandross]

Man, quilted looks great, but it's just not as choppy.


M

[dfrady]

Quilted Maple will give a more mellow sound and Flamed Maple will give you a more punchy, crisp sound.

[ab4usa]

Where does Birdseye fit in this equation?

[Spruce]

"Where does Birdseye fit in this equation? "

It's usually a very hard and heavy material (especially if it's from the Eastern North America)...

So, however this translates to your building style is how it will sound...