Which Maple top?

[Nando Vallart]

So what do you guys think?
PS: Well, kinda surprise build, so I won't unveill lots of information...

 

[crash]

Spalted with a tobacco burst.

 

[Cagey]

Burl, with a carved-top Tele body.

And a tobacco burst.

 

[-CB-]

To me, spalted always begs for tobacco burst... while burl begs for an easy yellow red brown burst - like the old LP's that had burl tops on occasion.... but... but... the yellow red brown has to have a not too vivid yellow, and not too vivid red. and not too wide on brown... has to be a nice brown gradual to red.

 

[ThtOthrPrsn]

Given the real estate of the body, I feel the burl would be better. Save the spalt for a more spacious body!  :toothy10: Beautiful pieces all around!

 

[Ddbltrbl]

Cutting them in a V seems a waste of either piece! I'm not against V's, but a different body shape (Tele?, VIP) would show-off so much more of that beautiful wood! :dontknow:

 

[swarfrat]

Yeah, but if you do it right, you can get two!

 

[Pelagaard]

Burl, but mostly because the spalt appears to be larger pieces, and should be saved for a larger body.

Also, a washed black dye on that burl would look like molten metal...

 

[DangerousR6]

Burl, with a carved-top Tele body.

And a tobacco burst.

I believe that go's against one of the wood lovers 10 commandments... :doh:

 

[Nando Vallart]

Hey guys thanks for the answers!
Actually the tops are not big sized... They're strat size, the only thing is that they're longer than the usual Strat blanks, they're at least 21"...
In deed both would fit a bit snug, no place for mistakes here
It looks bigger because I took the photos closer to the tops to get the figuring better

 

[MikeW]

I'm a sucker for Spalt. Doesn't matter what the body shape is, that piece will look good on anything!

 

[swarfrat]

Hey guys thanks for the answers!
Actually the tops are not big sized... They're strat size, the only thing is that they're longer than the usual Strat blanks, they're at least 21"...
In deed both would fit a bit snug, no place for mistakes here
It looks bigger because I took the photos closer to the tops to get the figuring better

This time I was being a smart aleck, as per normal. But if you weren't trying to line the grain up parallel with the neck you could probably still do it if you tried hard enough. I wouldn't attempt it with spalt, but I might with Zebra.

 

[Nando Vallart]

The only way to fit these tops on the V body is to glue then in angle, just like Gibson did on the Korina Vs in the '50s... For a V with the grain parallel to the body the width had to be 16" to 17"... They're a bit more than 13"....

 

[Nando Vallart]

I put the vote on another forum I use (d) to participate and the total vote is: 17 Spalted - 10 Burl...
Spalted it is

 

[stankybudz]

A spalted v would be awesome

 

[Nando Vallart]

Bad news!
I was applying cyanoacrilate glue on the top to harden it and the top is cracking all over... :sad:

 

[Cagey]

It's spalted Maple, right? Stuff's pretty spongy. It is rotted, after all. This reaction may be normal. I'd sand it back a bit, then give it another coat. Most fillers need several coats.

 

[Nando Vallart]

It's rotten... the other one I had worked before was a bit less spongy and I used grain-filler before the super glue.. then it was going to take forever and I changed to super glue...

this one I've gone right through the super glue and it cracked deeply... I'm going tomorrow on my friend who is a professional luthier talk about it, lets see what happens...