Maple guitars

Andy79 · January 2021

Love maple more and more theses days. I have a Nick Lucas Chinese copy which is nice but keen to explore others. Any suggestions for mid priced options?
The Guild GF-30 looks good, maybe somewhere between a 00 and a D. Anyone have one or can comment?

danishbacon · January 2021

I briefly owned an 80s guild D30 and it was absolutely immense and balanced sounding. Fine guitars.

Andy79 · January 2021

Interesting. Not to brash or bright?

Strangefan · January 2021

Andy79 said:

Interesting. Not to brash or bright?

Construction and quality of wood is more important that the type of wood in my opinion,

I had an all maple guild and it was a beautiful sounding guitar, not brash at all.

ICBM · January 2021

Maple is not brash or bright at all. I really don’t know where this idea comes from - it actually sounds quite like rosewood, but slightly tighter and less boomy at the bottom end, and maybe a bit cleaner-sounding.

I have a maple Gibson Dove, which is no brighter than any other Dreadnought, if anything it’s a big, even-sounding guitar.

J-200s can be very scooped, which seems to accentuate the treble, but that’s because of the body design, not the wood.

meltedbuzzbox · January 2021

@impmann had a maple guild.
Was a huuuuuge sounding thing

FelineGuitars · January 2021

love my J185

danishbacon · January 2021

Andy79 said:

Interesting. Not to brash or bright?

Not at all, rounded, complex overtones, loud, responded well to playing dynamics. I have some regret of not having it around anymore, not to mention it being a beautiful instrument.

Cranky · January 2021

From what I've noticed, the majority of acoustics that have maple b/s also have "jumbo" in the name. The big exception being the Gibson Dove.

impmann · January 2021

My old Guild super jumbo was very big sounding - big bass end with punchy treble. It was actually very balanced sounding

Whitecat · January 2021

I have a Taylor 612ce 12-fret (X-braced) that I got in a trade. Man does it sound complex. Agree with @ICBM that it's far more in the rosewood camp than anything else. Very surprising sound - although I suspect that the fact that it is a 12-fret is contributing to the bigger tone in this specific case.

stickyfiddle · January 2021

I had a Dove. It was literally the best dread in the shop and by some margin. I’d love another one day, if I can find one with a rounder or slightly narrower neck profile.

It was bright compared with something like a mahogany-topped parlour, but not ridiculously more bright than the HD28 that replaced it. "Strident" would probably be the word I'd use. Great sounding thing, either way

Andy79 · January 2021

FelineGuitars said:

love my J185

Good call.

I’ll retract my bright comment. My maple guitar is nowhere near bright. I’m an idiot
Taylor use a lot of maple by the looks. Think I’m going to hunt out a guild. There’s a GF-30 on Reverb looks really nice

Tannin · January 2021

Bob Taylor wanted at one stage to significantly increase Taylor's maple guitar production. He was very keen on it both for its tonal qualities and also (he said) because it can be grown on home soil in a sustainable way. His view was that maple doesn't sell because most people like the dark colour of rosewood or Koa or mahogany. In consequence, Taylor started making more maple models and dying the timber brown. (!) Whether that is an ongoing thing or whether they gave maple a try and then returned to other woods I don't know.

For myself, I have only one maple guitar, a baritone jumbo, and love both the crisp, rich sound of it and the look. I recently played a pair of Guild 12-string jumbos side-by-side, one in rosewood the other maple. For mine, the maple was far and away the better sound of the two and I would have bought it on the spot if it hadn't been for the price, which was more than I am willing to pay for an occasional-use instrument like a 12-string. Wonderful sound and beautifully balanced.

Next time I buy a guitar, maple will certainly be on the radar.

Whitecat · January 2021

Tannin said:

Bob Taylor wanted at one stage to significantly increase Taylor's maple guitar production. He was very keen on it both for its tonal qualities and also (he said) because it can be grown on home soil in a sustainable way. His view was that maple doesn't sell because most people like the dark colour of rosewood or Koa or mahogany. In consequence, Taylor started making more maple models and dying the timber brown. (!) Whether that is an ongoing thing or whether they gave maple a try and then returned to other woods I don't know.

The 600 series is still the maple series and they are still staining it - but it's no different to an electric manufacturer staining a figured maple top brown - they use flamed maple (and have had the odd limited quilt run) - so doesn't look strange at all, just a nice stained figured maple back and sides. Considering that they also use maple necks on those guitars they are surprisingly expensive though - nice trim levels I guess... but they are very well reviewed and they do sound incredible.

PhilKing · January 2021

FelineGuitars said:

love my J185

I have a J185 too and it's a great sound.

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