Genuine flame

[The Nazz Are Blue]

I don't know where to put this thread. I know this is The Fender Forum and Fenders don't conventionally come with flamed wood, but bear with me, cause i have a question. How do they come about with "flame" wood? No no, not photoflame. Real flame. A friend of mine told me something ridiculous about how they make it that way and i wanted to prove him wrong but i really couldn't. So spill the beans. Why are certain bits of wood this way?

[sinner]

What are you talking about--the "flame" maple necks, some more a bird's eye--or the body tops, like the FMT models (Flame maple top)? These are like a veneer (thin wood) rather than the carved maple topped LPs, bookmatched pieces. Or, there's the natural occuring "grain" (not what we normally think of as flame) in Ash bodies, that often show through the finish. Heck, even Alder looks nice (to me)...

[BradKM]

Real flame occurs naturally in the wood grain. It can't be created, but can be accented by the way the lumber is cut.

Warmoth has a nice tutorial on woods...but it doesn't get into the science behind flamed, quilted, or birdseye grains.

http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/option..._bodywoods.cfm

[The Nazz Are Blue]

Real flame occurs naturally in the wood grain.

Anyone is welcome to add to this, of course, but that basically answered my question. Thanks guys.

[Gumbley]

hi

figuring in wood is a bit of a mysterious business. I have heard two theories to explain it. One is that it is the results of some sort of disease in the wood. The other, which sounds more likely to me, is that it is due to compression. I do know that if you look up at a big limb on a tree, the underside often has a ripple in the bark, caused by the weight of the wood. One day i'll have to saw off a big branch like this and see if it's flamed.

hope this helps!

[Kap'n]

George Youngblood, a well respected boutique luthier, told me that all of the most beautiful guitar wood is either diseased or rotten.

Not that that makes bad tone, mind you, but all the imperfections in grain that make them look nice are due to "other than normal" conditions.

[chuckocaster]

if you can find the time life series books on woodworking, the first book explains how wood grows, why/how hard/soft woods are classified, and other really interesting things. it covers flames birdseye and the lot. don't really remember specifics but disease, if it's on the side of a steep hill (no joke), and other naturally occuring circumstances play into the figuring of a given peice of wood.

check it out man, it's really cool stuff.

[skywriter900]

I know that in a crotch you have denser wood its called compression wood.........Im sure that makes a different tone............................I can see where the tree growing on a slope comes in to play

[chuckocaster]

i had that last night, i always thought it was called blue balls...

[Kap'n]

I know that in a crotch you have denser wood its called compression wood.........Im sure that makes a different tone............................I can see where the tree growing on a slope comes in to play

Reminds me of that fracture thread a while back .