When Did The Quilted/Flamed Maple Craze Begin?

[zombywoof]

I know that today folks just love heavily quilted or flamed maple bodies and necks. While the late 1950s Les Pauls are, of course, noted for their flame maple tops I do not recall running across any say late 1940s or 1950s SJ/J-200s that were heavily flamed or quilted. I am not saying you do not see such features but it does not appear the wood was picked for its aesthetic appeal. My wife's 1960 J-200 does have some both flame and quilting on the back and a bit of flame on the back of the neck but it is random and I always thought is was a what you got was a luck of the draw kinda thing.

 

So can anybody point to when Gibson started to pay more attention to the aesthetics. Inquiring minds want to know.

[JuanCarlosVejar]

I'm not sure this will answer your question butI have done some research myself about the maple gibson used.

It turns out Michigan is a place were maple grew and I guess that's why Gibson used Maple so much ... all of the "jazz boxes" were built with maple because the notes would decay quicker and that's something the jazz players needed . at least one prewar maple J 200 existed :

 

 

 

if you look closely you can see the figure is pretty much what you consider a flamed maple back .

 

here's another one from the 1940's or 50's (I can't remember) which has more of a quilted look :

 

 

 

 

I think gibson probably wasn't to concerned for looks as it was for sound (they used sunbursts on almost all the guitars I've seen back in the kalamazoo days). some people talk about how they used mismatched or "spliced" maple at least for backs (Les Pauls had/have maple tops).

 

so I think it was just about the wood that was growing in Michigan at the time . Gibson Memphis has actually been saving "BListered" maple from Michigan in order to do the reissue of the 1959 ES 335 and they are mismatching the backs too :

 

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/ES/Gibson-Memphis/1959-ES-335.aspx

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope this helps a bit

 

 

 

JC

[zombywoof]

Many thanks. That does help as the wood for those guitars does look like it was picked for its quilting.

[tvguit]

I've seen 19th century spanish gut string guitars with nice bird's eye figure. But I don't think that is where it started. I think it started with violins way back in the day. People saw all those nice violins with deep tiger stripe figure on the back. I think that came from just using the best tone wood they had around and noticing that some had flame and some didn't.

[zombywoof]

It is just that looking at high end Gibsons with maple bodies like the J-200s made in the 1950s and 1960s I usually do not see a whole lot of flame or quilting. Then again, the bodies were made with laminate so maybe that has something to do with it.

[j45nick]

There really are two questions here, neither of which I have a definitive answer to.

 

Gibson has been using quilted maple for a long time, but may not have considered a premium wood until some marketing genius decided it was.

 

For example, here is the back of my 1947 L-7, which was sort of a mid-range carved top/back archtop (behind the L-5 and I suppose the Super 400 in that period).

 

 

 

That's a heavily quilted piece of wood whose innate characteristic (the quilt) is almost hidden by the dark mahogany stain. The L-7 naturals in this period also used highly-quilted maple, and you will pay a premium for them today even though the wood itself is frequently just as highly figured on the sunburst versions like mine.

 

Today, of course, highly-quilted maple is marketed as a premium wood, but that may not necessarily have been the case when my L-7 was made in 1947. So maybe it is a more modern obsession.

[BluesKing777]

I know that today folks just love heavily quilted or flamed maple bodies and necks. While the late 1950s Les Pauls are, of course, noted for their flame maple tops I do not recall running across any say late 1940s or 1950s SJ/J-200s that were heavily flamed or quilted. I am not saying you do not see such features but it does not appear the wood was picked for its aesthetic appeal. My wife's 1960 J-200 does have some both flame and quilting on the back and a bit of flame on the back of the neck but it is random and I always thought is was a what you got was a luck of the draw kinda thing.

 

So can anybody point to when Gibson started to pay more attention to the aesthetics. Inquiring minds want to know.

 

 

 

 

Absolutely no expert, but I remember it as (80s) PRS (electrics) bringing out a 'more flamed or more quilted' carved top to grab attention from the Les Paul buyers and that was a big fuss... a friend had the real deal LP standard and we were all standing around going ,,,ooh...ooh// Ah at the PRS.

 

 

BluesKing777.

[tpbiii]

Here are some from the late 30s.

 

1937 L-4

 

 

Here is one from 1939 and 1961

 

 

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

[modoc_333]

obviously violins have had this wood for centuries and people have wanted it. I'm pretty sure it goes back as far as man has been creating things from wood though. surely, when men started to carve things from wood, the saw that some pieces were prettier than others. those pieces were used for special things or given to special people.... flamed maple included.

[bobouz]

obviously violins have had this wood for centuries and people have wanted it.

Yes indeed. Tony Bacon's "The History of the American Guitar" has many examples of highly figured guitars going a long way back, including Gibsons. The earliest instrument shown is a Stauffer (for whom CF Martin worked before coming to America) made in the 1820s in Vienna.

 

It sports a beautifully bookmatched & highly figured maple back.