Flamed maple top?

[Myst and rain]

Hi,

I'm currently configuring a Carvin DC127, which I'm going to purchase this year. And I have a question regarding the sound of a AAAA flamed curly maple top, in this particular context:

- One piece hardrock maple neck
- Alder wings
- Rosewood fingerboard
- Neck through construction

I've selected the same woods as my current main guitar. I've checked out the 'wood' section of Jemsite, in which the sonic properties of the woods are described. And also the descriptions on the Carvin website, of course. But there, terms like 'dynamics' and 'upper mid-range definition' are used, and I'm not really sure what some of those mean. I also know that it would be best if I went to a guitar store and listened for myself, which I will, but nevertheless I thought I'd ask you guys anyway.

So, in laymen's terms, how would you descibe the effect that a AAAA flamed curly maple top would have on a guitar like this?

Kind regards,
Alwin

[albee1952]

In general, a maple top adds brightness and that's a reason that Les Pauls have it to balance the fat/round tone of mahogany. The quilting is more cosmetic as it looks much nicer than plain maple. For me, I would put the maple on mahogany wings, but to each their own. I also prefer ebony to rosewood, but once again, its just a personal thing. All this commenting about the maple affecting tone depends on how thick the maple is too. A thin veneer will probably not affect tone any where near as much as a 3/8" slab. In any case, alder is a great tone wood and if the maple made it a bit too bright(which I kind of doubt) just changing pots from 500 to 250K might fix it.

[Scali]

I'd like to add that if you have a maple neck-through, there already is quite a bit of maple in the body from the neck-part.
Alder+maple is a really nice tonewood-combination, in my opinion. Should be done more often.

[Myst and rain]

Thank you, albee1952.

I'm sticking with alder, so to have a wood which adds brightness... The current configuration makes for a bright guitar already, so... But the tops on the Carvins aren't incredibly thick, so it might not be a huge difference. And they say a maple top makes the lows tighter, which I might like... I don't know. I think the best thing for me to do, is to go to a guitar store and have a listen.

Thanks again.

Alwin

[Myst and rain]

Originally Posted by Scali

I'd like to add that if you have a maple neck-through, there already is quite a bit of maple in the body from the neck-part.
Alder+maple is a really nice tonewood-combination, in my opinion. Should be done more often.

That's what I was thinking as well, yeah...

Thanks, Scali.

Alwin

[Scali]

Well if it's any use to you, here's some jams I did a while ago...
The first is with my RG570CT, which is alder with a reasonably thick slab of maple on top (about 1 cm I guess):
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=4441749

And this is with my Les Paul (mahogany + thick maple slab obviously):
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=4690842

The RG is a bit thinner, more transparent in sound... and 'sweeter' in the high frequencies... while not being weak in the low-end. The RG also screams like crazy with pinch harmonics.
It's a bolt-on neck tough. Not sure how a neck-through would affect it.
I really like the way it sounds on the higher notes, very characteristic sound.

[LonePhantom]

Originally Posted by Scali

Well if it's any use to you, here's some jams I did a while ago...
The first is with my RG570CT, which is alder with a reasonably thick slab of maple on top (about 1 cm I guess):
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=4441749

And this is with my Les Paul (mahogany + thick maple slab obviously):
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=4690842

The RG is a bit thinner, more transparent in sound... and 'sweeter' in the high frequencies... while not being weak in the low-end. The RG also screams like crazy with pinch harmonics.
It's a bolt-on neck tough. Not sure how a neck-through would affect it.
I really like the way it sounds on the higher notes, very characteristic sound.

Sorry for the thread hijack, but Scali, did you use your G9.2tt for that first track? I'd love the patch settings for those different sounds to try out on my G7.1ut if that's ok.

[Scali]

I used the G9.2tt yea, but with the 4-cable method on my Marshall 6101 amp, and then used a mic to record it.
I did do one with just the G9.2tt recorded direct (also with the RG570CT):
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=4462260
I tried to approach the sound, but there is no actual 6101 model on the G9.2tt, so the distortion doesn't quite sound the same. I can give you those settings if you want.

[jono]

Silly question, but the top of the RG570 CT is a "gravure" flame. i.e. printed, not real flame.

Is it an alder body with a non-figured maple top with the flame printed on top or is it just flame printed on alder?

Anyone know - anyone sanded one down just to be sure?

[Scali]

Originally Posted by jono

Silly question, but the top of the RG570 CT is a "gravure" flame. i.e. printed, not real flame.

Is it an alder body with a non-figured maple top with the flame printed on top or is it just flame printed on alder?

Anyone know - anyone sanded one down just to be sure?

Well, it looks like there's about 1 cm of maple on top there (I put a big dent in the top at the edge, and the bare wood has a very light maple-ish colour). But I'm not going to sand it down to make sure
It sounded quite different from an alder/maple Dinky that only had a paper-thin photolaminate on top though.
It has that snappy Les Paul-like sound, which I suspect comes from a solid maple top.

[Myst and rain]

Nice playing, Scali! That sounded great.

I've listened carefully, and I have to say that the flamed maple top makes a significant difference, judging by the sound of your guitar. Your guitar seems to be more focused, than mine. I think that's the best way to describe it. Also in the high register, the notes seem to have a destinct kind of vibe, that differs from mine.

Interesting... I'll look into this some more.

Thanks a lot, Scali.

Alwin

[Scali]

Thanks... the jury is still out on how thick the maple top actually is on an RG570CT, but as you can hear, that guitar really screams in the upper regions.
Indeed, 'focused' is a nice way to put it. I guess it sounds completely different from a regular RG.
This was with the stock V8 pickup. I later replaced it with a ToneZone, which was absolute disaster. The TZ has a reduced treble response which cut out most of the 'vibe' of the guitar. So choose your pickups carefully, I think the V8 can be described as a hot PAF pickup. High output alnico, but pretty even frequency response. I think it's similar to the Gibson 498T that I used in the Les Paul. They both have lots of output (more than the ToneZone), and a really full, open sound.
What guitar do you have exactly, that you are comparing it to?

[Myst and rain]

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60051

^^
Alder body, rosewood fretboard, maple neck. The humbucker is an Alnico V. It's got quite some power, and it sounds warm, but it's not a high output pickup.

Compared to your guitar, mine sounds a little thicker, imo.

Alwin

[jono]

Originally Posted by Scali

I later replaced it with a ToneZone, which was absolute disaster. The TZ has a reduced treble response which cut out most of the 'vibe' of the guitar.

I know people disagree, but personally I've found the same, with that pickup.

I'm really curious about the maple top now, but whatever, the CT is a fantastic guitar.

[Scali]

Originally Posted by jono

I know people disagree, but personally I've found the same, with that pickup.

I'm really curious about the maple top now, but whatever, the CT is a fantastic guitar.

Yea, since I generally pick my guitars based on their acoustic qualities, I should just use pickups with a relatively flat response.
The RG570CT just 'spoke to me' when I first picked it up. I had been looking at RGs and Ses, and also various Jacksons and such, but being a Les Paul player, most of them sounded too thin, or too dry, too bassy, generally boring and 'vibeless'. The moment I picked the RG up, I knew this was going to be my superstrat. This was a guitar that a Les Paul-player could live with. I still don't like most RGs. I think there's a market for RGs with an alder body, with or without maple top. Alder delivers good sustain and a nice warm tone that's far more suitable for most types of music than basswood in my opinion (probably because it sounds more 'traditional', or 'vintage'), while still allowing you to play pretty heavy metal.

Btw, if you think it sounds thin... that could also be the distortion. I like a really transparent and dynamic sound, with not too much gain. I used to use a more extreme distortion with far more gain, giving a sound sorta like this:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=4074338
I guess that sounds really fat, and still that characteristic 'scream' in the high-end.
With this kind of sound, it's barely distinguisable from a Les Paul.