Maple as a body wood? (for a 7 string)

[hexa-db]

After looking at my options for making my custom 7 string out of a broken BC Rich, I've decided to get the body made by a family friend who's been making guitars fo years.

He suggested Maple / Canadian Rock Maple because it's pretty cheap and easy to finish. Anyone know if maple is any good as a body wood?

Note: I did look into getting a body from EKG or Universal Jems but the EKG site says they don't do complete customs, just replacement JEM/UV bodies and Universal Jems haven't replied to my mail about 7 string bodies (presumably busy at NAMM or something?). In the end I decided it was worth paying an extra £50 to be sure that everything would fit together and I also get the choice of body shape.

[frankfalbo]

I actually think its great. I have one 7-string that is solid quilted maple. It's very heavy(maple in general, not my particular 7 string) and the tone is very bright. But that translates into a tight B string sound. It gives you the freedom to use higher output, deeper, richer sounding pickups and not get muddy. The definition from note to note within a chord is great. Mine is a slimmed down body, like an S series thickness approximately. That helps the weight, as does routing a nice large electronics cavity.

[EKG]

We are doing complete 7's ;-) (Chad is doing final work on the new site)

Frank is right, though. Maple is HEAVY! I have some blanks here wondering what to do with

[BCShredder]

Maple is VERY heavy my Lynch tiger is solid eastern rock maple and weighs like 23lbs, but it's probably the best sounding guitar I've ever ran through it's extremely tight and punchy killer w/ attack. I think it'd make an excelent choice for a 7.

[Rich]

Have you ever actually put it on a scale? That's a little tough to believe, the HRG I had was about 9 pounds

[BCShredder]

I'll put it on a scale if you want exact weight but it feels like a ton. haha

[hexa-db]

Originally Posted by EKG

We are doing complete 7's ;-) (Chad is doing final work on the new site)

If I could I'd get a new body and neck and just use the hardware from the BCR, but I'm trying to keep this as cheap as I can. But then if you can sell me a neck and body for £200..

When people say that maple is heavy, how does it compare to Mahogany? My Epi Les Paul seems to weigh a ton!

[frankfalbo]

Originally Posted by EKG

We are doing complete 7's ;-) (Chad is doing final work on the new site)

Frank is right, though. Maple is HEAVY! I have some blanks here wondering what to do with

If you slim them down, its not so bad. As a radius or saber body the weight is managable. You can also hollow them out and put a figured top on them. Also, due to the brightness, it works extremely well with rosewood necks. I have one that's rosewood/ebony and one thats rosewood/rosewood.

There's lots of other reasons certain guitars are heavy, from hardware to moisture content. Overall, the LP is thicker than a bolt neck guitar. There's more total mass, and the maple top is as heavy as...well...maple. Maple is heavier than mahogany, but to a lesser degree than mahogany is to basswood or alder. If you're going to do one of the big B.C. Rich body designs definitely stay away from maple. But if you are doing a dinky strat size, you should be fine. Remember a FR trem adds its own weight, and the more you carve and contour the body the more weight you've removed. So I go with really big tummy cuts and elbow cuts.

[BCShredder]

OK I checked it out and it's coming in right around 22lbs. This is the entire guitar, I don't know if you were thinking just the body. Eastern Rock Maply wasn't called Rock for nothing