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I dont know how many electric guitar builders there are here but i'm wanting to make semi-hollow stratocaster type guitar using spaulted maple as the top. I have heard some concerns with the strength of spaulted maple, does anyone have any building experience with this wood?

I built a kitchen table with it. REally didnt see any differences than regular maple. Of course you may find pockets that are in worse shape than the wood I had. Just use some polycryl or CA to  firm up the bad spots.

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Reguards,

Ken H

Well Splatted Maple is diseased wood it is possible to get really weak Spalted Maple.

I evaluate it on a piece by piece basis. You can't even go by looks, really, just actual feeling the piece. I have one piece that is so spalted that it looks like a puddle of strawberry and vanilla pudding and it's still hard, and I have another piece that just barely looks spalted and it's easy to sink a fingernail into it.

If you're just making an electric top out of it then you could probably use styrofoam so long as the screws anchoring stuff are biting into the body core rather than just the top wood.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

From a guy building an electric out of it now... I will tell you it is a pain -- Especially the transition from punky areas to hard areas. It sands very uneven and is hard to keep the dips out of.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Yup, every board is different. Sometimes the punky stuff can be saved by soaking it with CA. It sure looks good though.

Al

I bought a matched pair one inch thick spalted curly maple for eventual use. It had some small cavities, so I sent it to a person who stabilizes wood with vacuum applied plastic resin. This is a common treatment used by some pen turners and some bowl turners. The wood cost $20 and the plastic treatment cost $100 plus shipping.