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BOOKMATCHED QUESTION

lowphatbass

lowphatbass

****
Feb 25, 2005
5,995
5,629
west coast
#1
For the sake of argument let's say quilted maple has the illusion of bieng 3-dimensional by way of dark and light features "tricking" the eye and giving the appearance of lighting and shadows.
Why is it that under certain light conditions/viewing angles the two sides of a bookmatched cap can appear to have the same shading, and in others the exact opposite??
If this doesn't make sense I can try to post some pics.

Just Curious,

LPB
 
#3
Distance and light are what you are noticing. Up close your eye will not capture enough light to get the full effect as from about ~20'. The type of light will also change the appearance. Sodium light will be different than halogen, sun, magnesium, fluorescent, etc...
 
#4
IIRC when quilted or flame maple is bookmatched the figure is mirror imaged. So the direction of the grain will be opposite to each other(i.e. if the fibers are flowing down on one side the otherside will be flowing up). Difficult to explain and also why some oldtimers (and perfectionists alike) prefer slip-matching, which is a lot harder to pull off successfully.
 
#5
Quilted maple has curly grain. Look at the wood fibers, and note that they are not perfectly straight. What you are seeing when you move the wood to different angles is the differences in reflective properties of the different variations of curl in the grain.

Note the logs in the picture below - those are curly maple logs. The ones at the very top will be "flame maple" when ripped, the lower ones, that look blistered will be "quilted maple". Check out how the wood is actually bumpy on the outside edge? That is the actual grain of the wood having a wavy pattern to it. When you cut a board out of that length-wise, you get the effect of the 3D pattern you are talking about. You are slicing through the bumps, so within your flat plane of the board are grain variations moving "in and out" of the board, causing different reflective properties.

The reason that bookmatched halves sometimes look to have an opposing pattern is that they do - when you slice through the board, grain that is curling up toward you in one half is actually curling away from you in the opposite half. How the grain stands out is mostly a matter of the angle you are viewing them from, so they reflect a certain way. Change the angle, and the reflection you see changes, too.

Does that make any sense? I hope I explained it well...

Invalid Link Removed
 
#17
Great picture of the logs, Shawn.

I have often wondered how loggers and sawmills identify the trees that will yield different figures of wood that get turned into to beautiful necks and tops.

I'll keep an eye on the Norway Maple in my back yard for any blistering for all you luthiers. :D
 
#18
Ruckus_Instrmts said:
IIRC when quilted or flame maple is bookmatched the figure is mirror imaged. So the direction of the grain will be opposite to each other(i.e. if the fibers are flowing down on one side the otherside will be flowing up). Difficult to explain and also why some oldtimers (and perfectionists alike) prefer slip-matching, which is a lot harder to pull off successfully.
Click to expand...
So why is it that the two sides react differently, in otherwards, sometimes the quilts appear to flow in and out together, and other times they're opposite. If one side reversed and appeared to be flowing out instead of in wouldn't the other side do the opposite? In certain situations the back of my bass will actually be flowing the same direction on one end and gradually transitioning to being the opposite on the other end. I have a feeling it could involve interplay between two different light sources maybe, I'll post a picture when I get a chance maybe.
 
#20
SDB Guitars said:
The reason that bookmatched halves sometimes look to have an opposing pattern is that they do - when you slice through the board, grain that is curling up toward you in one half is actually curling away from you in the opposite half. How the grain stands out is mostly a matter of the angle you are viewing them from, so they reflect a certain way. Change the angle, and the reflection you see changes, too.
Click to expand...

Learned that the hard way on this music desk (piano part). I should have slipmatched it. Oh well, toner to the rescue.... ;)

Music Desk.jpg
 

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