I have noticed lately an incredible number of highly embellished flame maple necks for sale on eBay. Many are sold too cheap to be real IMO. Not just the Chinese necks either. I was also looking at a USA made neck. I have real flame maple necks and they don't have nearly the amount of flame to them. They look fake to me. It is almost like there is a chemical or thermal (fire) based process going on to make the wood look naturally flamed. Kind of like photo flame taken to the next level. Does anybody know anything about this? The USA neck I looked at had a very loose grain pattern indicating new / fast growth and flame marks all up & down the neck including both sides of the headstock. It just doesn't look right and doesn't make sense to me. Attached is a pic of a $103 USD Chinese neck.
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Fake Looking Flame / Roasted Maple Necks
- Thread starter BobKos
- Start date
If there is money to be made from selling genuine roasted flame maple necks you can be absolutely certain that someone is selling fake roasted flame maple necks online. It's axiomatic.
It's vaguely possible. I bought a flame-topped P body (unfinished) for $189 on the bay, and it's definitely real flame maple. OTOH, for a neck, I want a lot of other things more than flame--level frets, good thickness, good pocket fit, etc. Those are going to be questionable as well on a neck where the meager manufacturing costs went to flamed wood.
Back in the 20s, double-bass makers would make a faux flame finish on the backs of their instruments. I recently saw a 1929 Juzek with a stellar flame back that was made using an uneven roller application when applying the varnish. It was actually pretty creative.
Anything coming from overseas with uber fancy tops or necks are most likely printed. The technology around veneers and the like is pretty amazing these days… and super cheap.
Anything coming from overseas with uber fancy tops or necks are most likely printed. The technology around veneers and the like is pretty amazing these days… and super cheap.
Flame maple is NOT uncommon!
I see flames in boards at Home Depot ALL THE TIME.
“Roasting” is a QUESTIONABLE process from these vendors.
I HIGHLY doubt that they need to go through the process to fake readily available maple with flamed figuring, especially for necks being sold unfinished , which the example shown is. I used some 1x2” I got at HD to edge my workbench!
Freestone from eBay has flamed necks frequently.
Here’s 2 I’ve had, and another from a Chinese vendor a few years ago. I GUARANTEE that there are Not fake, I received “the raw “ and were sanded and reshaped. The Chatoyance of real wood can’t be faked either.
I see flames in boards at Home Depot ALL THE TIME.
“Roasting” is a QUESTIONABLE process from these vendors.
I HIGHLY doubt that they need to go through the process to fake readily available maple with flamed figuring, especially for necks being sold unfinished , which the example shown is. I used some 1x2” I got at HD to edge my workbench!
Freestone from eBay has flamed necks frequently.
Here’s 2 I’ve had, and another from a Chinese vendor a few years ago. I GUARANTEE that there are Not fake, I received “the raw “ and were sanded and reshaped. The Chatoyance of real wood can’t be faked either.
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Reminds me of the painted on grill marks of frozen steaks and burgers.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
As another has said, flame is not rare. I've also seen it on ash and birch.
I use a Sharpie.
This whole scenario reminds me of the oh-so-fake zebrawood necks from another thread.
Riis
JazznFunk
Supporting Member
This! You know you're a bassist when you're in the hardware/home supply store and you see beautiful wood cabinetry, etc. and think 'Man.... that would have made a beautiful bass neck!'
I’m looking at the second hand furniture stores, seeing a solid ROSEWOOD antique (ruined) table and chair set, trying to figure out how many fretboards and veneers I can slice it into, and there is also an EBONY jewelry box too short to be useful for a fretboard, but: going back to get all those pieces to feed my CNC or lathe!
Figuring Out Figure: Curl
Some species such as butternut and walnut logs hide their figure well.
That’s kind of what the Driftwood guitars guys did a few years ago. They found a Brazilian Rosewood bedroom set someone was selling and drove a UHaul from Florida to New York or New Jersey to pick it up and made fretboards, sides, backs and bridges from it. There’s a couple of videos about it on their YouTube channel. Which I suppose is beside the point but a cool adventure.
Smooth_bass88
vaxx!
- Oct 31, 2006
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I don’t know for certain about these necks but if you’re weary about them I would say don’t buy one
I love the flame in this piece of quarter sawn white oak.
When you take a raw flamed neck and roast it, you bet the flames become accentuated. The same thing happens when you wipe stain on any wood, the grain pops. I don’t get the question I guess.
Looks like its burned in like you say. It also looks roasted.
Maybe it's actually FLAMED maple, not FLAME maple
As in, we took a torch to it
Like the scam where you buy something cheap and it arrives and its a miniatyre model, but you cant return it cus you didnt read the fine print where the measurements were..
Ever eaten a " charbroiled" burger from Burger King? How about frozen TV dinner Salisbury steak? Point being it tastes like High Society.
So the ink is like that fake charcoal stuff makes everything taste like Ponderosa Steak House?
I thought "High Society." was a, eh, magazine.
