The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm having a problem lately finding decent curly maple suitable for lap steels. Previous suppliers are now sending wood that is warped, split, or almost no figure. Anyone have a good source? I don't mind paying top dollar if the wood is good but paying top dollar for firewood is not cost effective.

I have dealt with Kevin for the past 2 years. What he shows you in the pictures is exactly what you get and his descriptions are spot on. He shows you at least 4 views of the piece of wood on his site. Here is his email address.
kevin@curlymaplewood.com

E-Bay has a lot of curly maple as well as quilted and birdseye.
I've never bought any there, but it may be some good suppliers?

I have never bought from them, but I enjoy looking at their inventory. Awesome looking stuff. http://www.curlymaple.com/Luthier_Material_s/46.htm

Check with Jim Adams adamsresonator.com He usually has some very good maple woods he builds guitars with.

Thanx,
Jim

Thanks for all the replies. Andy, your eBay suggestion looks the most promising. Greg, I just bought a piece from curlymaple.com and the nice figure wasn't there in the 8/4 piece I received. Jim, I'll check with Adams Resonator, and lastly, Bill, I recently bought 3 pieces from Kevin at curlymaplewood.com and they weren't suitable. It's a tall order to get 8/4 x 10" x 40". Luthier guitar woods are usually much thinner. I may need to go back to slicing and dicing and gluing but my customers seem to prefer one solid piece. .. Bob

Hey Bob, we sell a lot of wood to luthiers including Tim Sheerhorn, Paul Beard, Jackson Steel Guitars, Martin, Gibson, Monteleone etc.
hearnehardwoods.com, there is a $300 mail order minimum.
We have tiger maple, curly maple and European maple.
Thanks, Rick