Roasted maple on a budget guitar?

[Embenny]

Absolutely, the QC on cheap import guitars is absurdly high these days compared to even just a couple decades ago.

I mean, I just picked up an LTD Viper at my local used guitar shop for $279 CAD ($215 USD), and the frigging thing has better fretwork and finish than my American Special Jazzmaster did, and it even has a set of USA-made EMGs (81/85).

These days, if you're buying a new guitar for $2000+, you're paying for things other than playability and tone. Things like country of manufacture, nitro finishes, custom design work, etc. And it's fine to value those things. But if you bought a $4k USA Select series Jackson with EMG 81 and 85 in it, it's not gonna be playing 20 times as nice as my Viper and sure as hell isn't gonna sound 20 times nicer.

On the other hand, it's gonna be some kind of crazy looking thing built exactly the way you wanted it by American workers with full warranty and will play and sound as nice as a guitar can within the specs you gave them.

So, is it worth it? Sure, if you have the money and value those things. But the price you gotta pay to have a guitar that plays and sounds great is a whole lot lower than it used to be.

[Kyon]

roasted maple neck for stability

I'm probably not up on the roasted maple thing, but, could you explain?

So what makes neck unstable is moisture trapped inside the wood. By roasting the wood you're removing all the moisture and sugars. I believe also they don't require a protective finish cause the wood naturally seals itself in the roasting process.

Also this process isn't that expensive to do and probably makes even more sense on budget instruments because of the speed vs normal aging.

[vistavision]

roasted maple neck for stability

I'm probably not up on the roasted maple thing, but, could you explain?

So what makes neck unstable is moisture trapped inside the wood. By roasting the wood you're removing all the moisture and sugars. I believe also they don't require a protective finish cause the wood naturally seals itself in the roasting process.

Also this process isn't that expensive to do and probably makes even more sense on budget instruments because of the speed vs normal aging.

Informative and concise. The roasted maple thing was always on my periphery so this helps. Thanks!

[gnoleb]

So what makes neck unstable is moisture trapped inside the wood. By roasting the wood you're removing all the moisture and sugars. I believe also they don't require a protective finish cause the wood naturally seals itself in the roasting process.

Also this process isn't that expensive to do and probably makes even more sense on budget instruments because of the speed vs normal aging.

I have a USA Custom roasted maple on my Baja Tele. The Baja neck needed the most adjustment of any of my guitars due to weather/temp changes, which was mega annoying with the vintage truss rod. I opted for no finish and it feels amazing (also a compound radius, which I also like). Only downside of no finish is that the fretboard does accumulate finger dirt noticeably faster.

I'd be weary of a roasted maple neck at that price point. I remember a video with the Know Your Guitar guy saying he's seen or heard of makers saying roasted maple, but it not being done properly to the point where it does what its supposed to do.