Flamed Maple
Named after the "faux" technique. . ."Flamed" Maple
Figured maple with regular parallel curly waves is often called "fiddleback," "tiger" or "flamed" maple:
There's an old time technique of faking this curly figure. The finisher would pass a lighted candle under the work piece, depositing stripes of soot from the flame directly on the wood. In skilled hands, this technique was remarkably effective.
Here's a cheap imitation of the faux flaming process. In this example the flaming, or wood figure is simulated by stripes of airbrushed pigment:
Close up, you can see the techinique is rather subtle, considering the low budget of this Stella tenor guitar:
We currently use the term "flamed" to denote very high grade figured woods. Curious, isn't it?
2/19/01: Bill Hicklin of Richmond, VA, sends this interesting note:
Back in the days of long rifles (up until the 1870's!) a curly maple stock was the thing to have. But for those who wanted the look without the price, the gunmaker would "figure" a plain maple stock like this: a length of hemp twine (the shaggier the better) was soaked in kerosene or lamp oil, and then wrapped around the stock from butt to fore-end, spaced at roughly 1/4 to 3/8 intervals. Flame was applied, and the soaked twine would smolder obligingly for some time. When done, the soot and debris was scrubbed off, and a very passable fiddleback was scorched into the wood.