maxr,Some JF30s appear (like Jared's photos above) to have high flame with very little counter grain, others (mine is one) are more like the 'topographic map' style Jeff illustrates above, mine has topographic style sides, with a medium flame back and neck. What happened there - did Guild maybe run out of JF30 quality bodies and use an occasional full bling one destined for say an F-412 blonde, but with JF style minimal decoration? Or was the process of picking the bodies just random?
It could be... I mean I don't think I've ever seen someone post authoritatively about wood selection favoring the F-412 (a.k.a., JF-65-12) over the JF-30-12. But, it's possible.
More likely (in my mind, that is ) it just depends on what wood they had available. And, my guess is that the JF-65s and the JF-30s that were built at the same time got what they got. The arched backs of the maple jumbos were done with one piece of wood, and to get a 17" wide slice of maple (even the laminations on these) requires a pretty wide blank to start with.
Again, just a guess.