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I believe it has more to do with economics than with function. Fender did
very very few things for purely functional reasons. Leo was a frugal
businessman, and I assume flatsawn maple was used because it was
cheaper and more widely available, and with electric guitar strings and a
truss rod worked just fine.
Many choices made for simply financial and production reasons in early
instruments of a particular flavor (solid body electric guitars in this case)
gained the status of a desired standard over time. Those instruments
were what was available at the time, and it's what the musicians who
defined a new sound used. People became conditioned to that sound as
good. It defined the goal for later players.
There are people making quartered maple necks today, but I've heard
complaints about being to stiff and bright. Had they been quartered in
the 50's I'm sure players today would complain that flat sawn is to loose
and floppy.
When trying to figure out why something is done a certain way, it can
often be a big mistake to search for some ultimate quality or reason to a
design, because it's often not there. It's usually much more revealing to
consider the context in which the instruments were produced, and the
market they were made for.
_________________
Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.
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