From what I've seen I think that curly grain is genetic. It tends to show up with a similar period in all parts of the tree. It may confer some resistance to splitting: I know it's harder to split curly fire wood than straight grained. 'Quilt' figure may be similar. My understanding is that nobody has yet figured out the origins of 'birds eye' figure. I seem to recall reading that it only shows up in North American rock maple, but I could be wrong. I know they used it on viols da gamba. It was not uncommon on 19th century German guitars.
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