Figured vs. Plain-top Rickenbackers

[sys700]

I really like the aesthetics of a highly-figured maple top on a vintage Rickenbacker, but ultimately what I want in a guitar is tone. In my experience, on the guitars I've owned, the tops with less figuring sounded better. I'm wondering if this is an anomaly, or if there's some truth to it. Most great sounding acoustic guitars seem to have a non-quilted top. Just curious if this also translates over to Rickenbacker tops or not?

This also brings up another question regarding 2-piece tops vs. 3-piece tops. It seems like a pickup straddling two different pieces of wood would be tonally inferior to a pickup centered on a solid piece of wood with two wings. I notice Rickenbacker changed to 2-piece tops in mid-66 for whatever reason and those guitars sound a bit different than the earlier 2-piece top Ricks. Have others noticed this? Do the modern C63 guitars have 2 or 3-piece tops?

[paologregorio]

Two-piece, IIRC.

the tonal difference between figured and non-figured tops might have to do with differing density of the wood between the two types.