Maple

The brightness of tone makes these beautifully flamed hardwoods a favorite choice for arch top and jazz guitars. Hard maple is an excellent choice for those who want a very distinct presence and definition between individual notes that emphasize the treble and mids. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) from the Northeast is the hardest of the maples; Taylor and some other makers use the softer big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) from the West coast. Any of the maples can have amazing figuring including curly, birdseye, blister or quilted. Maple mandolins are traditionally made from the densest, hardest, highly flamed curly maple. Collings and Paul Reed Smith produce gorgeous electrics with curly or quilted maple tops that they stain in wild transparent colors or sunbursts.