Maples

Family: Aceraceae / Sapindaceae - Order: Sapindales - Class: Magnoliopsida

Scientific name: Acer Sp.

Trade name: Maple / Acer

Also known as Maple Sp. / Acer Sp.

Origin: United States of America, Canada, Central America, All Europe, and Asia.

Instrumental uses:
Guitar back and sides, Soundboards, Guitar necks, fingerboards, bridges, head plates, peg heads and bindings.

Tonal properties:

For guitar classical, acoustic or electric guitars there are few on the favorite choice by ocidental luthiers:

-   Black Maple - (Acer nigrum)

As tonewood:

The taptone is very similar in all hard maples; very loud sounding with tight and defined, overall bright tone and very well balanced on all notes. Produces a great guitar with a very punchy sound and good projection. Used on guitar necks it is incredibly punchy and has great note separation. It doesn’t have the deep and sustained sound of rosewoods but sounds very energetic and musical.

Can be easy to work but may be hard to sand but turns, glues well and finishes very well.

 Also known as Black Sugar Maple it is a Hard Maple type.

Can be found more often on the Mid East and North East of the United States; southeast of Canada.

Is a moderate dense wood but stiff and hard wood, depending on the place where it grows, with an average dried weight nearly of 40 lbs/ft3 or 640 kg/m3.

CITES status is unrestricted. Is reported on the IUCN Red List as Least Concern.

-   Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum)

As tonewood:

Is often used for guitar soundboards but also can be used as acoustic guitars back and sides and electric guitar bodies as well.

The tap tone is likely Hard Maple type even this one is softer, all the spectrum is there, with a more relaxed bass and less present brilliant tone. Got a very good note separation.

Easier to work, glues well and finishes very well.

 Is a softer maple. Can be found more often on Northeastern United States.

The tree aspects are similar to other maple trees.

It is a moderate soft wood but stiff and very resistant. Depending on the place where it grows, with an average dried weight nearly of 33 lbs/ft3 or 530 kg/m3.

CITES status is unrestricted. Is reported on the IUCN Red List as Least Concern.

-   Hard Maple / Rock Maple (Acer saccharum)

As tonewood:

Is often used for electric guitar necks, also with classical or acoustic guitar necks. Can be used in acoustic guitars back and sides and electric guitar bodies as well. Also is a very good wood for bindings and purfings, peg heads, head plates and inlays.

The tap tone is likely Hard Maple type. This one has a very loud sound, a very punchy sound. Very high basses with well defined and crystal highs, extraordinary note separation with all the spectrum on the range, very present and brilliant tone. Great sound projection.

Can be easy to work, sanding can be difficult but turns and glues well and finishes very well.

Can be found more often in Northeastern North America and Eastern Canada. The tree reaches the same measures of Black maple. This is the hardest of the Maples.

The tree aspects are similar to other maple trees. Hard Maple wood has a very fine texture, is hard, heavy, stiff,  dense and very resistant. Average dried weight nearly of 44 lbs/ft3 or 705 kg/m3.

CITES status is unrestricted. Is reported on the IUCN Red List as Least Concern.

-   European maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) also known as Sycamore maple and German maple.

As tonewood:

Father of all string instruments of Ocidental music history. Depending on the part of the boards  can be slightly softer or highly hard and stiff, can be used as back and sides and soundboards for several types of string instruments, classical and acoustic guitar as well of course.

This so tonal wood sounds very loud with a great presence, big sound projection, extremely punchy and very well balanced over all frequency range spectrums. Typical high basses and and an extraordinary note separation overall.

Easy to work, sawing and sanding can be difficult but turns and glues well and finishes extraordinary well.

 It´s a native of Central Europe and Western Asia. Also in high lands of southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy). Can also be found as the famous and ancient European Flamed Maple. The color of the wood is similar to other maple kinds and the grain is generally straight but is also usual to be wavy or curly. With an extraordinary fine texture. Average dried weight nearly of 38 lbs/ft3 or 615 kg/m3.

CITES status is unrestricted. Is reported on the IUCN Red List as Least Concern.

 The Maple family is wide, with nearly 130 species and can be also classified by wood type in two big classes: Soft and Hard maples. In many cases this classification is also influenced by the specie itself or the specific conditions of growth that can turn the wood fibers harder and stiffer, all without talking about heartwoods or sapwoods.

In general all Maple have the sapwood color from golden white, to a light brown cream color, sometimes with a slight reddish gold pattern. The heartwood is usually a light reddish brown with white golden patterns. Another aspect for the hardness  and stiffness of maples is the way of growing and type of soils or land conditions and several other factors that can affect the figure in grain on the beginning of the growing process or on the decay of a tree, also if got injuries caused by insects leaving marks or causing the origin of fungus during the growing. Here we can classify the final result of these natural factors by the types (not species) of figured maple like:

- Ambrosia Maple - caused by insects that bring a few fungii that discolor marking parts of the wood giving a very decorative pattern and can be found on hard and soft maples.

-   Birdseye maple - Figured wood occasionally found in Acer saccharum, also called as hard maple when unfavored growing factors creat highly figured patterns similar to small brighter or darker eyes.

-   Curly Maple / Flamed Maple / Tiger Maple: Figured wood that occurs more often in soft maples, even though it can be seen in hard maples. The grain gets curled by anomalies in cells causing wood fibers to grow distorted, more evident when the trees are very large and  long. Very evident when boards are quatersawn.

-   Spalted Maple- As with Ambrosia, created by fungus of several types, with combinations of darker parts surrounding the growing of new wood parts with much lighter and bright color. Likely Ambrosia maple this can happen on soft or hard maples.

-   Quilted Maple- As with Curly Maple can be seen on soft but also can be seen on hard Maples mostly the Bigleaf Maple. There are several grades of quilted maple. From the root to middle growth of the tree it can be found, and also the type of cut made; mostly quatersawn.

 The biggest part of acer species are native to Asia, with a number also appearing in Europe, northern Africa, and North America. Only one specie, Acer laurinum, extends to the Southern Hemisphere. Unfortunately and dramatically there is one already extinct North American native, the Acér Chaneyi. A few other Maples are reported by IUCN as Critically Endangered and Endagered respectively:

 Acer undulatum native from Turkey, Acer skutchii (Álamo plateado) native from Guatemala and Mexico, Acer binzayedii also native to México and Acer pentaphyllum native from China. reported as endangered: Acer chiangdaoense, Acer griseum, Acer mazandaranicum, Acer pseudowilsonii, all native from China.

Some others reported as Vulnerable, like:

Acer fenzelianum, Acer miaotaiense, Acer tibetense native from  China, All native from China. Acer takesimense and Acer okamotoanum native from Republic of Korea. Acer osmastonii native from India and Acer divergens native from Turkey.

All other species are not reported. Few reported as Least Concern  as Acer granatense (Spanish Maple), Acer saccharine (Silver maple), Acer rubrum (Red Maple), Acer campestre ( Field Maple), Acer heldreichii (Mountain Maple), Acer opalus (Italian Maple), Acer platanoides (Norway Maple) and  Acer nigrum (Black Maple) for example.

In general CITES status is still yet unrestricted.