German Maple (also commonly known as European Maple) has been used in
the backs and sides of Violins and other stringed instruments for
hundreds of years. It is also a popular choice for mandolins.
It has a beautiful creamy white appearance with a flamed figure. The sound is clear, sweet, loud and fundamental.
Grading is based purely on the aesthetic appearance and depth of figure.
Lower grade pieces can produce the same sound as higher grades.
- 2 x wedges to join and carve a back for a violin, viola or mandolin
- Highly figured with nice colour
- Air dried minimum 5 years
- Individually photographed - the piece in the photo is the one you will receive
- 1.1kg
2 x Wedges, minimum 430mm x 130mm x 22 tapering to 7mm (Minimum 17" x 5 1/8" x 7/8" tapering to 1/4")
Quality - Our range of Flamed European Maple is of the highest quality stock available. All pieces are air-dried and ready to use.
Look - This timber is very light in colour, almost a light yellow
to off-white. The flames make this timber stiff across the grain and
are very beautiful giving an almost 3-dimensional look that changes as
the surface is viewed from different angles.
Sound - European Flamed Maple has a very fundamental, musical
clarity. Due to its inherent lateral stiffness this timber can be
thinned out slightly more than rosewood to give a very clear, bright and
loud instrument.
Price - The price is determined by the aesthetic qualities of
each individual set. Sets with more figuring attract premium prices.
Small defects such as closed knots can also effect the price. The price
is no reflection of the sound quality and lower grade sets can produce
equally great sounding instruments to higher grades.
Availability/Renewability - This timber grows in the mountains
ranges of Europe. Due to constant demand, high quality instrument-size
pieces are becoming more rare every year as the large trees are logged
out, this is reflected in the pricing.