No tonewood commonly used for guitars has a greater status gap than maple. The back and sides of acoustic guitars have historically been constructed of Rosewood or Mahogany, with maple-bodied guitars being far less common. Stradivarius violins, long considered the finest in the world, are constructed with maple back and sides. In modern times, John D’Angelico’s archtop guitars, the finest of their kind, are made of maple as well. Yet, in the flat top acoustic guitar world, guitars constructed of maple are far less common. Let’s explore why this might be, and why you might want to consider adding maple acoustic guitar to your collection.
Types of Maple Used for Guitars
Maple used in guitar construction is typically either Hard Maple or Soft Maple. Hard Maple (Acer saccharum, aka., Rock Maple, Sugar Maple) is the most dense and strongest species, and is probably known best for being used to make Fender-style bolt-on necks. Softer maple species, such as Red Maple (Acer rubrum) and Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) are also used; Taylor’s 600 Series is constructed of Bigleaf Maple, which is found on the West Coast of the United States. Maple is known for particularly beautiful figuring, commonly found on maple-topped solidbody guitars from Gibson and PRS.
Flat Top Guitars and Maple
The reasons for guitar makers historically avoiding maple have to do with the tonal characteristics of maple, and the types of music it was intended to play. Rosewood, being both denser and harder than maple, has a fast sound velocity that tends to reflect and amplify overtones, which work well in a flat top guitar used as a solo instrument or in a small-group setting. This was the way folk music was played in the 1930s and 1940s when Martin was making the iconic flat tops so revered today. Maple, on the other hand, has a damping characteristic that emphasizes note separation. Andy Powers, master luthier at Taylor guitars, refers to maple’s tone as “transparent”, and maintains that maple guitars “reflect the player.” The dampening effect of maple enhances note separation and clarity—no surprise then, that maple has shined for the construction of back and sides in archtop guitars designed for jazz.
Maple Construction
Most of the maple acoustic guitars you will see have maple back and sides paired with a spruce top. Some add a maple neck as well, and some add a maple top as well and go full bore maple construction!
Though adding maple neck imparts an additional maple quality to the sound, you don’t need an acoustic with a maple neck to get the sound of maple. Maple, however, is sometimes used for the neck of maple guitars; Taylor typically uses mahogany for their necks, but their 600 series is a true maple neck acoustic guitar, with necks constructed of beautiful flamed maple. Taylor takes it a step further with their full maple construction AD27e Flametop.
Maple Acoustic Guitar Sound
Maple has what is termed as a higher dampening quality. This means that sound waves do not travel as easily through maple as other tonewoods commonly used on acoustic guitars.
Personally, I can always identify a maple acoustic guitar. There is a certain tonal character that is immediately identifiable—slightly dampened, and with fewer overtones, lending a sense of purity. The entire note sounds enveloped with a restraint and sweetness that you don’t find in guitars not made of maple, especially at the “front” of the note (also known as the “attack”). This has long been my impression with maple-bodied guitars, and it’s been consistent. Many people maintain that maple’s higher dampening quality imparts less tone from the back and sides, highlighting the top wood; this is maple’s “transparent” sound.
As to the common idea that maple is always “bright”, I would be careful about making that generalization—the sound of a guitar is as much about the construction and voicing as the wood used. Andy Powers paid particular attention to voicing Taylor’s new 600 series, because he knew Taylor would need to overcome preconceived notions. Check out these excellent examples of maple-bodied guitars: Would you call the tone bright in the examples below?
Maple’s characteristic sound, played on a Taylor 600 series:
A Kostal guitar played by Michael Watts (music at intro and again at 4:39):
Conclusion
Although used sparingly in the past, maple is gaining popularity as more attention is given to sustainable tonewoods. Taylor Guitars has been a leader in this area, and their redesign of the maple-bodied 600 series is no exception. So next time you see a maple body acoustic, or one with a maple top—or even an all maple acoustic—give it a chance! You just might find that you like Maple’s distinctive tone more than you thought. Happy Playing!