Widening out this discussion a bit there are plenty of native UK and US woods which can be used to make stringed instruments. My own interest is in using Elder (sambucus nigra) to make wind instruments. It actually resembles bone when polished and can have a specific gravity of 0.8 (water =1). I treat it with beeswax which makes it's SG above 1 and prevents rapid dimensional change when exposed to breath moisture.