Thanks Owain........That was a good thread and there are others too with some decent info on other woods too.

Geez Mets......you're depressing today.....but pretty accurate! Actually a lot of instrument makers are using other, more available woods and saving the endangered stuff for the very few. I still prefer mahoghany/spruce (Adirondak) because of the sound, but everyone has a particular sound they like more.

As to maple.....hell yes! Especially if you already like mahoghany, maple is just moreso! Maple can be especially effective in other instruments outside of guitars and probably finds more use in mandos, dulcimers (hammered and Appalachian both), than it does in guitars. All of the framing and sound transmission bracing in my Hammered Dulcimers is maple as well as the pin blocks.   Since the sound of an Appalachian Dulcimer originates in the fretboard, maple, when combined with walnut or cherry for the box, makes for a very bright and loud lap dulcimer, all other things being relatively equal.

Spaw