Maple Flamed

Botanic name: Acer platanoides, A. pseudoplatanus (Europe) Acer nigrum, A.saccharum, A. rubrum, A. saccharinum (USA)

Family: Aceraceae

Grows: Europe, North-America, part of Asia

Volumeweight: 0,56 (European) 0,61 (USA)

Other names: flamed sycamore , great flamed maple, flamed Norway maple (A. platanoides), hard maple, rock maple, white maple(A. saccharum), soft maple (A. saccharium), fiddleback wood

Usage: Flamed maple, a highly decorative wood, is together with the rosewoods (Rio and Indian) the most important wood used in instrument making. It is used for back and sides in transitional guitars, classical guitars, baroque guitars and lute ribs. An other well known use is back and sides for bowed instruments like fiddles. It is also used to make woodwind instruments like flutes and recorders.

Back to letter M.

Back to woods.

Send mail to with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: April 15, 2006, © John J. van Gool