06/20/2025
Symphony in Maple: Crafting an All-Maple Acoustic Guitar
I have accepted a commission to build an acoustic guitar based on the ubiquitous Orchestra Model or otherwise known in my shop as the Standard Model. In this case, the client has specified the use of Maple for all parts of the instrument except the internal bracing. In this case, the latter will be made with Spruce and will be matched through the Red Dot process.
There is something deeply poetic about building a guitar entirely from maple. It is a tree that knows resilience, standing tall through the decades, its roots moving water and nutrients up from the soil, its branches reaching for the sky. It is a tree of transformation, from the brilliant flush of autumn reds and golds to the rich, luminous grain that sings when shaped with care.
This latest commission feels like an homage to the forests themselves. Maple is not the most conventional choice for a complete guitar, yet it offers something rare: clarity, articulation, and a touch of wildness. Where spruce and cedar lend warmth and shimmer, maple brings definition, like light filtering through a dense woodland canopy. Every note is distinct, every harmonic as crisp as the first frost of the season.
Maple has long been favored for backs and sides, its bright and reflective tone a staple of fine instruments. But using it for the top as well as the body and neck presents a unique challenge. Spruce, with its straight grain and natural elasticity, is the standard choice for soundboards. Maple, being denser and harder, requires a different approach—an ear finely tuned to coax out its voice, bracing refined to let it breathe, and thicknessing adjusted to allow the wood to sing rather than resist.
Yet, there is something thrilling about working with a material that demands attention, that insists on a partnership rather than blind obedience to tradition. A maple top won’t simply mimic the warmth of spruce; instead, it will offer something all its own—an articulate, clear, and expressive tone, with a shimmering high end and remarkable dynamic range.
One of my guiding principles in lutherie is to build in strength without adding weight, and maple challenges this balance in a way that excites. With careful bracing, the right graduation, and a thoughtful approach to voicing, this Orchestra Model will be expected to have the responsiveness and resonance that a great guitar demands. Therefore the guitar will include my usual accoutrements: a domed top and back, a scarf joint at the nut, a volute, and carbon fibre reinforcing rods. Wait...how is using carbon fibre rods 'adding strength without adding weight'? Well, using these rods precludes the use of a truss rod, so this arrangement actually reduces weight while adding significant strength.
And then, of course, there is the sheer beauty of the wood itself. Maple is a storyteller in grain—sometimes subtle, sometimes bold, with flame, quilt, and bird’s-eye figuring that shifts like wind through leaves. It reminds us that no two trees are alike, just as no two guitars will ever be.
Building this instrument is more than just assembling wood; it is a meditation on the forest, on the trees that have stood for generations, filtering the air, shading the understory, and sheltering the quiet life beneath their boughs. It is a reminder that every guitar begins as something living, rooted in the deep, silent history of the earth.
As I shape and carve, I observe the grain, the sound of the chisel against the wood, looking for the voice that is waiting to be released. This maple guitar will be one of a kind, not in materials but in spirit. And when it is finally strung up and played, it will carry with it the essence of the forests it came from—alive, resonant, and full of light.
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