Rock Maple?

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Dave M
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Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2014 6:44 am
Location: Somerset UK

Rock Maple?

Post by Dave M » Wed Oct 21, 2015 5:56 am

There is an interesting topic on the Delcamp Classical form talking about Sycamore and Maple.

In your book Trevor you at one point refer to Rock Maple, I think for the bridge plate. I wondered if you were referring to a particular maple species or simply meant a hard maple?

In UK timber yards we just tend to get offered maple full stop so the answer may not help that much!

Dave
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Dave

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Trevor Gore
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Re: Rock Maple?

Post by Trevor Gore » Wed Oct 21, 2015 9:57 am

Rock maple (also known as sugar maple, hard maple and occasionally black maple) is Acer saccharum, and is what I was referring to. Black maple is a very closely related species Acer nigrum, which is barely distinguishable in cut wood and also hybridises with saccharum. Both have similar density and hardness. Hard maple is what Fender necks are made of.

Soft maple is usually Acer macrophyllum. There's a good article comparing hard and soft on the wood database here:
http://www.wood-database.com/wood-artic ... oft-maple/

English sycamore is Acer pseudoplatanus, which everyone who has lived in the UK will be familiar with. It tends to be soft compared to "hard" and is often whiter. The name sycamore has been co-opted to cover a few other species, particularly Plane trees. Plane trees have sort-of-similar leaves to the Acers, but have fruit more like the horse chestnut rather than the winged fruit of the Acers. The plane tree most commonly seen is the London plane, a very hardy street tree, created, so the story goes, as a hybrid of Platanus orientalis (oriental plane) and Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore) in Kew Gardens in London. Hard to see how trees from opposite sides of the planet would hybridise otherwise. The hybrid is larger, faster growing and much more robust than either of its parents, which is why it was planted worldwide as a street tree. Plane has very distinct medullaries, unlike those usually seen in the Acers.

Dave M
Blackwood
Posts: 595
Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2014 6:44 am
Location: Somerset UK

Re: Rock Maple?

Post by Dave M » Wed Oct 21, 2015 8:40 pm

Thanks for the thorough reply. That article is indeed very useful.
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Dave

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