
Three examples of maple’s diverse anomalies and colors. Fiddleback flame maple, bird’s eye maple, and quilted maple.
Thanks to its abundant use, it’s easy to forget what luthiers have known since the early days of modern guitar building: maple is a top-notch tonewood.
There have been many celebrated tonewoods throughout the history of lutherie. In the electric-guitar domain, ash, alder, and mahogany have been traditional choices. For acoustics, the famed Brazilian rosewood and Adirondack spruce have prevailed.
However, as regulations tightened and supplies dwindled, many legacy acoustic builders, such as Martin and Gibson, moved onto Indian rosewood and Sitka spruce. Because of this, from the late ’60s on, these woods continued to transform the industry standard. But our community has seemingly lost sight of a highly viable wood—the same wood that Stradivarius used to make some of the finest bowed instruments, and the same wood that has produced among the world’s most articulate Spanish-style guitars: maple.
“Builders such as John D’Angelico and Jimmy D’Aquisto followed in that tradition, inspiring makers such as Bob Benedetto and John Monteleone who continued using maple as a primary tonewood.”
At the birth of what would become the modern flattop guitar, classical builders routinely used maple to produce concert-level musical instruments. But as time has passed, maple has fallen to the “B-list” of tonewoods, where it doesn’t belong. Maple is an excellent tonewood that even has many advantages over other wood options.
Maple is readily available, especially when compared to its tonewood counterparts. Unfortunately, this domestic availability made it a go-to wood for many builders, including those who’ve misused it in lower quality instruments. Although this may have negatively impacted maple’s reputation, its accessibility is still advantageous, and maple still stands as an effective tonewood for builders with high musical standards. Unlike the exclusivity associated with some tonewoods, any luthier could have the luxury of building with mapleA testament to its quality, maple still remains a standard choice for archtop guitar makers. In the past, this included makers such as Gibson, who introduced the Lloyd Loar Master Series instruments that included the F-5 mandolin and the L-5 guitar which set the pace for the entire archtop world. Soon after, builders such as John D’Angelico and Jimmy D’Aquisto followed in that tradition, inspiring makers such as Bob Benedetto and John Monteleone who continued using maple as a primary tonewood.Recently, maple is seeing a resurgence in its use for quality guitar making and is becoming more accepted by consumers. This is mainly due to the high prices associated with typical tonewoods, like Brazilian rosewood, and the difficulty associated with transporting such exotic woods overseas. I’m a builder who loves to use woods like Brazilian, but some of the best instruments I have ever played were constructed from maple.
Maple is among the most beautiful-looking tonewoods, with some absolutely stunning variations, such as flame, bird’s eye, blister and quilted figures. Even though I am not a fan of quilted maple—due to its lower strength-to-weight ratio—I find most other options to be suitable for guitar making that I would play any day.
Galloup G-9CE, made with Michigan hard maple, finished in a hand-rubbed sunburst with nitrocellulose finish.
Maple also comes in many different densities and stiffnesses. Softer maples can range from wood so soft you can cut with your fingernail to varieties that can surpass in hardness some Indian rosewood, and hard maple can routinely surpass the strength-to-weight of other hardwoods. Remember, though, that regardless of whether it’s hard or soft, the species does not always dictate its sufficiency due to orthotropic characteristics. Boutique builders such as myself understand this principle, and we will carefully peruse woods that meet our criteria. I have had many sets of Brazilian rosewood pass through my hands that I would not deem musically acceptable, and I have also seen maple (generally hard maple) exceed the performance of such Brazilian rosewood sets. In fact, the next guitar I build for myself will be constructed out of figured hard maple I’ve had for twenty-some years that has proven to not only be musically competitive, but sonically outperform other options at many levels.
Another premier fact about maple is its sustainability. While it has to be managed like any other tonewood, there is an abundant supply of respectable, domestically harvested maple available.
Abundant availability coupled with new sonic rating systems will certainly contribute to a resurgence in maple. However, customer acceptability is a concern, and many guitar buyers are drawn to darker tone woods for back and sides. I have made many natural-finish, or “blonde,” guitars that did not sell well in the market. But when I made the same guitar and tinted the maple back and sides with a dark stain, they performed 60 percent better in sales. This is clear proof that the guitar-buying public buys with their eyes. (Maybe next time, give that maple guitar a little extra play time before discarding it as your final option.)
The bottom line is this: maple is a completely viable tonewood, and I am eager to see it employed to construct quality-level instruments and once again become a premier option. Additionally, I am hopeful that the market is uncovering what us wood junkies have known for decades—maple is just a great option, and a prime candidate for making great sounding, concert-level guitars.
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PG contributor Tom Butwin reveals his favorite songwriting secret weapon: the partial capo. Watch how the Shubb C7 and C8 can simulate alternate tunings without retuning your guitar—and spark fresh creative ideas instantly.
Shubb C8b Partial Capo for Drop-D Tuning - Brass
The C8 covers five of the six strings, leaving either the low E or high E string open, depending on how it's positioned.
- Standard setup: Placed on the 2nd fret while leaving the low E string open, it simulates Drop D-style sounds—except you're still in standard tuning (key of E). You get that big, droning bass feel without retuning.
- Reverse setup: Flipping the capo allows the high E string to ring, giving you shimmering drones and new melodic options across familiar chord shapes.
- A flexible tool that lets you simulate alternate tunings and create rich sonic textures—all while keeping your guitar in standard tuning.
Shubb C7b Partial Capo for DADGAD Tuning - Brass
The C7 covers three of the six strings—either D, G, and B or A, D, and G—depending on how it's flipped.
- Typical setup (D, G, B): Creates an open A chord shape at the 2nd fret without needing your fingers. This frees you up for new voicings and droning notes in the key of A.
- Reversed setup (A, D, G): Gets you close to a DADGAD-style tuning vibe, but still keeps you in standard tuning—great for modal, spacious textures often found in folk or cinematic guitar parts.
Use it alone or stack it with the C8 for wild, layered effects and truly out-of-the-box inspiration.
The Future Impact V4 is an incredibly versatile pedal with an exceptional range of sounds. In addition to producing synthesizer sounds such as basses, leads and pads, it can function as an octaver, chorus, flanger, phaser, distortion, envelope filter, traditional wah-wah, tremolo, reverb, etc., and even has a built-in tuner. It can potentially replace an entire pedalboard of dedicated single-effect pedals.
The very powerful signal processor of the Future Impact V4 is able to replicate the various oscillator, filter, amplifier and envelope generator blocks found in classic synthesizers. In addition, it contains signal processing blocks more traditionally used for processing the sound of an instrument such as a harmonizer block and audio effects such as chorus, distortion and EQ. These architectures complement each other in a very flexible way.
Setting the standard for the bass guitar synth pedals since 2015, together with an enthusiastic community and long line of great artists, the Future Impact V4 is the guitar synth platform for the next decade.
Belltone Guitars has partnered Brickhouse Toneworks to create a one-of-a-kind, truly noiseless Strat/Tele-tone pickup in a standard Filter’Tron size format: the Single-Bell pickup.
The Single-Bell by Brickhouse Toneworks delivers bonafide single-coil Strat and Tele tones with the power of a P-90 and no 60-cycle hum. Unlike typical stacked hum-cancelling designs, Brickhouse Toneworks uses a proprietary ‘sidewind’ approach that cancels the 60-cycle hum without sacrificing any of the dynamics or top-end sparkle of a Fender-style single coil.
Get the best of both worlds with clear bell-like tones on the neck pickup, signature quack when combining the neck and bridge pickups, and pristine twang in the bridge position backed with the fullness and power of a P-90. Push these into overdrive and experience the hallmark blues tone with plenty of grit and harmonic sustain — all with completely noiseless performance.
Key Features of the Single-Bell:
- Cast Alnico 5 Magnet, designed to be used with 500k pots
- Voiced to capture that signature Fender-style single coil tone without the 60-cycle hum
- Lightly potted to minimize squeal
- Made in the USA with premium quality materials
The retail price for a Bridge and Neck matching set is $340.00 and they’re available directly and exclusively through Belltone® Guitars / Brickhouse Toneworks at belltoneguitars.com.
Designed for players who demand flexibility without sacrificing tone, the Aquanaut fuses the rich warmth of classic analog delay with the extended range and clarity of modern digital designs. Featuring up to 600 milliseconds of delay time, the Aquanaut easily covers everything from tight slapback echoes to lush, ambient textures and rhythmic soundscapes – all with a simple, intuitive control layout.
Unlike many digital delays that can sound sterile and detached, the Aquanaut retains an organic, analog-inspired voice. Repeats are smooth and musical, gently fading into the mix to create depth and dimension without overwhelming your dry signal. Whether you’re chasing vintage tape echo, adding subtle space to your solos, or building massive atmospheric layers, the Aquanaut keeps your tone clear, present, and inspiring.
Berserker Electronics Aquanaut Delay/Echo
Key features include:
- Up to 600ms of delay time for expanded creative possibilities
- Analog-voiced digital architecture for warm, natural-sounding repeats
- Ambient-style echo that enhances, not distracts from, your core tone
- Simple, intuitive controls for delay time, feedback, and blend
The Aquanaut is available direct at www.berserkerpedals.com and Reverb at a $149 street price.