THE JOYS OF LUTHERIE

Flamed Maple - love this wood - with a few coats of varnish you get this fabulous light brown 'mackerel sky' effect.

To tell the truth, it's a right bitch to work - if you try planing it either with  the grain or against  the grain it'll rip itself to pieces - you need to plane it across  the grain - OK?

And then it has an incredible tendency to shrink - the braces needed to support a back made of maple don't shrink...

So - if the Maple back is too young - after a few years, the braces will become unstuck & start to poke through the sides...

The joys......