Acoustic Guitar Construction

I have a nice set of figured maple for back and sides, and am just starting to think about what i should build with it.

I have molds for 00-12 and Ditson 12 fret. Ken's Irish Jumbo /Lowden style mold is calling to me as well.

I've never played a maple bodied guitar. There seem to be a number of sites suggesting its bright, with great projection and note separation. Others talk about it being one of the more transparent tonewoods, which I would read as not favoring the highs or lows.

It could be cool to do a 00-12 to compare directly with the walnut/sitka.

For tops I have on hand a really stiff Sitka, a little softer sitka, and a reasonably stiff Bear claw sitka.

Do any of you have a favorite recipe for flamed/figured maple?
How about a poll...

Alex DeGrassi plays a Maple Lowden at his concerts -- Outstanding! As a matter of fact The "O" size I am constructing is Quilted Maple with a (5) piece Walnut neck.

Ken - you're bringing me one step closer to get that "O" size mold. Do you offer neck/block/bracing components to complement that mold?

Maple seems to be most commonly used on larger bodies guitars, I'm assuming to help compensate for the brighter tone - larger Gibson, Guild and Taylors. I've seen a few figured maple small bodies from Rasmussen and a custom or two that people have done through the Martin custom shop.

To me Sitka is a good choice some of the others have "things" going on that would clash (IMO) with the figure in the maple. A nice straight grained cedar may work as well and help offset some of the brightness of the maple should one want to go in that direction.

The DeGrassi Lowden is an "F" model about the same size as an OM, Quilted Maple, Sitka soundboard.

Hey Daniel,
I made only one maple/sitka largebody guitar, but it does not sound bright at all. In fact really warm deep basstones. FWIW, 'cause I'm not expert on the matter.

Here is a simple soundbite (mike into the computer):
http://hermanarendsenguitars.nl/mp3/frank.mp3

Herman - that sounds really nice.

I'm liking the idea of the Ditson or Lowden O style figured maple with some straight grained sitka.

Need to start figuring out what type of side bender to build...