Bosnian maple

Bosnian maple is a type of Acer platanoides, a European mountain maple indigenous to former Yugoslavia. It was a very high grade of maple, very light and very strong, according to some the best wood in the world for making violins,^[1] as it had the finest resonance.^[2] The classic Italian violin makers probably used wood from Tyrol, or northern Yugoslavia, or Switzerland.^[3] The maple has mostly been used for the back plates.^[4] It was used by the Gagliano family of luthiers. Portuguese violin maker António Capela uses the Yugoslavian spruce and maple.^[2]

References

1. The Roadshow Archive, Gagliano Family Violin & François Nicolas Voirin Bow, ca. 1800: "... made of Yugoslavian maple. This is a very high grade of maple, very light and very strong, the best violin-making wood in the world.
2. Evans 2004, p. 179: "Antonio travels to Italy and Germany to select Yugoslavian spruce or the more beautiful maple, the woods with the finest resonance."
3. Harvey 1995, p. 52: "The table wood of the classic Italian makers probably came from the Tyrol or what became northern Yugoslavia or Switzerland ..."
4. Strings, Volume 10, p. 26: "From aged Yugoslavian maple come some of the finest back plates"

Sources

• Strings, Volume 10, String Letter Corporation, 1995
• David J. J. Evans (2004), Portugal, New Holland Publishers, ISBN 9781860111266
• Brian W. Harvey (1995), The violin family and its makers in the British Isles: an illustrated history and directory, Clarendon Press, ISBN 9780198162599