Is it Maple or Birch

[6stringman]

I recently picked up a project guitar, no markings to indicate the manufacturer, but it looks like a real old Lyons-Healy. The top is spruce (species?). The back is coming loose, so I was able to see that it and the sides are solid wood. To my eye, maple and birch have similar looking grain patterns. Is there any way to identify which it may be? The fretboard also appears similar. Pix in the link below.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/t7ngb8shuf5xw89/B4hjNyUhiK

Thanks in advance.

[printer2]

Don't know about looking at them but I sure can tell the difference in smell when I sand the Maple and Birch I have, Birch has a distinctive smell.

[Mystic]

I can't tell by looking at the pictures but I'll bet it is birch. Most of those guitars were made with birch.

[dobrodave]

That's a little honey ! Hard to tell from the pics but my money's on Birch. Maple would likely have some figure in it. Nothing wrong with Birch !

[Tom West]

To me Birch has very small pores while Maple can be called poreless. I think you have birch in that guitar.
Tom

[potatoe]

Odds are that it is birch but... in flat sawn the grain in maple tends to form "v"s whereas in birch it will form diamonds. If the sample gets around to straight grain quarter sawn birch will have tiny little flecks about 1/16 long and double hair width. Never in maple. The birch varies more in density and porousness so any stain will will have a greater variation from light to dark. And though I can't be definitive from these pics, it looks like birch.

[John Arnold]

My money is on birch.

[sweiss]

I have several old birch parlors, and the wood on yours looks very similar to mine. I concur with the others that said birch.

Mine all have solid birch tops so I'm familiar with that sound. Yours, having a spruce top, should sound quite good.

[6stringman]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm looking to learn about guitar repair, and this is the one I'm going to start on. The back has several cracks. I'm putting together a pressure cooker steamer, and as soon as I get the back off, I'm going to try printer2's method and sand on the inside of it and try to identify it by smell. I'll post my findings here. Thanks again.

[printer2]

Originally Posted by 6stringman

Thanks for all the replies. I'm looking to learn about guitar repair, and this is the one I'm going to start on. The back has several cracks. I'm putting together a pressure cooker steamer, and as soon as I get the back off, I'm going to try printer2's method and sand on the inside of it and try to identify it by smell. I'll post my findings here. Thanks again.

You get more of the smell when you sand with a belt sander of something of that sort. Same goes for cutting wood.