I have documented my experiences with different woods here -
http://www.petercoombe.com/ant.html
A couple of reasons. Maple does not grow in many countries of the world. It does not grow in Australia and we have a vast variety of different native tree species, many of which work very well in mandolins. Different from Maple, but still produce excellent sound. Spruce also does not grow here and has to be imported if you want to use Spruce for the top. So there is the availability and cost issues. The other reason is to produce a different sound. Maple has excellent clarity and brightness, but other woods such as Walnut and especially Tasmanian Myrtle have more warmth to the sound. Tasmanian Myrtle will give you a warm sweet sound that is virtually impossible to get using Maple. Often a King Billy Pine and Tasmanian Blackwood combination will give you such a clear sweet sound once the mandolin has been played in that no Spruce/Maple combination can match it. There are swings and roundabouts, however, often you do sacrifice something to gain something else so it is a matter of personal preference. That also applies to different species of Spruce and different species of Maple.Since maple has the traits needed for a back, stiffness, relatively high stiffness to mass, durability, and beauty, why use anything else?
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