Bosnian maple is a type of ''

Acer platanoides ''Acer platanoides'', commonly known as the Norway maple, is a species of maple native to eastern and central Europe and western Asia, from Spain east to Russia, north to southern Scandinavia and southeast to northern Iran. It was introduced to ...

'', a European mountain

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

indigenous to

former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

. It was a very high grade of maple, very light and very strong, according to some the best wood in the world for making

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

s, as it had the finest resonance. The classic Italian violin makers probably used wood from Tyrol, or northern Yugoslavia, or Switzerland. The maple has mostly been used for the back plates.Strings, Volume 10, p. 26: "From aged Yugoslavian maple come some of the finest back plates" It was used by the Gagliano family of luthiers. Portuguese violin maker António Capela uses the Yugoslavian spruce and maple.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."

References

Sources

* * *{{citation, title=The violin family and its makers in the British Isles: an illustrated history and directory, author=Brian W. Harvey, publisher=Clarendon Press, year=1995, isbn=9780198162599 Maple Bosnia (region) Violins Wood Yugoslav culture