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 soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

indigenous to

former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. 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 referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

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 Gagliano is the name of a famous family of Italian luthiers from Naples, dating back to the early 18th century. The Gagliano dynasty – particularly Alessandro, Nicolò I and Gennaro – are considered the high point of Neapolitan violin making. ...

. 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 Culture of Yugoslavia