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Any way to tell by pics? I bought this for some other project a long time ago, can't remember what kind of maple it is. Be a lot of bridge plates though...

Not easily that I know of. Eastern hard / rock maple would be for me. And it is cheap so ...

Andy

Measure the density. If it's low, use it for necks. If it's high, give it some jabbing with a thumbnail and see if it feels hard enough.

If you bought it locally it'll most likely be big leaf maple (western) which is fine for bridge plates, not as good as eastern hard maple (which is easy to get locally too). Don't use it on the quarter sawn face though, as it's more susceptible to splitting.

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So pretty much good to go then:)

The bottom pic is Eastern Maple. The hard stuff. If the end grain pic is the same board you're golden.

Yeah, same stick. I bought it to make aikido weapons with, so it wouldn't surprise me if it was the harder stuff. I just don't recall, it was so long ago...

I hope so, that's ringer for the chunk I sliced up for my latest build's bridge plate.
It's PD hard.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.