It will depend on the exact piece of wood, but generally maple is a little more 'soft' than beech to me, though it is still nice and sturdy to play. It probably breaks in a little quicker than beech, and is a little less prone to chipping. Lots of good maple options available on the market... maple ozora, maple Crafts, a lot of Homegrowns, even my KUSA pro mod is maple! Add one to your collection and see how you like it!
maple wood is by far my favorite type of kendama to get. the wood feels really smooth to the touch and is amazing for slingers. the play is perfect for me. maple kendamas break in pretty quickly for me i'm talking 3-4 days. I just picked up a maple craft slim and this is the best kendama I have played out of my 1 year.
ive had 2 beech wood ones and now have a maple one, the maple feels smoother and the tip is so much more durable. one layer of glue and its still spikey after like 10 days, where my beech ones were already going dull. ill definitely go for it again!
Maple is a great wood. Like Alex said it's a softer wood which helps prevent chipping and also the sound of a fresh maple set up is just so crisp. It has a pretty average weight so you can put any tama on it or but it on any ken. It's a good all around wood
I use maple for the sound alone. Overall, I have found in my dama travels that maple holds up really well to extreme beatings. I usually recommend a maple dama to someone who wants a jammer that they can absolutely thrash.
Besides being smooth, the biggest difference I've noticed is it doesn't get those weird Knicks that birch gets.
Really?? Because I've noticed the opposite. My maples stay getting dented while the TKs I've owned stay strong