Source:  USA (Lake States), Appalachians, Northwest USA. You can distinguish Soft Maple by it's Cream to light reddish-brown heartwood, thin white sapwood tinged slightly with reddish-brown Pattern: Usually straight-grained, sometimes found highly figured with curly fiddleback, blistered, quilted, Birds Eye or burl grain, scattered over entire tree or in irregular stripes and patches. Soft maples are roughly 25 percent softer than the hard maples; heavy, fairly strong, close-grained, stifff, uniform texture; good resistance to  abrasion and indentation, however Hard Maple is stronger and more resistant. 
Exceptionally stable Uses: It is hard to believe, but the same species used for bowling alleys can also be sliced into gorgeous veneers and made into priceless musical intruments.