Why do you never see maple fretboards on standard acoustic guitars?

Mostly out of tradition ... nice acoustics have generally used rosewood, ebony or a cheaper substitute wood painted to look like RW or EB. Worth considering, however ...

* Maple is generally softer than rosewood or ebony. It would generally be less percussive, spongier sounding, plus it would dent/gouge/wear easier in raw form under modern steel strings.

* In non-raw form ... maple is prone to finger/hand staining due to its light color and would require a very non-traditional (for acoustics at least) hard gloss to thwart staining.

* Maple can be harder to rout and fill cleanly (invisibly) in the case of elaborate inlays.

That's just a few first thoughts off the top of my head.

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I am pretty sure Maple is harder than rosewood.

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Not to go against FretShack, but maple is harder. However, rosewood is denser - that's probably the difference. Rosewood's density allows it to hold up better, all things considered.

Also, despite the hardness advantage, the lower density is what makes maple spongier, IMHO. I like maple on electrics and ebony/rosewood on acoustics, but I freely admit that is probably out of tradition (I'm a Fender electric guy).

WEP and Ace, generally speaking, rosewood is more dense and harder than maple. Scratch raw rosewood and raw maple with your thumbnail and see which board sheds more fiber. Sand scraps and feel the sawdust. Again, "generally" ... I can eat more bandwidth than the mods would like to see on eastern hard rock versus western big leaf maple, flat-sawn versus quarter-sawn, etc.

Keep in mind the maple on guitars you guys are typically exposed to is treated with finishes ranging from simple sealers to a hard gloss to a satin gloss to a linseed/tung oil or an oil/gunstock wax mix. Rosewood, particularly on nicer acoustics, is treated only with oil to supplement its natural oil. Put maple in an untreated use scenario and it's more akin to raw spruce than raw rosewood.

All of those reasons are probably legit,but I would still like to find an acoustic with a maple fretboard,just to try it,and see if I like the difference.