Yeah Maple can be that way. I wouldn't say you got ripped off unless I
knew what you paid and could see the grade of the figure. If you paid
a real premium price then you should expect some better milling of what
you bought. Regardless, it is totally usable. Heck it used to have bark
on it and was captuerd inside a big round log. It's a lot closer to
being a guiter now then it was before and you just get to do the rest.

P.S. I met a really nice guy at the AWFS show from Northwest Timber
http://www.nwtimber.com/ they have some really nice stock.You surely
pay for what you get with these guys but they only carry figured wood
and thay had some mind blowing stuff at the show.