Need help selecting a secondary wood

[colville6]

I am planning on building a jewelry box out of Padauk which will have quite a number of large and small drawers. Given how many drawers I am doing, and the fact that the interiors will be lined with velvet, I don’t see any need for using Padauk for the drawer carcass; it would get a little pricey given the amount of hidden drawer body. I am in need of some help selecting a secondary wood to save some money. I am leaning towards Hard Maple for the carcass, but am wondering if the color will be so far off that it will look strange, or if the contrast will be nice. I am also wondering if there will be any issues in glue-up between the two types of wood. I plan on using simple rabbit and dado joints for the drawers (which raises another question; I don’t have a dovetail jig, and don’t really see the benefit of using any specialty router bits simply for 1/2” thick drawers which will barely carry any weight. Is a rabbit and dado joint the way to go?) Any experience with what will look nice together and save me some money? I would like this to be an heirloom for a long time, so I would prefer to err on the side of durability and aesthetics verses price.

Thanks for the suggestions

[dmule1]

Maple isn't a bad choice.Ash or butternut might be a shade browner. As to the drawer joints I always liked the tongue and dado, or perhaps it's called the drawer lock joint. Either way, happy woodworking:)

[garager]

Black ash, poor mans Oak but I just love the stuff, in fact I trimmed 2 rooms in my house with it. Just love the grain, might look nice w/your project...

[colville6]

Thanks for the responses guys. I considered Butternut, but have never worked with it, so was cautious. I will have to go look at some samples of Black Ash, as I have never seen it, but sounds like it might work well with the colors. I plan on using a large field of lacewood as an inlay on the top with ebony initials inlayed in the lacewood.