al heeley Posted September 29, 2006 Report Share Posted September 29, 2006 Managed to get a kindly lumber man to slice up my thick planks of walnut. I now have 12mm top for the fretless bass and almost 50mm for a solid body guitar, which is most likely going to end up as a carved prs-type. My Warmoth 5-string bass has a very nice figured walnut top, only 4-5mm on an alder body, and sounds great, but I'm completely in the dark about a walnut solid body guitar. Does anyone know if this can be considered a good tone wood to be used on it's own for a solid-body guitar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted September 29, 2006 Report Share Posted September 29, 2006 Walnut tends to be good for a more bassy sound. Thus the reason you'll see it on a lot more basses than guitars as a solid body. If you are okay with a deep sound, then it is fine for a body. I have actually been kicking around a solid walnut Tele with a neck through design just to see what I could get it too sound like. Possibly even a thinline model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alarung Posted September 29, 2006 Report Share Posted September 29, 2006 I'm just finishing a walnut guitar, it's currently strung up for a test fun proir to finishing. It's a bolt-on double cutaway, hardtail, double humbucker, with a maple neck and fretboard. 25.5 inch scale (647.7 mm), and the body is 1.75 inches(44.45mm) thick. It's a very, very, clear tone. Defined, but not harsh at all. I think the maple adds some high-end snap to the walnuts low end, making a very balanced midrange machine, which is really a very proper guitar sound. It's a great jazz tone. And it's so pretty. Like chocolate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prauny Posted September 29, 2006 Report Share Posted September 29, 2006 The old Gibson 'The Paul' was made from Walnut. Ive not heard it mtself, but people tell me its sounded great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackburncustomguitars Posted September 29, 2006 Report Share Posted September 29, 2006 Walnut tends to be good for a more bassy sound. Thus the reason you'll see it on a lot more basses than guitars as a solid body. If you are okay with a deep sound, then it is fine for a body. I have actually been kicking around a solid walnut Tele with a neck through design just to see what I could get it too sound like. Possibly even a thinline model. Hi, If I could figure out how to put a pic on here, I'd show you two recent builds of mine. One is a neck-thru 12-string with walnut chambered wings, and the other is a "jazz" tele of chambered walnut and northern ash with a Lollar Charlie Christian pickups in the neck and a Harmonic Design in the bridge. Peace, Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackburncustomguitars Posted September 29, 2006 Report Share Posted September 29, 2006 Walnut tends to be good for a more bassy sound. Thus the reason you'll see it on a lot more basses than guitars as a solid body. If you are okay with a deep sound, then it is fine for a body. I have actually been kicking around a solid walnut Tele with a neck through design just to see what I could get it too sound like. Possibly even a thinline model. Hi, If I could figure out how to put a pic on here, I'd show you two recent builds of mine. One is a neck-thru 12-string with walnut chambered wings, and the other is a "jazz" tele of chambered walnut and northern ash with a Lollar Charlie Christian pickups in the neck and a Harmonic Design in the bridge. Peace, Dave Walnut tends to be good for a more bassy sound. Thus the reason you'll see it on a lot more basses than guitars as a solid body. If you are okay with a deep sound, then it is fine for a body. I have actually been kicking around a solid walnut Tele with a neck through design just to see what I could get it too sound like. Possibly even a thinline model. Hi, If I could figure out how to put a pic on here, I'd show you two recent builds of mine. One is a neck-thru 12-string with walnut chambered wings, and the other is a "jazz" tele of chambered walnut and northern ash with a Lollar Charlie Christian pickups in the neck and a Harmonic Design in the bridge. Peace, Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted September 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2006 Wow, that 'jazz' tele sounds marvellous! Can i borrow it? This is going to end up as a solid prs-type body with a carved/profiled top. How important is it to do all your cavity routing fuirst, for the neck pocket, the bridge and pickups before you start shaping the top? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted September 30, 2006 Report Share Posted September 30, 2006 with the understanding that each piece of wood within a species can sound different i have to disagree with the "good for a bassy sound" assesment. this was my third solid body walnut guitar... CASCADE and it's a great sounding, very versatile instrument. i contribute that to the pickups as well as the wood. i wouldn't call walnut a neutral wood..it seems to me that it can be a bit on the bright side and it definitely contributes to good sustain. this particular guitar has a dimarzio paf joe and a paf fred and a pretty hot single coil that i can't remember at the moment. it goes from very jazzy/bluesy to country twang to rock with the flip of a toggle. aside from the tonal qualities you're gonna love working with it. cuts well and sands even better. not a great deal of worry about tearout while routing. i've used an oil finish on all of mine and it accepts it very well. i just cut out a body blank from my last piece of a 10' plank that i bought and am looking forward to working with it again. good luck on your project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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