Walnut as a tone wood

[jklotz]

Walnut was never on my radar up until recently. I've heard a few demos that really sparked my interest. I don't have any experience with it. How would you describe it as a tone wood? How would you describe the qualities of it?

[perttime]

Just from comments that I've read: walnut would fall somewhere betweeen mahogany and rosewood. Obviously, much depends on what the luthier/builder does with it.

[gmel555]

Tops and construction play such a big role, but from the few walnut guitars I've played, my first thoughts are balanced and articulate. Walnut doesn't have the accentuated mids of some hog guitars but is has a bit fatter bottom. Relative to rosewood the mids are not as scooped and the low end is not as "thick" but is nicely present and focused. Hope that makes a bit of sense; despite how much we talk about tone, it still sure is tough to describe. I hope one day to have a sweet walnut guitar, not sure by who, but I've played a couple very nice walnut Larrivees.

[colins]

I’m in the fortunate position of having two guitars by the same builder, same size, same topwood. One has walnut B&S and the other has rosewood. The type of walnut and of rosewood will obviously have an impact in any comparison (these are claro and African blackwood respectively) but in general terms after 14 years of playing both I can say the walnut offers a drier, “woodier” tone and with slightly enhanced trebles. It is not as rich as the rosewood but is just as appealing in its own way. The two guitars have similar sustain.

Interestingly the two guitars respond very differently to strings. The walnut one is best with Newtone Heritage while the ABW one shines with Earthwood silk and steel.

I’ve also owned mahogany guitars by Taylor and Martin and I’d say that, if one could ignore the major differences between builders, walnut brings a sound that is closer to mahogany than to rosewood. I always choose a builder first, but once that is done, a tonewood like walnut can provide nuance to that builder's signature sound.

[SalFromChatham]

I owned one Walnut back guitar… a Gibson J-45 Studio Walnut. I sold it but… and stop me if you’ve heard this… I shouldn’t have. Dynamite guitar it was. Very close to mahogany; dry not wet, woody, and growl. Probably the best guitar I have ever recorded with.

[dnf777]

For whatever reason, Gibson's walnut guitars seem to shine a little above most others, IMO. I have an early black walnut/spruce small body, that really sings. I have a Martin GPC and 3 home builds of BW/sitka, and they are all kinda "meh". In fairness, the GPC sounds great plugged in (which it was designed for) and my builds obviously suffer from luthier ineptitude.

When everyone figures out Gibson's secret, I think black walnut is poised to be a great tonewood. Even at that, I still of am the school of thought that back and sides are a relatively small component of tone compared to the top wood and bracing.

[RodB]

Walnut pairs well with Redwood and Cedar to balance out the overtones that can otherwise become too much of a good thing, especially when PB strings are used.

[gretsch4me]

I have a Gibson J15 as well as a D18, D28 and D35. I will step out on a limb and say if it was my only dread, I'd be very happy with it. Tonewise it does fall somewhere midway between a D18 and D28 having it's own distinct monstrous sound. I use the same medium gauge strings and Eb tuning on all my dreads, so if there was any overlap, one of these would go. But yeah, dryer, woody and I'll add thumpy in there too.

I would venture to say this though, if you're hesitant about getting a guitar with walnut b/s, seriously don't be. As it stands, my J15 gets way, way more play time than my Martin's, maybe due to the shorter scale length too, but primarily because it just sounds so friggin' awesome.

[FingahPickah]

Can't speak to Claro but I have a custom built ss dread Engelmann over beautifully grained Black Walnut that sounds awesome.

Very interesting tonal characteristics - to my ears it's like rosewood (my Martin D40) meets maple (my Guild D44M).

Warm, (not muddy) bass, out front-punchy mids and clear, ringing trebles.

[BrunoBlack]

I own a small jumbo Adi/English Walnut and an 000 Adi/Claro. I also owned another 000 that was Adi/Bastogne. It’s too difficult to say it’s “like” something else because so much depends on the individual guitar. What I can say is I think walnut is a terrific choice. My guitars provide nice deep bass, balance, full mids and thick trebles. Overtones are ample without being overbearing. Sustain in outstanding and overall, after my experience with Walnut — it’s always in the running.

[Rudy4]

I built my first acoustic over 30 years ago and chose walnut for back and sides. It turned out to be a great dred and I played it for many years. I'd describe it as being quite resonant, but a little more focused than a mahogany guitar or the same type.

Many years later I purchased a Lowden with walnut back and sides with cedar top. I'd describe the tone in much the same way.

I currently play an all mahogany size 0 14 fret which I love. I have considered making the exact same guitar in solid walnut to see how it would directly compare. The mahogany sounds so good I may have a tough time getting motivated for that project, though.

[ewalling]

Originally Posted by SalFromChatham

I owned one Walnut back guitar… a Gibson J-45 Studio Walnut. I sold it but… and stop me if you’ve heard this… I shouldn’t have. Dynamite guitar it was. Very close to mahogany; dry not wet, woody, and growl. Probably the best guitar I have ever recorded with.

That might be something to do with Gibson. I had a fine CJ-165R (rosewood and sitka) that had the most delicious growl in the mids.

Likewise, I should never have sold it!

[jcpharm]

i REALLY like walnut - i have a Furch Orange GC-SW (Sitka/Black Walnut) and i use it as a main strummer especially when i'm solo or maybe with just a piano with me. to me, it is sort of "mahogany bright" - the treble strings get a little more sparkle which i'm always missing when i've played Hog/sapeles, but the overall tone is still really balanced and has enuf mid-presence for some body when compared to my 000-28 (sitka/rosewood) which has a more scooped sound (which i also like very much but more for fingerpicking, light strumming, and in a band context where other instruments are providing that mid-range).

[RLetson]

I've posted about this any number of times, but once more won't hurt. Much.

A friend with a good bit of experience wondered about back & sides material and built three guitars as close to identical as he could make them, with mahogany, walnut, and Indian rosewood. (And redwood tops, hybrid X/fan braces, and 12-fret necks.) I wanted a new guitar and got to play all three as soon as they were finished. The voices were very close, but the rosewood and walnut were closer to each other than to the mahogany--I'd say with a tighter bass. I settled on the rosewood, though I would have been quite happy with the walnut, which I got to play a lot while my friend was installing a pickup in my first choice. 28 years later that first-choice guitar is still one of my favorites--it's on a stand right next to the sofa.

I have another walnut/redwood guitar, an X-braced 17-inch archtop, that has a distinctive voice, though I'm not sure how much of that is the back/sides and how much is everything else in the build formula and execution. (And the voices of my conventional maple/spruce archtops differ from each other, so materials probably matter less than design and construction.)

[Macpage]

Originally Posted by gmel555

my first thoughts are balanced and articulate. Walnut doesn't have the accentuated mids of some hog guitars but is has a bit fatter bottom. Relative to rosewood the mids are not as scooped and the low end is not as "thick" but is nicely present and focused.

Hope that makes a bit of sense; despite how much we talk about tone, it still sure is tough to describe.

Well, I don't find it too tough to describe now.

If I can borrow your words, this is exactly how I hear my spruce/black walnut Alvarez GA. It's as balanced of a large bodied guitar as any I have played.

I will add that while there are overtones, I find the level with mine would be closer on the spectrum to mahogany than rosewood. Like a lot of folks have already commented, the quickest general description for me would be pretty close to evenly placed between mahogany and rosewood.

Best,

Mac