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Hi all, This is my first post, great forum. I am a new builder so have much to learn. I am currently beginning a walnut guitar and was wondering if anyone has a opinion as to what type of wood I might use for the top.

Thanks, Mark in NH

Hi Mark and welcome to the OLF!

Walnut makes a great guitar and it is also a very good choice for early guitars in that it bends very easily, provided that it is not highly figured.

I built a walnut guitar and I used a nice, stiff sitka top. But any of the good spruces would be a good choice.

Walnut is a GREAT choice for a first (or 100th) build.

easy to bend, looks & sounds great.

I've coupled it with sitka & engleman spruce and western red cedar

welcome aboard BTW!!

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Hi Mark,

I've built one kit and getting ready for my second guitar now (from scratch this time). I am planning on using redwood or red cedar with walnut b/s. There are sound samples available on the internet and the combination red cedar/walnut sounds wonderful to me.

Good luck with your project.

Åsmund

I like Euro on Walnut. I personally find Walnut to be a bit of a slightly muted tonewood so I would not add a d deep toned top like Redwood or Cedar but rather something that sparkles Euro Spruce of Red spruce. Of course this is all subjective to taste and builders ability.

Walnut is my second favourite B&S wood, you all know my favourite. I recently built an OM with a Euro spruce top that some of you will have heard. To me you have to have a very good reason NOT to use Euro spruce especially on a guitar for finger style work. Walnut is one of those woods that lets the character of the top really come through, and the top wood with the best character is P. abies, no contest.

See (and hear) the guitar here: Walnut/Euro OM

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I have built a couple of walnut guitars - 6 string and 12 string. I used Sitka Spruce on both. They both are very mellow sounding - sound real nice, but really wanted a little more sparkle. I intend to try Adirondack on the next walnut build.

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John Ressler

Spruce or Cedar.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Cedar goes with walnut.
To me that is just a magical combination. YMMV
Any good tone wood will work just fine.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

I agree with Howard.

I have never built a guitar from Walnut, so I am only repeating what I have been told by
A builder that I have great respect for (Hank Mauel)
Claro Walnut and Redwood, from what I hear makes a wonderful combo. Not sure if Claro is
that different than the other brands of walnut, again, no experience with it.

Welcome to the OLF Mark!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

My favorite guitar that I have ever had in my hands was Walnut and Western Redcedar.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

it depends on what sound (tone) you want from that guitar!
Also the size of the box!

Are you looking for warmth?
Or a flat picking screamer?

Let us all know what your looking to hear and we all can help a bit more.
Mike

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Mike Collins

Thanks everyone for all the help. As far as the sound I'm looking for, a sweet and warm sound would be great.

That is subjective of course, but I think most will agree that generally cedar gives a warmer and sweeter sound than spruce. Redwood should work just fine also.
Be very careful not to overbuild it, or it will not be that sweet.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

I built a walnut and italian spruce guitar in Frank Finnocchio's class. It looked and sounded outstanding.

The Guitar that I travel with is a Larrivee with a Sitka top which also quite nice but not so expensive or personal that if it got damaged or stolen I'd be heartsick.

I think I'll try the Western Red Cedar on my next walnut guitar.

Steve

I've been told that cedar isn't the best wood for beginners (like me) because it requires some special treatment when being glued. Others say that there is no reason why a beginner shouldn't use cedar, exept that it is quite soft and a clean workboard is absolutely neccesary to avoid dents.

Any thoughts about that?

Åsmund

All my guitars to date have been WRC 5 total and #6 will be too. Nothing special required for glueing. Yes it dents and scratches easy so be carefull. It's a good idea to put a couple of coats of shellac on the face to help combat scratches and dents.

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Mark,

I am new too and just finished my first which happened to be walnut with an adi top. I also took Frank Finnochio's class and this was what he had for us. I have a Taylor W14 with the claro walnut and sitka spruce top, it sounds good but I think I like mine better. I play mostly fingerstyle, strum sometimes with my fingers, sometimes a thin pick and it just sounds good however.

Plus the adi was really pretty, grain sure stands out, here's a pic.

Good luck, whatever you use you'll really be proud to have made it yourself .

Kurt

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Kurt Thomas

"There's a first time for everything even if you do it by mistake."

Mark:

You did not say whether the guitar was steel string or nylon string. It looks like the assumption is the guitar will be steel string but just in case it is not, WRC can match the walnut for a warm, balanced sound. If you want volume too, make the top a hair thinner, depending on bracing.

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GEO
perpetual beginner

Asmund buddy WRC would make a fine top on this guitar, I didn't suggest cedar because it dents just looking at it..... But I had no gluing issues with it and since you brought up the idea/need for a clean work board you understand the care that needs to be taken.

One of the things that I consider when choosing a top is what I have in the stash......

Hesh -- Good to see that the denting issues are the only reason. Since I was informed that WRC and Redwood aren't suited for beginning luthiers (gluing, denting, soft and less headroom) I got some second thoughts about using one of them for my first scratch build. I am where Mark is - new builder searching for a good top with walnut b/s. Reassuring to read that the general opinion is that WRC would be a good choice.

A work board can always be cleaned, aquiring the skill to work with difficult timbers is a different matter.

Åsmund