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any views on this a tone wood. thinking of a les paul or even a telecaster.
I have some very nice walnut at my workshop begging to be used but I am getting conflicting opinions on the tone it produces - some say warm and mellow others very bright- any help appreciated.
I can always chamber so weight not an issue.
Ditto , hard as vs swamp ash - excluding the weight difference is there any real tone difference between the 2 ashes?

I think you'd be able to mitigate the brightness or mellowness with pickup choice if the guitar ends up skewing either way too much.

I think wood species does play into the tone of an electric guitar (every part does) but I think there are other factors that make more of a difference, especially when we're talking about the amplified tone. I think pickups are the biggest part. But I think the neck joint, scale length, string break angle over the bridge, bridge material and even the finish are all also contributing factors to varying degrees.

So I think you should go for it!

Alex, I have not built a walnut guitar but I have built a couple where I have chambered the bodies. In particular I made two Les Paul style guitars out of the same materials (mahogany bodies, same pickups) - one chambered, one not. We played them back to back thru the same amp (same player, pick, mic, yadda yadda) and if we listen very carefully to the clips we think we can hear a difference. What that difference is and which one is "better" is even harder to define.

The thing that is dramatically different about them is the weight - the chambered guitar is a pound and a half lighter than the solid one.

I've also built a chambered mahogany tele style guitar, that guitar lost almost two pounds during construction (I haven't built an equivalent solid one so I can't compare sound with anything). Everyone who picks it up comments on the weight.

My personal feeling is that wood species has some effect on the sound of an electric guitar, but what it is and how to control it is way beyond my abilities. I'm completely sold on chambering as a way to reduce weight and I can't imagine not doing it whatever the wood is.

Build it and show us the results

Walnut sounds similar to mahogany in my experience.


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