English Walnut

[Stray Feathers]

I belong to a woodworkers guild which mills donated logs (much of it backyard trees taken down and donated) and sells it to members at very good prices. They get a fair bit of what I think must be English Walnut, grown for the edible nuts. I have read one opinion in Tonewood Data Source that it is good tonewood, but not much more. Does anyone have any experience with it, especially to compare it with Black Walnut? Janka is higher in English Walnut which might make a difference. Bruce W.

[phavriluk]

My opinion: back-and-side wood species have way less influence over acoustic performance than how thick the wood is, the size of the guitar, and how its was braced. It'll all sound like a guitar and I'd love to see documented proof of claims that this guitar sounds as it does because of the back-and-side species.

If you like the looks of a selection of wood, use it in good health knowing that it'll work just fine.

[bftobin]

First: While at Sergei De Jonge school, he stated that it really doesn't make much difference what the B&S are. He's been building with all kinds of wood since the 1960s. He once built a guitar entirely from spruce. Basically, most softer woods will be like Mahogany, and harder woods will be like Rosewoods. Secondly: It depended on internal dampening. Some woods dampen vibrations more than others. This is why 90% of the time, Ebony is better for fingerboards and Rosewoods are better for bridges.

Brent

[Stray Feathers]

Many people claim it does not make much difference, but then, you say certain woods are more like mahogany, others more like rosewood. So there must be an audible difference? I can see that some woods are very similar, like different species of walnut, and I may be splitting hairs, just looking for tips when I get this walnut in my shop and dry enough to work with. Bruce W.

[jread]

I didn't have any experience playing nicely made guitars until I started building but here's my opinion after building 30 of them with several different tone woods. I "feel" there is generally a tonal difference between my rosewood and mahogany guitars. The two groups of guitars seem to have separate tonal qualities. A harder tap to rosewood with interesting overtones, almost a drone, or piano-like bell sound that feel different and unique from a softer mahogany with more woody, open tones.

However, I think I'd be hard pressed to pass a blind test with the instruments that built and play every day. In the end, It's all about the player. Good players can make guitars sound 1000x better than I can no matter their build quality or materials. Whether there are quantifiable and more importantly, repeatable tonal differences in wood species I think is up for serious debate.