Walnut

Species, bending tips, filling tips, experience with less common tonewoods, native substitutes for tropical hardwoods, milling, etc.
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Skarsaune
Posts: 296
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2018 9:12 am

Walnut

Post by Skarsaune »

American Black Walnut, that is.

We do a bit of chainsaw milling and also have a bandsaw sawmill. When I get a nice piece, it goes in the “gonna be a guitar someday” pile.

I’ve built 3 guitars from the last stuff I resawed, plus sold a set to a local guy for his build.
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Skarsaune
Posts: 296
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2018 9:12 am

Re: Walnut

Post by Skarsaune »

The ones I built got sold, and I got nervous that I wasn’t going to have a set to build for myself.
So I went to the barn to take inventory.
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I’ve been working from a 36” piece of this slab for the last few years - looks like I’m good for quite a while, lol.
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Stray Feathers
Posts: 810
Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 11:39 pm
Location: Ladysmith, BC

Re: Walnut

Post by Stray Feathers »

That's beautiful stuff! A friend and I bought large slabs of English Walnut, which have quite a lot of sapwood in them. I was wondering about what that could be used for, and in doing some research, I learned that wood producers sometimes steam Black Walnut to disperse the dark tannins more uniformly throughout the wood. I think this results in the sometimes greyish-looking walnut you see in lumber dealers. Your Black Walnut has that lovely dark heartwood that seems harder to find these days. Bruce W.
MaineGeezer
Posts: 1837
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:14 pm

Re: Walnut

Post by MaineGeezer »

My first build I used black walnut back and sides, red spruce top, OM size body. It sounds sort of mahogany-ish,
Don't believe everything you know.
Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.
When things are bad, try not to make them any worse, because it is quite likely they are bad enough already. - French Foreign Legion
Kevin Sjostrand
Posts: 4091
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:06 pm
Location: Visalia, CA

Re: Walnut

Post by Kevin Sjostrand »

My favorite combo for an OM. Walnut and Redwood.

I have one set left from 5 I resawed from boards years ago

Beautiful guitar Bruce
Skarsaune
Posts: 296
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2018 9:12 am

Re: Walnut

Post by Skarsaune »

Kevin Sjostrand wrote: Thu Feb 19, 2026 8:33 pm My favorite combo for an OM. Walnut and Redwood.
Best sounding guitar I've built to date was a Walnut / Redwood dread.
I have a 000 Walnut in mind for myself after the next couple of builds.
phavriluk
Posts: 671
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2012 9:49 pm

Re: Walnut

Post by phavriluk »

Gotta love it! Plentiful and beautiful native woods. And I don't worry about the sound. My opinion about most descriptions of the 'sound' of B&S: confirmation bias. Blindfold the listener and they can't tell one from another. Folks listen with their eyes. They all sound good!
peter havriluk
Kevin Sjostrand
Posts: 4091
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:06 pm
Location: Visalia, CA

Re: Walnut

Post by Kevin Sjostrand »

Peter
The sound a walnut and redwood OM makes sure looks good!!🤣🤣🤣
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