walnut for necks?

[bigbandtele]

Anyone ever made/used a walnut neck?

Could walnut be used for the neck and fingerboard, similar to maple? Or, would it be better to use is just for the neck, and use some other wood for the board?

I have two pieces of walnut left over from some canoe paddle and thwart work I did about 12 years ago. If they don't get made into necks, they'll just end up being pin blocks for drying bassoon reeds...

[Ironwolf]

It makes great necks. I'm not sure how well it would work for the fingerboard, though. I've not seen that done. Most of it certainly has tight enough grain, but I would have to defer to some one else's expertise when it comes to hardness and ability to hold the frets.

[Mike Simpson]

Walnut has been used for necks. Sometimes laminated with maple strips but a good piece of walnut would be fine to use. I don't know about fingerboards, ebony, pau ferro cocobolo or rosewood board would look good on a walnut neck.... heck curly maple might look cool too...

This site says necks not fingerboards...
http://www.theguitarfiles.com/module...=print&sid=131

I would probably try it as a fingerboard...

[PhilCollins]

I made a neck for an acoustic out of Walnut, and it turned out beautifully!

Personally I wouldn't recommend it as a fingerboard. Not because it's not hard enough, it probably is, mainly because it's so open grained and it would get dirty really quickly without a finish over it.

Having said that if you were to finish it with say a tru-oil or teak oil or something it could turn out OK. If you're not using it for anything else you may as well try it for a fingerboard, and if you feel it doesn't work just plane the board down flat and laminate some ebony over it...

[originalmatthew]

I am about to start a walnut/maple laminate neck. I figure if I pay attention to the grain orientation it should be quite solid. We shall see....we shall see....

[robt57]

I think the grizzy tele kits come with a walnut fret board, and do not recall any negative comments. Granted the folks building these may well not have the experience to fully realize certain issue of a build...

[Maricopa]

I've made several, both laminated and plain. It's a very stable wood once it's dry and makes a great neck.

[otterhound]

So far , four with Walnut necks , and more to come . It is 1/4 sawn and a joy to play . Combinations are with Ebony and Madagascar Rosewood fretboards . Some claim it is good for fretboards , some say no . I prefer to err on the side of caution myself and have not used it for fretboards . When used in combination with Rosewood , they look like one piece necks . Go for it !

[Maricopa]

I would not use it for fretboards. It's just not hard/tough enough to hold frets and hold up under the abuse of playing.

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by Maricopa

I would not use it for fretboards. It's just not hard/tough enough to hold frets and hold up under the abuse of playing.

+1

I would love to see a laminate of walnut and birch, with the 1/8ths inch thick layers oriented in the same fashion as the ebony fretboard.

[ringosoft]

Walnut can really vary depending on the board and the species. I've had some that was hard and heavy enough to use for fretboards and some that would dent under my fingernail.

[robt57]

My stash of estimated 70 year old black walnut is mostly hard to to the extreme. But the more pen grain boards are softer between the rings, maybe 15% of the approx 80 board feet in my stash. I fully intend to make a few necks from it. The sofet wood for the back, and the harder and figured boards for the fretboards.

[big tele fan]

I bought a figured walnut tele neck off ebay from Jamerson guitars. I love it. It's different from my maple necks- more midrange, not as "crispy" . I finished it with shellac, so I don't take it out in the weather, but it feels and plays great. I like the tone and response. Don't know how well it will hold frets over time. It is solid as a rock, though (fat "C" profile).

[jkingma]

Walnut makes a great neck but NOT a great fretboard. It just ain't hard enough. The very first neck I built many, many years ago had a walnut fretboard. I used it because I had it in the shop and I didn't feel like forking out any $$ for a piece of rosewood for my first neck. The frets would not stay put over time... even with some CA to help them.

[LaExpatriot]

I have done a few 1 piece necks out of walnut. I also replaced a neck on an Epi Flying V with a Walnut neck. All sounded and felt really nice. I think it is a really hard (dense) wood to work with. I dulled my planes and knives really fast.
Really pretyt wood though.

[Davecam48]

Here in Aussie we have a timber reffered to as Queensland Walnut and I'm guessing that it is different to you're walnut in the USA. This stuff is a rainforest timber and is as hard as the hobs of hell and rings like a bell. I intended to make some necks and boards out of it as my supply of gidgee is finished. It also dead polishes to a mirror finish just with a fine grit paper and the white polishing rouge and the cotton buff.

I'd try it for a combined neck/board if it is hard. You can always cut into three pieces and reverse the middle section and laminate, that way you have opposing grains on all sections which should increase stability.

[robt57]

Hops of hell, I like that...


Like the way you did the rhyme there too...

[Greg M]

I made this one recently with a walnut neck and I love it. Mated with the lightweight mahogany body and wenge fb, it really sings. The walnut was nice to work with as well. I've heard or read people say walnut was just like maple and just like mahogany which is contradictory, so I guess it depends on the board as someone mentioned before.

I highly recommend it for building. In fact, I've got some big slabs I'm going to use for bodies soon, and still some for necks too.

[gitlvr]

My current build(not finished) has a walnut neck with a rosewood board. It was flatsawn, so I cut it into strips and flipped them so they'd be quartered and laminated them together. I haven't finished the guitar yet, but I did string it up "in the white" and played it unplugged for about a week. It is stiif enough, but the truss rod adjusts it just fine. I love the way the neck plays, it looks good, and if I get another chance to use walnut for a neck I won't hesitate. In fact, there's a local supplier who carries kiln-dried Black Walnut, and I'm seriously considering going with this as my neck wood of choice on all future builds.

[68thinline]

I used walnut once for a fretboard, but I don't think I'll ever do it again. I could not get the frets to stay without glue and I found the wood to be soft but brittle. It could have been my inexperience with fretwork, but I didn't have that kind of problem with maple.