Walnut neck and body...

Eilif · #1 06-02-2006, 05:55 PM

Anyone have experience or insight regarding a walnut neck and body? )Skip the next paragraph if you don't want the backstory)

I have a lb75f, which I like and I have been getting more and more intrigued with the Carvin Kit basses. I really like dark wood so I am considering this wood combination. It's listed on the B4 options, so I could probably get it on the kit. I would probably go with a tung oil or french finish.

How would an all walnut passive Jazz style instrument (what I would make) compare to a swamp ash body/maple neck Jazz style (the fender I currently have) in terms of tone, neck stability, neck dive, and weight?

As an unrelated side note, I despise the carvin 4 string headstock, so a CT6, icon, or a DIY blank headstock would definately be in order.

Musiclogic · #2 06-03-2006, 01:13 AM

All Walnut is going to give you a deeper, darker sound. Walnut necks seem to hold up better(in my experience) as multi-ply necks(3 or 5 piece) rather than single piece. As far as neck dive, that depends more on your hardware choices, and strap peg placement.

Eilif · #3 06-05-2006, 08:55 AM

Thanks for the info musiclogic,
I like a deeper and darker tone, so maybe walnut is the way to go. The carvin walunt neck comes as a two piece, would that be stable enough?

What is the weight of Walnut as compared to alder or maple?

Anyone else with any walnut experiences?

Musiclogic · #4 06-06-2006, 02:34 AM

Walnut is very similar to soft maple in weight, but a bit lighter than Hard maple. Alder is a bit lighter than walnut. As far as the Carvin neck goes, I would expect it to be just fine. Carvin makes some very good quality necks. Good luck with your project.

Suburban · #5 06-07-2006, 02:56 AM

Walnut is a sort of scary neck material, like maple and birch. There are so many variants, with really different specs.
For a neck, Black Walnut is good, while other are feasible and others are not good.

ArwinH · #6 06-07-2006, 03:02 AM

I had an all walnut fretted lb70p 4 string.

I ended up trading it away, the tone was very peaky in the mids without much bottom end, and it was brittle sounding and not very open. I think walnut might have gone better with a bolt on construction to keep some air and open-ness in the tone, also I think the finish killed some resonance. Good luck with your project.