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Walnut as a body?

S

ShiftyShift

Guest
Mar 12, 2012
398
2
#1
Anybody have any idea on whether or not walnut will make a good body wood? I have the opportunity to get a piece of nice walnut for free/dirt cheap , and I'm wondering if it would be any good as a body wood. I'm pretty sure its rather hard and heavy (from the cabinetry and walnut tables I've seen) and the piece I'm looking at is pretty nice looking, but I'm not sure on any sound characteristics/if its ridiculously heavy :(. Any ideas?
 
#2
Walnut is a great wood for building. Its beautiful, finishes easily and works well. Heavier than some woods but not too bad. Its one of my favorite woods for building furniture and I've had good luck building instruments with it too.
 
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#3
Carvin uses walnut as a body wood as well as neck wood. im not sure if its just layered for looks though. I have never used one of these basses so i can not speak from experience. Carvins website list walnut as warm with a growling low end and bright top end.
 
#4
Big B. said:
Walnut is a great wood for building. Its beautiful, finishes easily and works well. Heavier than some woods but not too bad. Its one of my favorite woods for building furniture and I've had good luck building instruments with it too.
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Good, because I'm pretty sure my deal is worked out and i would have had a big piece of walnut going nowhere if it sucked :cool: Would you recommend an oil finish or clear gloss for Walnut?
 
#8
tjclem said:
I have built several with a few different types of walnut. Nice wood to work with and does well with an oil finish. Enjoy the project. You are sure it is very dry right?
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I was told (and the person I am getting it from I trust, and this walnut he personally cut down from his backyard, so this is going to be pretty cool for sentimental reasons) it was professionally planed and dried. He uses it for building benches, so I imagine if its dried for that purpose it'll be suitable for my needs.
 
#10
Actually, I used Tru-Oil Gunstock finish applying it with my finger in a small area at a time and when it got tacky, I re-wet my finger and continued on. I didn't have to sand it or use steel wool or anything other than my finger. Of course, it took a couple weeks or so to do the body and the neck (but not the ebony fingerboard). The finish has lasted for 28 years; the black walnut has never needed refinishing and I average two to four gigs a week with it.

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#12
Actually most oil finishes are very simple to apply, get a lint free cloth(T-shirt works well). Wipe on a layer, allow to dry, next day, do another coat, usually do new coats every 24 hours. Then there are various ways to smooth and wax out if you desire.
 
#16
I'm building one with a walnut top right now.

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It machines well and responds nicely to hand tools. So far, I'm very happy with it as a building material, in terms of workability.

I'm not a tonewood believer, so I'll leave those discussions to somebody else.

I plan to shellac it because I want the pores filled and I don't want oil to darken it up unduly.
 
#20
ShiftyShift said:
That is one nice bass! So, you just dipped your finger in the oil and rubbed it on? That sounds suspiciously easy, I'm no expert but most oil finishes are more complicated than that, I'm pretty sure.
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Bassically (pun intended), yes. I think sometimes things are made more difficult than necessary. (Occam's Razor and the 'Kiss Principle' are equivalents in this case.) The only thing I considered doing and tested was whether or not to use a sealer on the black walnut or not (and that body is one complete piece of black walnut). I took a couple small pieces and sealed one but not the other and tested the gunstock finish on each and decided the sealer (in this case just linseed oil) helped to bring out the beauty of the grain.

So, yes, I used either my right middle or index finger to dip into the gunstock finish, just a little, not a lot. Then I used quick and light rubs on the wood in one direction with the grain until it got somewhat tacky, then re-dipped and continued on. No back and forth rubs when applying the finish, as that defeats the purpose of the application method. Just how tacky probably depends on your own technique. It does take time, that's why it took me two weeks or so to apply the finish. I don't think its possible to do the entire body in one sitting unless you're in really good shape and your fingers, wrist and arm don't get extremely tired. Besides, doing a small area at each sitting allows it to dry and makes the next session easier to do. The great thing was that I didn't have to use rags, sandpaper and the lot with the attendant problems of trying to get that natural sheen back. I got the idea from the French polish method and modifying it to simplify the process. It works for me. I built the bass out of necessity since I couldn't afford $2000 to $4000 in the early '80s for a custom built fretless, so I decided to do it myself. Yes, I'd had some experience in woodworking up to that point, but not a lot. Necessity is the mother of invention and can definitely be a mutha. In 1984 when I completed the bass, I'd put a total of about $96 into all the parts, including the pre-CBS tuners that I think I paid $4 or $5 for, and the Dimarzio ceramic pickups. Of course, I machined the cover for the electronics cavity and also the bridge. The bridge mounting plate is just angle bronze and the saddles I did from brass circular bar stock. The metal for the machined parts I bought from a local machine shop. All in all, a pretty simple project mixed with a lot of elbow grease and forethought. Although I still have the other half of the 6 foot black walnut slab I bought at a hardwoods store in early '84, I've yet to build another bass. I've just been more interested in playing it and I also haven't found another fretless that I feel more comfortable playing. Perhaps I'm just a little prejudiced about it.

Lloyd Howard
 

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