Walnut as a neck wood?

[THIRSTYGUMS]

im about to make a walnut neck ill let you know how it fares. I agree working with it is very rewarding.

im in Belfast at the mo, york street Art college, doing a design degree, but im a born and bred Portrush-ian!
What sort of facilities do you run out at Jordanstown? i might have to come out and blag a turn!

 

[Hambone]

However, European Walnut is much less stiff! 15-20% less! From that I conclude that Hambones lyrical praise to the stiffness needs to be taken with some hesitation.

I certainly did use domestic US black walnut. It's good to hear the MOE supports my findings. Since that neck, I've looked at other sources that might have made the neck so stiff that it required clamping. I could certainly use a lighter weight trussrod but I haven't been able to acquire the perfect size of bar that I want.

 

[pilotjones]

Ebony is very stiff. How thick was the fretboard, and what was the back profile of the neck like, Ham?

 

[dlmarquez]

Gonna show my wood ignorance now…can Walnut be “roasted” like Maple commonly is to create a more stable and slightly lighter weight neck?

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Gonna show my wood ignorance now…can Walnut be "roasted" like Maple commonly is to create a more stable and slightly lighter weight neck?

Yes, walnut can be roasted, and a few lumber houses have been offering it. We had some here in my shop last year, and Jeremy (@Freekmagnet) worked with it. I think he made one full bass neck from it and used it for several other fingerboards.

My opinion: Roasted Walnut makes a nice fingerboard wood. The roasting darkens it to a nice streaky brown, similar to Indian rosewood. It's fairly hard and tough, but not up in the class of ebony or wenge. I wouldn't use it for a fretless fingerboard. It machines and polishes up nicely.

I don't see any advantage to using it as a neck wood. Regular un-roasted walnut, if it has been dried and processed well, is very stable. I don't think roasted walnut would be any more stable. And the roasted walnut that we had was too brittle for my taste. We had problems with cracks and chunks. I'd be afraid of it cracking as a neck wood.

I build most of my basses from un-roasted walnut these days, and I don't see any good reason to switch to roasted walnut.

 

[Freekmagnet]

Gonna show my wood ignorance now…can Walnut be "roasted" like Maple commonly is to create a more stable and slightly lighter weight neck?

My opinion: Roasted Walnut makes a nice fingerboard wood.

Actually I'm going to give roasted walnut a big thumbs down for a fretboard wood. It's too crumbly, and its scratches really easily. Looks nice, though. I made one neck with a roasted walnut FB, and I ended up milling it off and replacing it.

As a neck wood - roasted walnut is meh. It looks nice and dark while you're building it, but it actually just looked like regular old walnut under a finish. My roasted walnut neck is not significantly lighter than any of my regular walnut necks, nor does it exhibit any more stability. I'd just go with plain old walnut for a neck.

 

[dlmarquez]

Thanks! I have long been curious. I love walnut, especially when its just an oiled finish…something about the feel, look, and smell of the oil/wood.