Official Luthiers Forum!

I cant decide on maple or walnut for the sides/back of my first acoustic build (I have done a few electrics in the past). I have found a few forum on this question floating around but I thought I'd see what you guys think. Which do you prefer and why? -Alex

I like maple.
I've made some nice sounding guitars out of it.
I like the way it looks.
No pore filling.
I do want to try walnut though.

You can't really go wrong with either one. Now if by maple, you mean curly maple, then I would say go with walnut for your first. Walnut bends like it really wants to be a guitar.

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

I think sound-wise they're pretty similar.....both sound great. Both bend very well for plain or medium figure. Very curly maple can be tricky.

Maple advantages:
No pore filling
More options for figure...quilt, curly, birdseye, spalted, etc
More options for color when finishing from ambers and browns to sunbursts to green or blue.
Disadvantage: Harder to fill a boo boo or binding gap with sawdust & CA and match the color

Walnut advantages:
Smells great when cutting and sanding!!
More interesting grain color variation if you get a some sapwood in it.
Looks more "traditional"...dark body and light top combo
Easier to sand than maple
Disadvantage: Pore filling required

I'll add that although walnut smells great when cutting and sanding it is quite toxic and can cause skin, eyes, and respiratory irritations. Always wear a respirator, glasses, and gloves when working it.

Also you can find some wonderful figure in Claro walnut although its considerably more expensive than black walnut. You can find some nicely figured black walnut but it's less common. For your first though you should probably stick to plain quartersawn. Hibdon hardwood has a good selection of walnut and maple. http://www.hibdonhardwood.com/DomesticBackandSides.htm

Huh. I detest the smell of walnut.

_________________
Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

I actually love it, but I kind of like the smell of a cow pasture, too.....

If you're looking for a nice walnut set, one of our members here at OLF (mcgr40) has been selling some very nice walnut, both claro and black, on eBay. I've bought several walnut sets from him and it's really nice wood. Below is a link you one of his auctions. No affiliation, but Mike is a standup guy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/fantastic-curly ... 500wt_1413

My wife calls walnut "the stinky wood" .
I think it smells like poop.
It's a beautiful tonewood though.

_________________
Old growth, shmold growth!

Ditto. Maybe that is why where I live is surrounded by dairy farms. Ahh, the fresh country smell of silage and cow poo.

It is frankly, beyond my cognitave capacity to understand how anyone would think walnut smells bad. Then again, I love the smell of WRC despite the fact that it causes a runny nose and slight wheezing. . .

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Walnut smells bad? Not to me! I love it! I have never built a maple guitar so I can't help you there, but if you use walnut, you wont regret it.

_________________
http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

I guess every nose is different. I personally like the smell of walnut, but then I also love the smell of EIR (the older stuff) and I know some folks hate it. There's no accounting for taste.

I like the smell of walnut too - - - I also like banjos

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I like the smell of bloodwood. Weird, but I can only smell it while I am cutting or sanding it, then the smell goes away very quickly. Sort of like flowers or something.

Walnut is one of my favorite smells, nice and clean.

Want stink? Cut some poplar!

_________________
Phil

http://www.oleninstruments.com

"Those who tilt at windmills are only considered insane by those who can't see the dragon."