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hallo everybody...

i'm planning next build.. an all claro walnut sj, 6 strings

did anyone ever build a guitar with walnut top? i saw taylor made a 12strings jumbo, all walnut..



any idea of top thickness? should i brace it lighter?

thank you!

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everything you know is wrong

yes you can do it but we use spruce because it is high in weight to strength ratio . In my early days I tried a number of different tops on guitars . Walnut didn't seem to make a very loud guitar and it was very muddy . Mahogany and Koa are traditional non spruce tops and worked ok but f I prefer spruce .
If you do choose walnut brace accordingly
I am looking forward to see if others did this and had the same result I had.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

You can also consider to put a walnut veneer over a spruce top. It's done a lot, and it's probably the case of this Taylor.

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

Walnut is just a tad heavier than either mahogany or koa (on average), so I don't see why it wouldn't work. Hardwood topped guitars have a specific tone, it is an acquired taste. They do not have the dynamic range or loudness of a spruce topped guitar, however.
The difference with spruces (and other conifers) is that hardwoods tend to have much more cross-grain stiffness, and much less stiffness along the grain. Brace, carve and tune the top accordingly.
Filippo, I will disagree with you here: IME walnut (especially black) has a more satisfying taptone than mahogany and koa (on average) and a greater harmonic range.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I am a huge fan of walnut. I built an all walnut (black not claro) guitar a few years ago. It takes a bit longer to play in and open up, but once it does, I think it sounds great. Mine has no problem with dynamic range. I accredit it to the sound port. This thing is LOUD! But you will need patients, as it takes a while for the guitar to get to a stable sound. It will be constantly changing for a while.

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
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Did you use a deflection test ? Also would you share top thickness and bracing ?

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Well, walnut is not African Blackwood by any stretch! However the black & Claro walnut sets I have (and built guitars with) have much less damping than maple, mahogany or even koa.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

The top was about .110" to .105" Tapered x-bracing, though I use a sound hole patch instead of braces. I did test for deflection, though I don't recall exactly. To the best of my memory, at thickness, it deflected about 6mm under about 5 lbs weight. Though my memory could be off....

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

Although density is a problem, I don't think it is the major reason that medium density hardwoods may not make the best soundboards. Hardwoods are much stiffer across the grain than softwoods, and the stiffness/weight along the grain is not as high as spruce. With that in mind, I would not necessarily brace it lighter, just angle the braces more parallel with the length of the body.

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John

Hmm, anybody tried fan bracing a hardwood top for steel strings? That's about as low cross-grain stiffening as you can get.