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A friend is culling a walnut tree.

The circumference is 40.6", which according to my sketchy maths is a 12.92 diameter, which means max 6.26" panels, which is too small for guitars.

Am I wrong?

Nothing wrong with a 3-piece or 4-piece back for a guitar.
Ukelele.
Walnut can make good neck blanks, headstock faceplates, bridge blanks.

But only if it is good wood, and you have the capacity to re-saw it, the space to store it, and you can wait a few years for it to dry out.

Until you de-bark and account for the pith the best quarter sawn pieces you'll get will be closer to 4" from that tree.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Don't be discouraged.........and not take the wood. Walnut super nice wood , you can never have enough.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I have to agree with Howard.
Lets round this off to 13 in you will loose about 3 in in the center so your 13 in is divied by 2 6.5 in - 1.5 center is now 5 in loose another 2 in for bark and sap wood you are at maybe 4. As the tree grew it had branches so you may get some head veneer and biniding but nothing that would make guitars but you may find uke stuff. Allow about 1 yr per in to dry out and 20% loss for checking.
It takes a big tree to make luthier grade

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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

I figured as much but thought I'd check. Seems more bother than it's worth.

Thanks...

Sounds like a good size to split up for fiddles... especially if it has fiddleback figure

Keep in mind kiln dried Walnut includes the sap wood, nothing wrong with using it now days with some people liking the look of it. Do a three or four piece back showing off the sap wood. I would not make a career out of using wood from a tree this sized but it might be fun for one or two. (actually doing it myself with some Oak)

I don't have time to muck about, I'm afraid.

I bought an 18" Grizzly with resaw fence, etc...aiming to mill my own maple sets from local trees. Lessons quickly learned: 1) you never end up with as much usable wood as you imagined. 2) Milling lumber is a VERY dangerous job and demands the utmost dedication to do well, and safely. 3) Most importantly, there are shops that are expert in resawing fine wood that have special sleds and can make much more efficient use out of a given log than most hobbyists, at a very reasonable fee!

Every thing we do, every tool we use has danger potential, and we must be careful all the time. I drew the line however at both resawing lumber and especially initial milling. I just couldn't achieve a personal comfort level with what was required. But that's just me.

Just saw you listed as professional, no, not worth the trouble for someone making a living at it.

I feel fine resawing sets from plank form, but not milling up a tree. It would definitely have been contracted out.

Yes - that's the way to go.... Have it milled into slabs then resaw the slabs at your leisure if they are suitable...

The reality is that you aren't going to get 500 sets worth of wood - most of it's not suitable for that sort of use... Too narrow, wrong grain, knots, whatever.... You may get into it and get 0 lumber good enough for sets... There's still whole lot of really good lumber for other uses like furniture... Stuff where funky grain and narrow pieces are useful... A night stand or end table is a fine use for all the 1" to 4" wide stuff and the flat sawn stock that you will end up with...

You could sell most of it and save 1 board for sets....

It's a whole lot easier to just go pick through all the piles to buy the one good looking board and resaw it for sets, though....

Thanks

Yeah, pretty much. Even then, it's hard to find good wood. I go to Windsor pretty often, and I'm always like 'who could possibly use this POC and for what?'