I've personally never been fond of hardwood topped guitars and have always pushed back when asked to build one. However, after playing Bruce's all walnut guitar, at a show a couple years ago, changed my attitude and inspired me to build one. Therefore, if it doesn't turn out great, I'm blaming Bruce😜
Here's some back story on the wood ... There was a stage coach livery, in a small town about 20 miles from us. Our research revealed that the livery was built in the late 1700's. Unfortunately the local historical society was unable to prevent the building from being razed by the owner of the property and it was leveled about 15 years.
My dad knew the company that was demolishing the building and he was able to salvage some of the window frames. They were true 8/4 planks, a full 2" thick, 10" wide and 10' long with at least 30 coats of paint on them. We pulled LOTS of square nails out of them and then ran the boards through my thickness planer, which revealed the most beautiful, arrow straight grained black walnut, that I have ever seen. EVERY board was perfectly quarter sawn which I found interesting. It seems that the carpenters, of that period, knew the importance of using quarter sawn wood, to keep the windows operating stable.
Unfortunately there was a lot of loss due to all of the nail holes. However, we were able to yield several sets suitable to build with. The tap tone is amazing with sustain that hangs with the best rosewoods out there. Most walnut, that I've built with, has poor to lackluster tap tone about as exciting as wet cardboard. This stuff is truly unique and that is one reason I felt I had a really good chance to build a great guitar from it. I'm anxiously looking forward to the day that I string it up.
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