Walden guitars

[guitarmanrlk]

Need any opinions please.

[Marteenie]

They closed shop and stopped manufacturing sometime last year or late 2014 I believe (search the forum for exact timing) so if you're not buying used it would be NOS and no manufacturer warranty. Overall I think they are a generally well built guitar and good value.

[Pitar]

I bought a dread new back in 2004. I just can't remember the model number now but I want to say it was a D2040 or D2070. It had four numerical characters in the model number, IIRC.

It was a very well built, aesthetically pleasing guitar with a balanced sound that I soon realized was also very quiet sitting in a mix. So, I permanently mounted a soundhole mag p'up and used it that way. I kept it less than a year.

After that I played a few more - there was a seller the town I lived in - and decided they were all minus the volume I'd want in a big box. Walden got everything right except projection and sustain, which was probably their undoing. They were over-built and under-voiced.

[Buck62]

The Walden G640 I've owned for several years must be an exception to your generality. It's light and punchy and a real cannon that plays like a dream.

.

[Wasper]

Originally Posted by Pitar

Walden got everything right except projection and sustain, which was probably their undoing. They were over-built and under-voiced.

I disagree with this. I currently own a Walden solid wood classical (cedar/rosewood) that is very loud and has sustain for miles. I also owned one of their CG4070-Cert guitars in the past (solid cedar/mahogany) that was loud and rang out so long I had to mute the strings to stop it. Only reason I sold it was the neck contour was much to thin for me. I have found I need a chunkier neck on my acoustics. The classical neck worked for me though, so that one is staying with me.

I was at a local store that has some stock of Walden guitars a couple of months back. They had a few of the all-solid versions and they all sounded fantastic. I had to fight not buying one, because I knew I would have had to let it go again because of the neck. Waldens are/were Nicely made guitars that punched well above their weight. It is a shame that the company dissolved.

[sfden1]

Don't know much about them, but got to play a very nice om sized box a few years ago in a small shop in northern CA. Solid top, laminate b/s, comfortable neck. Seemed well built, very nice tone, though not loud particularly, and sold for just under $300.

I thought it would be a great guitar for a beginner that would keep them satisfied for a good while. Sorry to hear they've gone out of business.

[alani]

Are you sure they have gone out of business?
Seems to be no shortage in UK.

[Marteenie]

Alani --- see the Walden closing announcement from a forum sponsor here - http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=371317

[luigib]

Great guitars for the money. I just sold my Walden recently and found myself replacing it with another one (NGD post coming soon)!

As a company they paid their workers in China a livable wage (i.e. not a sweatshop) and they were environmentally conscious (the guitar I just bought was made from all sustainable woods). It's a shame they are no longer in business, they seemed like the kind of organization I would stand behind.

[skitoolong]

I've got a little OM Walden that's fantastic. It's my "camping" guitar, but it's so much more than that.

[Jeremy]

I had a G740ce for a while. It was a nice sounding guitar, with a solid top and back, but like another member mentioned, not a whole lot of sustain and projection and I had to really work to get anything out of it.

[alani]

Originally Posted by Marteenie

Alani --- see the Walden closing announcement from a forum sponsor here - http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=371317

Oh dear.
Maybe I should consider a purchase.
Is any particular Walden recommended?

[PorkPieGuy]

I owned a Walden CG4041e-CERT.

I actually won it in a contest, and I was really happy to get it.

GA-shape, solid mahogany. It sounded really great! It was very playable and sounded really good.

If you research the now-defunct Walden factory, they actually had their own factory where they only built Walden guitars as opposed to other factories that will build brand A one day and brand B on other days. I thought that this was pretty cool.

The only thing I didn't like was the pickup system. It was an LR Baggs MiSi align pickup which sounded great, so what's not to like, right? Well, upon researching this pickup, I found out that it was supposed to be a drop-in replacement for the Taylor ES 1 back when there were so many issues. I'm assuming that Walden got a hold of these for a good price and decided to install them. What made it so weird is that it came with a special "charger" plug; on one end, it was a normal plug that went into a wall (wall-wart style), and the other end was actually a 1/4 jack that went into the guitar. After one minute, the internal battery was charged for 8 hours of play. The internal battery supposedly was good for 10k charges. It sounded good, but it was just a little weird to me.

This is the first guitar that I've ever owned that sounded like absolute garbage with Elixir strings. Sounded best with D'Addario mediums.

They have a terrible resale value. I tried to sell mine for a couple of years. MSRP on my guitar was above $1800, the street price was $1200. Since mine was in mint condition, I decided to put a tag on it for $1000. Then $950. Then $900. Then $800. See where I'm going?

Elderly was going to give me $480 for it or $525 on a trade towards something else. I was getting ready to mail it off when I decided to just put it on FB one more time for $500. A friend of mine bought it the next day. He loves it as it is a great guitar. I don't know about where you live, but around here if a guitar doesn't have "Taylor" or "Martin" on a headstock, it just doesn't sell...no matter how good it sounds.

All in all, great sounding quality guitar, weird pickups (if yours has them), low resale.

Conclusion: Buy it to play; don't buy it to sell.

[Judson]

Originally Posted by PorkPieGuy

They have a terrible resale value. I tried to sell mine for a couple of years. MSRP on my guitar was above $1800, the street price was $1200. Since mine was in mint condition, I decided to put a tag on it for $1000. Then $950. Then $900. Then $800. See where I'm going?

Even a used Martin is going to fetch around 50% of MSRP ... starting at $1,000 on your Walden was probably overly optimistic. However, I fully agree with your general assessment that if someone buys a Walden, especially at this point in time, they should expect to keep it and play it rather than hope for re-sale value.

[PorkPieGuy]

Originally Posted by Judson

Even a used Martin is going to fetch around 50% of MSRP ... starting at $1,000 on your Walden was probably overly optimistic.

Probably was. I priced it so high because it was practically unplayed. It still had the plastic on the pickguard when I sold it.