#1
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Walden guitars
Need any opinions please.
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#2
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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.
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"Marteenie" 1975 Norman B-20 2012 Seagull Maritime SWS Creme Brule CW GT QI 2014 Taylor 150e |
#3
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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. |
#4
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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.
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'Common-sewer' of unrefined guitars. |
#5
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Quote:
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.
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"Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish."Quintilian |
#6
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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. |
#7
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Are you sure they have gone out of business?
Seems to be no shortage in UK.
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Yorkshire Tight Git. Stanford/Furch D5 Furch D21 SW Avalon Gold Series S200CE Heartwood OM-T3/35 Solid Spruce,Solid Mahog B/S. Washburn Cumberland Jumbo Royal-all laminate 70,s MIJ,but sounds great. Ibanez PC12MH Open Pore. |
#8
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Alani --- see the Walden closing announcement from a forum sponsor here - http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=371317
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"Marteenie" 1975 Norman B-20 2012 Seagull Maritime SWS Creme Brule CW GT QI 2014 Taylor 150e |
#9
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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. Last edited by luigib; 02-24-2016 at 11:37 AM. |
#10
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I've got a little OM Walden that's fantastic. It's my "camping" guitar, but it's so much more than that.
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Breedlove C25/CRe-h Taylor 516e FLTD Taylor GS6 Gibson J-30 Walden CO500 (camper) Fender FSR BSB Telecaster |
#11
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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.
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#12
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Quote:
Maybe I should consider a purchase. Is any particular Walden recommended?
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Yorkshire Tight Git. Stanford/Furch D5 Furch D21 SW Avalon Gold Series S200CE Heartwood OM-T3/35 Solid Spruce,Solid Mahog B/S. Washburn Cumberland Jumbo Royal-all laminate 70,s MIJ,but sounds great. Ibanez PC12MH Open Pore. |
#13
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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. |
#14
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Quote:
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"Alas for those that never sing, But die with all their music in them!" --- Oliver Wendell Holmes Hear my original music at: https://www.reverbnation.com/judsonhair |
#15
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Probably was. I priced it so high because it was practically unplayed. It still had the plastic on the pickguard when I sold it.
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