Grafted Walnut

lindskyl000 · #1 03-15-2022, 06:35 PM

Hey everyone,

I am an amature builder with my first build recently completed. For the last few years I have been looking for grafted walnut to make some back and sides for a guitar I want to build in the future. After not finding any sets up for sale I went to a sawmill and bought a couple of own slabs that I intend to mill up for some back and side sets.

My slabs are from a comercial walnut grove in California so I believe the bottom portion to be Claro walnut with English walnut above the graft. As I have done somewhat extensive research I have found that there are at least two (probably more) types of English walnut that are grafted in California. Franquette walnut is an older variety grafted onto the Claro rootstock whereas “paradox” walnut is the most often planted today in California walnut groves. I am uncertain which species I have.

I have stumbled upon the suggestion that of grafted walnut species Franquette is the preferred for tonewood. Again I do not know what species of graft I have, but the slabs I have are big enough to yield clean sets of back and sides and all other indicators point that my guitar sets will be of a high quality and visually stunning.

As the research I found was very little and I am pretty new to the guitar world (although I am not new to woodworking) is there anyone on here who could give me a little insight into to realities of using grafted walnut as a tonewood?

Thanks, Kyle

Stevien · #2 03-15-2022, 08:09 PM

Back in the 90s, Bob Taylor was using grafted walnut for some of his models. It wouldn't hurt to send them an e-mail.
Steve

lindskyl000 · #3 03-16-2022, 11:12 AM

I’ll look into that Steve thank you

Stevien · #4 03-16-2022, 02:25 PM

Grafted walnut is an acquired taste IMO. It can be fairly plain, or wildly figured, but usually has an infusion of where the two walnuts meet, similar to this one.
Steve

tadol · #5 03-17-2022, 12:22 AM

Grafted walnut is very unusual material - I can’t believe that much of it has been used to define its tonal properties as opposed to its use for its aesthetic properties. If I had to guess, I’d guess its not that different from walnut in general, with it’s standard range of tone, which most feel is somewhere between maple and mahogany. I’ve only had 2 walnut guitars, one was so-so, the other very good. Bruce Sexauer built an all walnut guitar that was extremely nice, but a hardwood topped guitar is not something everyone thinks is ideal. I think I’d be careful about getting the graft line too close to a tight waist bend, just because it seems like it might be more prone to cracking with the grain change, or at least make it harder to get a smooth & even curve, but you might be able to let us all know I’m wrong!

Martz911 · #6 03-17-2022, 12:42 PM

Back in 2006, I went Walnut wacky and ordered a custom Taylor W-15 with grafted Walnut back & sides, plus a Walnut top. I told my salesman that Taylor could pick any figured grafted Walnut set they had on hand as long as it was "different". Well, the results are shown below. And, yes, this guitar is different.

I thought that choosing the Jumbo body size would help increase the bass response of the Walnut top, as my experience with hardwood top woods such as Koa and Mahogany told me that they usually lack low end (to my ears). However, I owned the guitar for a few years and decided it was not going to develop the sound my ears wanted to hear, so I moved the guitar along. I hope the current owner enjoys the look and, more importantly, the sound of this big Walnut bear.

canuck7 · #7 03-17-2022, 11:15 PM

That is some wild crazy wood...I had never thought of using grafted wood....wow!

lindskyl000 · #8 03-17-2022, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tadol

Grafted walnut is very unusual material - I can’t believe that much of it has been used to define its tonal properties as opposed to its use for its aesthetic properties. If I had to guess, I’d guess its not that different from walnut in general, with it’s standard range of tone, which most feel is somewhere between maple and mahogany. I’ve only had 2 walnut guitars, one was so-so, the other very good. Bruce Sexauer built an all walnut guitar that was extremely nice, but a hardwood topped guitar is not something everyone thinks is ideal. I think I’d be careful about getting the graft line too close to a tight waist bend, just because it seems like it might be more prone to cracking with the grain change, or at least make it harder to get a smooth & even curve, but you might be able to let us all know I’m wrong!

I just milled up my slabs yesterday. I couldn’t get a single set of back and sides without some sort of defect in the wood. Im still deciding if I am going to try and build with them or not but if/when I finish I’ll send some pictures. Thanks for your insight

lindskyl000 · #9 03-17-2022, 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martz911

Back in 2006, I went Walnut wacky and ordered a custom Taylor W-15 with grafted Walnut back & sides, plus a Walnut top. I told my salesman that Taylor could pick any figured grafted Walnut set they had on hand as long as it was "different". Well, the results are shown below. And, yes, this guitar is different.

I thought that choosing the Jumbo body size would help increase the bass response of the Walnut top, as my experience with hardwood top woods such as Koa and Mahogany told me that they usually lack low end (to my ears). However, I owned the guitar for a few years and decided it was not going to develop the sound my ears wanted to hear, so I moved the guitar along. I hope the current owner enjoys the look and, more importantly, the sound of this big Walnut bear.

Thanks for sharing that guitar is crazy beautiful!