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Old 04-19-2015, 12:03 PM
Josh S Josh S is offline
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Default All Walnut Guitar

In approaching an all walnut guitar of say, an OM size, how difficult would it be to voice the top (compared to softer woods like spruce or even another hardwood like mahogany)? I love the all walnut idea, but am nervous the guitar I produce is going to be a dud unless I use "easier" materials to work with.
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Old 04-19-2015, 02:55 PM
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Bruce Sexauer Bruce Sexauer is offline
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I do not know anything about "voicing a top", so I cannot directly answer your question. I have, however, made an all walnut guitar I will show at the up coming Memphis show which I expect to wow anyone who takes the time to actually listen to it. My approach is to think of the top plate as a membrane and to think of the braces as adding adequate structure, not unlike most roofs or floors. The trick is reduce the membrane to its limit of integrity, but no more, and then to add no more bracing structure than actually needed. It takes a great deal of experience implement this method properly, and there are actually several other parameters that must be addressed at the same time, but I can promise you that there is gold at the end of the tunnel.
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Old 04-19-2015, 03:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer View Post
I have, however, made an all walnut guitar I will show at the up coming Memphis show which I expect to wow anyone who takes the time to actually listen to it.
I'll listen to it! I'm actually really looking forward to meeting you in person and putting a name with a face after three years of reading your morsels of luthier knowledge

Sorry for the tangent OP. Good luck with your build!
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Old 04-19-2015, 03:26 PM
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At our stage of the game (I have only built a few, if I can recall you are just out of the gate) I would not worry too much on voicing. When you have a enough builds under your belt that you are not concerned with getting the construction right you can start playing with voicing.

A while back there was a thread asking about all walnut guitars and being the curious type I thought I would have a go at it with a neck I set aside along with some walnut I thought was good enough to be laminated to the inside of other wood. Happily I was wrong about the wood. I quite pleased how it turned out sounding. Somehow I got lucky as I did not have much to go on in building the top.

The wood that I used was from my first attempt at resawing hardwood. Not having a good handle on the process the pieces were thinner in areas where the blade wandered a little. Gluing them together and sanding them flat I think I ended up 0.100" or less on the back. The top I took down to 0.085" as it just felt too stiff when I flexed it as compared to the few softwood tops I built. The bracing I took down to where I thought it might be stiff enough to keep the top from caving in on itself. That was it, no voicing other than keeping the top and back stiff enough that they not flop around.

Seems to have been the right idea, when discussing Bruce Sexauer's all walnut in his thread he mentioned taking his top down to 0.080 - 0.085" also. Mind you he used quartered wood and mine was flat sawn, also his guitar was larger than mine. I am sure his is more of a race horse as compared to my pleasure ride. He suggested not to build it too heavy, I figured with the denser top I could loose some thickness to get closer to the weight of a spruce top (but other than my flexing the top thinking it should be thinner I had no basis on how far I should go). Maybe take a look at Bruce's thread to see how he built his?

All I really wanted to do was get the top loose enough that I might get some bass out of the top. I have a Stella built out of birch that I copied the shape from. It has no bottom end (a dud if ever there was one), I did not want to end up with the same thing. The midrange is prominent and while not bass heavy it is there. It does have a distinctive voice unlike a spruce guitar. I have a few budget guitars and this one blows them away sound wise.

One thing that I realized after building it a hardwood topped guitar would be a good travel/beater guitar. Much harder to damage the top as a spruce, no pick guard needed to protect from digging into the top. Sounds like you want to continue building more after this one. I suggest have fun building it and not to worry about the fit and finish and frilly bits. At the end there will always be something you wish you did better no matter how much time and care you put into it. Just think of it as a training exercise and at the end you get a playable instrument. You are going to learn a lot building this one, for your next one you will have all that experience that you can build upon and confidence to set your sights higher.





Seems I am a slow at typing (or slow thinking what I type), Bruce dropped in to give some advice. His membrane and brace structure is sort of how I saw my top, probably from building RC aircraft. Wish I could hear Bruce's walnut, heck, any of his guitars.

Last edited by printer2; 04-19-2015 at 03:32 PM.
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Old 04-19-2015, 07:40 PM
Kenneth Casper Kenneth Casper is offline
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Hi Josh,

I haven't built with a walnut top, but I did build an OM sized guitar several years ago with walnut back and sides and butternut top. I believe butternut is a distant relative of walnut. I voiced the top similar to what I do with other top woods, looking for very similar movement. The guitar has a sweet tone but it can't be driven as hard as spruce.

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Old 04-19-2015, 10:58 PM
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JJI JJI is offline
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Default Bruce,

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer View Post
I do not know anything about "voicing a top", so I cannot directly answer your question. I have, however, made an all walnut guitar I will show at the up coming Memphis show which I expect to wow anyone who takes the time to actually listen to it. My approach is to think of the top plate as a membrane and to think of the braces as adding adequate structure, not unlike most roofs or floors. The trick is reduce the membrane to its limit of integrity, but no more, and then to add no more bracing structure than actually needed. It takes a great deal of experience implement this method properly, and there are actually several other parameters that must be addressed at the same time, but I can promise you that there is gold at the end of the tunnel.
knowing your work as I do, I can only imagine how beautiful it is. ☺️
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Old 04-19-2015, 11:29 PM
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Bruce Sexauer Bruce Sexauer is offline
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Originally Posted by JJI View Post
knowing your work as I do, I can only imagine how beautiful it is. ☺️
You shouldn't have to imagine too hard, Josh, as you are one of the two people on this forum who have actually played (and heard me play) my all walnut guitar!
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Old 04-19-2015, 11:31 PM
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Default Ha!

Well that didn't take long, my friend. I have played that guitar and as you saw...I didn't want to stop. It's a great guitar. Just beautiful!
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