Walnut neck feedback/info

[mickcoop91]

Hi guys,

I’m looking at getting warmoth with a Korina body/walnut neck/black ebony fretboard. While I can get a lot of info online around both Korina and black ebony, I’m finding it very difficult to source info about walnut especially being used in necks. The pickups in this guitar will be a porter 9T neck pickup and a Dimarzio bluesbreaker in the bridge which are both P90 voiced. I already own a Tele with a swamp ash body/maple neck which is bright and twangy. I figure the Korina will give me a more darker rounder alternative, while the sharper attack (really the only info I can find on walnut) of the neck and ebony will complement the bighty p90 sound.

The reason why I would like walnut are because it’s described as being somewhere between maple and mahogany and I don’t want to go over board with the darker tone woods and just completely fight against the p90’s. I’ve also played a friends warmoth that had more exotic wood necks, one was bubinga? The other was Wenge, while both were sick, I don’t want a wood that imparts to much of its own flavour like these did.

All the walnut guitar I can find photos of online have that big high gloss finish, reminds me of the furniture in my mum’s living room. Can you leave walnut untreated, or is there a finish that provides a more matte look?

I’m looking for any assistance or feedback about my reasoning. Does anyone have any experience with walnut necks? Are there any obvious luthier red flags that I am missing about combining these three woods or using walnut in the neck?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

 

[kucoyote]

I can only reply to one part of your series of questions on the walnut neck. 

Finishes are needed on all wood necks except those made from oily woods or “roasted” woods.  Most finishes can be had in gloss, semi-gloss and matte. I just recently purchased a maple neck from Warmoth with a matte nitro finish.  I find the matte does not have the “stickiness” feel that gloss does.

Checking out Warmoth’s custom neck builder, they offer a walnut neck.  They would not offer it if there were stability issues with it, as a business decision.  Their position though is it would not be warranted unless it had a finish put on it.

Hope this helps a bit.

Mike

 

[mickcoop91]

Thanks heaps mike! That’s what I figured but I saw a bass forum where there was a disagreement around whether a walnut neck would need to be reinforced because it has a tendency to bow? Just wanted some confirmation. Definitely will go the matte nitro I think!

 

[kucoyote]

You might want to look at the Warmoth bass neck builder just to verify.  I did the guitar builder.

Mike

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

I never had a Walnut neck, so I can't help you with your actual question.

My opinion is that all necks are going to shift slightly and may not be ideally flat on the fretboard surface.  So there are two main options:
1) Allow the neck to settle for at least a few months and then get it professionally leveled.
2) Aim for a neck with good stability and favorable fret geometry, then hope it is playable without any fretwork, or maybe just a slight filing / re-crowning on the high frets.

If you choose option 2) then IMO it would be better to choose a roasted maple neck back as its more likely to stack the odds in your favour.  Perhaps Not in combination with an ebony fret-board as that may give a fairly bright and dry sound.

 

[Rick]

No worries on the walnut.  Ovation made heaps of them. Not sure if they do anymore.  Played them and they were great guitars.