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I am gearing up to begin acoustic building this year. In choosing woods for my first I am contemplating Peruvian Walnut.
I have used Black Walnut quite a bit, and love it, but I understand they are not the same wood at all. Ostensibly, I would like your impressions regarding the way the two woods work. The differences or similarities in the way they bend, plane, sand, scrape, cut. How they react when you work them with a rasp, especially when carving a neck.
Tonal impressions between them, especially when paired with Sitka would not be frowned at, either.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Hi Mike, Peruvian walnut is very similar to black walnut. Black walnut is a bit coarser grained, but the working characteristics are pretty much the same. Peruvian is slightly denser, but bending should be basically the same as the black walnut. Pores are smaller in Peruvian, which I think makes it finish easier. Both plane really well, and scrape fairly well, although I have had some particular sets that tended to fuzz, which was due to interlocked grain, which can also fuzz when you sand it, but that is not too common. Peruvian is more of a chocolate brown in color, whereas black walnut is more greyish brown. I love using both for necks, but there again, when carving with a rasp it can sometimes fuzz a bit, but no big deal.. As far as pairing it with a Sitka top, and this is just my personal opinion, I like using walnut with softer tops like western cedar or redwood. I think that pairing softer back and side woods with stiffer tops like Sitka or Adirondack actually dampen the sound, almost muffles out the tone.. I think stiffer denser tops do best with denser back and sides...just my two cents.
Hope this helps.

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My 3 cents peruvian lighter than local b.walnut , less dense, more expensive, darker in color, easier to plane.easier to scrape an sand an fill pores.more contrast when using a Engle mann top


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All the Peruvian I've seen has been far less dense and hard than the general run of Black.

On the Janka scale they are right next to each other with Peruvian Walnut being the harder of the two....but I've built with both woods and if I go by feel the Black Walnut seems quite a bit denser. So...not too helpful I suppose. But I will say that the electrics I have built with Peruvian necks are responsive and I have no qualms about using it again...especially since it's easy to acquire good boards through a local distributor in my neck of the woods. It's a big warehouse and he lets me pick through large units for the good stuff. Lucky me...I believe. I find it beautiful under a clear finish. Here's a photo spread of one of them.... http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/Stuar ... t=3&page=1

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Nice look to that clear finish on P . walnut. stu

Much appreciated for all the replies.
Ernie, Engelmann is in the running for the top. I like Sitka because it's easier to handle without worrying about nicks and dings, but I love the look of a lot of the Engelmann tops I've owned and played.
Stuart, that's a lovely guitar, and I really like that walnut under finish!

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Over the last 30 years I've used 2-3000 board feet of Peruvian and 3-4 times that that of Black Walnut.
My experience is that Peruvian is consistently less dense, coarser grained and softer that BW. I've never
used it on a guitar.

^^^I have built guitars with both, and this is an accurate description of my experience...
Add to that Peruvian is somewhat brittle, black walnut - not so much....

Jim, Rob, thanks.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Filippo, yeah, I love Black Walnut. But I don't have resaw capability and can't get it locally in less than 4/4. I would purchase from LMI, but they don't offer it for neck wood, only Peruvian.
Add to that the fact that I am trying to build my first as cheaply as I can and still use good quality woods and LMI's price of $60 for a 1st grade back and side set of the Peruvian is hard to pass up. And the price of Peruvian neck blanks are comparable to hog/sapele/khaya. And the wood is dried and ready to use after a few days acclimation in my shop.
I really appreciate everyone's help and advice here. It has helped a ton.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.