D30-walnut: Walnut sides and back, or walnut-color stained mahogany? Any thoughts?

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I've located a Westerly-made bowl-back Guild D30-Walnut. It is out of state, but from the photos basically the whole instrument looks chocolate brown. The paper sound hole label reads exactly this way: "D30-walnut" and below that a 7-character serial number beginning D3008xx, which makes it a 1989 model according to www.westerlyguildguitars.com. Does "D30-walnut" mean simply walnut-color stain on mahagany sides and back and spruce top, or are the sides and back (and perhaps even top) actually made of walnut? The top/soundboard is the same dark color, but I'm guessing maybe it is just dark stain on a spruce top. I currently own two Guilds, including a 1984 D4 mahogany bowl-back which is not particularly valuable, but plays and sounds AMAZING -- although I had a predisposition, the D4 is the instrument which got me hooked on Guild! Anyway, I'm considering adding this D30 Walnut to my collection but don't know what the back and sides (or even the top) are made of, whether it is rare/valuable, what it might be worth in "player" condition and, most importantly, if it is really walnut construction how that would affect the sound. Can anyone educate me a little about the D30-Walnut?
 
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The Westerly Guitars description of the D-30 says it's a maple B/S, and I take your characterization of the one in question as "bowl back" to mean "arched laminate back," which also suggests maple. Guild liked to stain their instruments--for example, the cherry finish on lots of their mahogany guitars. I'm guessing that "walnut" on the label points to the finish rather than the wood.

Walnut is not at very commom wood for a factory-made guitar, though Taylor and Larrivee offer some and Epiphone made some walnut B/S archtops in the mid-1930s. Individual builders are more likely to use it, and for the ones I've played, it's somewhere between rosewood and mahogany.
 

bluesypicky

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Walnut is not at very commom wood for a factory-made guitar, though Taylor and Larrivee offer some and Epiphone made some walnut B/S archtops in the mid-1930s. Individual builders are more likely to use it, and for the ones I've played, it's somewhere between rosewood and mahogany.

I once owned a Walnut B&S Martin (sustainable wood series). It didn't stay with me.
 

GardMan

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D-30s of themselves are not particularly rare... and I have seen a number of the walnut-stained variety show up on eBay over the last few years. Can't remember the selling prices of the walnut stained ones, but a check of recent (completed) eBay sales has prices from <$500 to $710, and a couple with offers accepted that I can't see. I would think a structurally-sound players D-30 might go for $500-750, and a nicer one from $700-900 (higher in shops).

Good luck!
 
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dapmdave

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I've located a Westerly-made bowl-back Guild D30-Walnut. It is out of state, but from the photos basically the whole instrument looks chocolate brown. The paper sound hole label reads exactly this way: "D30-walnut" and below that a 7-character serial number beginning D3008xx, which makes it a 1989 model according to www.westerlyguildguitars.com. Does "D30-walnut" mean simply walnut-color stain on mahagany sides and back and spruce top, or are the sides and back (and perhaps even top) actually made of walnut? The top/soundboard is the same dark color, but I'm guessing maybe it is just dark stain on a spruce top. I currently own two Guilds, including a 1984 D4 mahogany bowl-back which is not particularly valuable, but plays and sounds AMAZING -- although I had a predisposition, the D4 is the instrument which got me hooked on Guild! Anyway, I'm considering adding this D30 Walnut to my collection but don't know what the back and sides (or even the top) are made of, whether it is rare/valuable, what it might be worth in "player" condition and, most importantly, if it is really walnut construction how that would affect the sound. Can anyone educate me a little about the D30-Walnut?

If that's the one listed in the Florida Space Coast craigslist, then I've played it. Just a walnut stain over the normal D30 maple/spruce. That guitar has been out there for many months with no takers. I would not recommend it. It sounds OK, but in rough shape and priced too high.
 

Yoko Oh No

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my les paul is walnut....stained. the top is so dark brown it looks like a black beauty.

the top is maple and the body is mahogany, just like a custom or standard, but the stain is walnut.

brown...the new black
 

PTC Bernie

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It's like the D25's. There were cherry and mahogany stained tops but none were cherry and they were only all mahogany for a while.
 
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Thank you, Dave! Small world -- yes, that is the same D30-Walnut, so your post was really, really helpful. I like the 1 3/4 nut for my fat, clumsy fingers, and that was the appeal of this one. I've found that the neck widths on the Westerly guilds do not always match the specs -- I once had a D50 which was stunning but had only a 1 5/8 nut, just too narrow a neck for me.
 
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Thank you, Russell. I believe you are correct -- just walnut stain over a spruce top and mahogany or maple back and sides.
 
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funny, I have a les paul which more or less fits that description. I love the sound, the feel, and the look, but I'm 51 years old -- I have a 14-year old son who of course plays a slick strat, and his insightful comment on my walnut-stained Les Paul is "it looks like its made of pine cones or something...."
 

Grad77

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There was a maple B/S Spruce Top Walnut stained D30 on EBay for a long time. Not sure if its the same one mentioned before just advertised on a local creigs list as well. I agree 500-700 is market for a D30. Good hunting ;)
 

dapmdave

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There was a maple B/S Spruce Top Walnut stained D30 on EBay for a long time. Not sure if its the same one mentioned before just advertised on a local creigs list as well. I agree 500-700 is market for a D30. Good hunting ;)

I seem to recall seeing it, and it was the same one that's down here. It's in a shop, for too much money.
 
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