I'm in the process of reading about guitar building and getting the tools together to start building a few guitars. I will probably build an electric 6 string first since the level of difficulty looks somewhat less than an acoustic. Anyway, I have some figured walnut slabs drying right now that I'd like to use for my first build. I've only ever used air-dried lumber and haven't yet had the opportunity to run anything through a kiln, but looking at tone wood online it looks like everything is kiln dried.

So I have to ask - is there a benefit of kiln or air dried wood over the other when it comes to guitars?