Bamboo as a guitar wood?

[IGC]

Was walking through my kitchen and couldn't help but notice the very nicely made kitchen knife holder the knife set my father in law just gave us came in. It appears to be made from bamboo and all the carpentry joints etc are perfect.
Has anyone here ever heard of bamboo being used for guitar making ...electric?

 

[runbirdman]

I think Relish Guitars uses bamboo for some of their models if I'm not mistaken. Those guitars are pretty innovative in terms of construction and electronics. I have no idea what specific effect the bamboo has on the tone though.

 

[DistinguishedPapyrus]

http://www.cycfi.com/projects/home/

It's been done, though a little more rare. It's bound to be a loborous process, because of having to get enough strips wide and thick enough to be laminated into the size of stock needed. It'd probably make a very stiff neck.

I thought about trying to make one before. Bamboo stock can be found easily enough, just didn't feel like precisely milling down a dozen perfect little strips to glue them together into a neck blank sized slab.

 

[Cloudy]

Tom Drinkwater of Oakland Axe Factory has used a lot of Bamboo for his guitars, mainly guitar necks.

 

[goodkingzog]

Some Chapman Sticks are offered in Bamboo as well, very sturdy

http://www.stick.com/instruments/

 

[IGC]

Seems like it would could have neck wood potential...

 

[LiveOVErdrive]

I like this idea.

.... Aaaaaand I just ordered a bamboo board for the neck of my next headless build. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

 

[IGC]

Some Chapman Sticks are offered in Bamboo as well, very sturdy

http://www.stick.com/instruments/

Unique and interesting ambidextrous is a must !

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

i have a longboard made of bamboo, so i know its stronge

 

[lewis]

 

[ThatCanadianGuy]

I would assume it would have similar flexibility to hickory, would it not? How would that effect its ability to resist warping?

 

[IGC]

I would assume it would have similar flexibility to hickory, would it not? How would that effect its ability to resist warping?

Not sure...

 

[Humbuck]

Did you know bamboo is not wood...it's actually a grass. The largest grass in fact.

 

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Did you know bamboo is not wood...it's actually a grass. The largest grass in fact.

Well this brings up it's own heap of questions...

 

[cwhitey2]

Well this brings up it's own heap of questions...

I c what you did there.




Im interested in how it would sound.

 

[IGC]

...A grass, I knew there was something like that going on. A woody stemmed grass.

http://www.stick.com/instruments/ Some of these are made from bamboo for sound samples.

 

[ElRay]

... It's bound to be a loborous process, because of having to get enough strips wide and thick enough to be laminated into the size of stock needed ...Bamboo stock can be found easily enough ...

It's not easy to find, but there's a number of sources of bamboo "sheets", blocks and even "2x4", both in "end grain" and "long grain".

The last time I looked, was about 1-1/2 years ago. The thought I had was to get a bamboo "end grain" butcher block for the body blank, and "2x4"s for the neck. The neck or body could also be made from a sheet of "plyboo" -- 2-3 pieces laminated for the body, and 3-5 strips laminated for the neck.

 

[pondman]

Its very strong and hard to bend especially when laminated. I made a neck blank out of it about 2 years ago but never got around to using it. I found it a little uninspiring.
https://www.woodworkerssource.com/shop/category/Bamboo.html

 

[Grindspine]

I saw a bamboo ukulele at Sweetwater the other day...
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/0XUkeBamboo

 

[goodkingzog]

Some images here of the look of frets on bamboo and no added fretboard material, ie just bamboo laminations. A board over the top would change the look a lot but I don't know if there would be adhesion issues, depending on the fingerboard wood to be used

http://www.stick.com/instruments/bamboo/