Arby911

Ever been done?

I'm considering it, since bamboo is relatively inexpensive and harder than Finnegan's dick...

I thought I might try using 3/4x5 boards joined with dovetails and laminated.

Thoughts?

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Heilz

I've never heard of something so outrageously nice

How about you try it and we see the end of it hoping to have some nice guit. being made out of bamboo now that you spiked the interest of it.

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stonyman65

Bamboo is heavy isn't it?

Anyways, thats pretty cool. I don't know how it would sound, but it pretty interesting.

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Ston3Cold

That sound freaking awesome, so JUST ****ING DO IT!!!!!!!!

Arby911

No, it's light (relatively), lighter than pine as a general rule.

But it's hella stout on a strength/weight basis, so I may do the neck as well.

We'll see.

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von Layzonfon

I, too, would like to express an interest in seeing this done. Sounds gorgeous; mmm...dovetails...

I don't envy you the task of shaping it, if you ever get that far.


I'm guessing it would sound pretty much exactly like an electric guitar.

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poppameth

It depends on the type of bamboo. Normal bamboo isn't that heavy. Strand woven is heavy as hell because it's injected with resins and hardened under high temp and compression. Twice as hard and twice as heavy as regular bamboo. I know strand is hard to end nail into (I sell it for flooring.) Regular bamboo isn't as difficult to nail but I've never tried to shape it. It's grass after all so the fibers behave differently than a wood fiber does.

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Roc8995

This is what I'd be worried about. Bamboo seems to warp and split far more readily than wood. With a laminate it should make a decent body but I wouldn't trust it in a neck, myself.

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Arby911

I think you're probably right, and I'm looking into some of the resin impregnated versions, which are similar in weight to mahogany or maple but significantly harder than either of them.

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DEADMANSGHOST

Heres a build utilizing bamboo and carbon fiber... http://www.cycfi.com/
Pretty sweet guitar

Jason Jillard

its been done a few times before..

fender even did it last year

http://www.fender.com/products/tele...?prodNo=0170144

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inkandlead

Sweet tele. Thats only a top and back though. Full body may be something completely new. Definitely interested.

n1ckn1ce

Sounds sweet. I laugh at first because I thaugt of the straw-like thing and I told myself :how the **** does e want to make a guit out of that? but after seeing the tele, sounds promising.

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timbit2006

How are you planning on machining it?
Bamboo will cause ridiculous amounts of wear on steel planer blades. If you do decide to plane it, you can expect ridicoulous amounts of tearout. It is extremely hard to surface it via hand tools.
If you have a thickness/drum sander you could surface it that way, but that'd take a long time.

I have heard that carbide works well with bamboo. Perhaps you can use a router surfacing jig. I'm not sure if a carbide blade in the planer or spiral cutterhead would work. You'd have to check that one yourself.

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Boysie8

There are a few bamboo builds on TDPRI, including this one with triple p90's.

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valennic

I only know of bamboo necks, which Tom of Oakland Axe Factory uses VERY often. Never seen a bamboo body though. Don't see why it wouldn't work honestly.

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Ippon

I had a Strat with a Bamboo body, Maple neck, from the Philippines! Sounded and felt like a Strat. Do it!

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Arby911

I was going to start with conventional tools, but I see that opinions are all over the place as to whether that will work, tearout etc. (I spoke to a furniture builder who has used similar materials and he said it wasn't too bad if you could score your cut lines first and use very sharp blades. I've got carbide blades for my planer, but IMO they don't give the same surface finish as HSS...and I don't have a drum sander...so that may indeed be a concern.

This is EXACTLY the kind of feedback I was looking for, thanks!

If all else fails, I have access to a 5 axis high speed milling machine...

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power freak

Yamaha used to make (maybe they still do?) a bamboo acoustic guitar.. Tonally I thought it sounded a little dead, but that was only one example so might have been a dud. And of course electrics are a totally different kettle of fish. With its light weight and stiffness I imagine it'd make a very resonant solid body.

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