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Long time lurker here, first time poster. I got pulled into the rabbit hole of building guitars at home during the covid lockdowns. My first build used traditio
by g0gzs 5y ago
Long time lurker here, first time poster. I got pulled into the rabbit hole of building guitars at home during the covid lockdowns. My first build used traditional "tonewoods" (mahogany, ebony, rosewood etc.) and while purchasing materials for my second build, I stumbled upon bamboo boards on a German wood retailed shop.
Compared the properties to the wood I wanted to use for parts of it (mainly the core/neck and fretboard) and decided to go for it.
So the second build [1] is 40ish % bamboo with purpleheart veneers in between layers of bamboo and purpleheart/olive for the body. Next build will be around 80% bamboo. Trying to source some strand woven bamboo boards to try them out as fretboards as well, but for a part time builder like me, getting such small quantities of bamboo boards is rather hard.
But yeah, fascinating material even outside of construction use. The boards I used for the guitar builds were nice to work with, easy to sand and finish (using wipe on poly).
[1] https://i.imgur.com/fUyxd7n.jpg https://i.imgur.com/fUyxd7n.jpg
- fho 5y agoMay I ask what you paid in the end for the bamboo you used? I went down the same rabbit hole some time ago and in the end went with oak as it was a lot more affordable (for my student budget back then).
- g0gzs 5y ago121x20 cm board, 20mm thick was around 22 EUR + shipping. The shop I bought it from had 3 kinds of bamboo boards (normal, dark and some "figured" made up of dark and light stripes) but currently sell only the figured.
- fho 5y agoI guess I was looking in the wrong places ... or the wrong construction. 20 mm thick sounds like it was only the core with more layers. In the end I went with some 150x4cm oak strips of varying width from the left-overs bin of a wood vendor. 5€ the piece was a pretty good deal back then.
- g0gzs 5y agoYeah, I cut the board I ordered into 4 stripes, rotated them for 90 degrees and glued back together with purpleheart veneer in between, to get the core/neck part. I really wanna build one almost completely from bamboo (with various veneers to get some accents/lines in) but it's really hard to source boards now. Meh... but yeah, who would have thought that "tonegrass" would become a term someday haha.
- fho 5y ago> core/neck I saw the picture above, looks very good! > tone grass I honestly believe that the key to building a good guitar is stiffness ... This will create a very high pitched instrument, as it does not lose the high frequencies in the wood. But that can be sorted out later vis EQing
- Gravityloss 5y agoAwesome looking guitar! I noticed you use the Planet Waves tuners. I love those as well, they're much more practical as they cut the strings for you. I wonder why they don't make them in more traditional colors, or why other manufacturers don't provide similar solutions. Everyone else makes just regular and locking tuners, not the locking-and-cutting tuners. For a performing amateur musician, the ability to change your string quicker and without having to carry extra tools is certainly beneficial, and people spend a lot of time fretting about much less important details in their guitars. I do like the current trend in youtube guitar videos talking more about playability, usability and reliability, and doing things like switching jacks or nuts, instead of endless pickup sound comparisons.
- g0gzs 5y agoYeah, I was looking into buying a new instrument, then youtube started suggesting all those build videos. Eventually found the project guitar web/forums and went for it. Probably my favorite side projects so far.
- soperj 5y agoThe original klusons tuners on the strats, you don't cut the strings at all. https://www.amazon.ca/Kluson-SD9105MN-Vintage-Tuning-Machines/dp/B006X0TD5E https://www.amazon.ca/Kluson-SD9105MN-Vintage-Tuning-Machine...
- twobitshifter 5y agoI always thought that hardness is most important in a fretboard, is bamboo hard enough for this? I have a Parker guitar with a glass composite fretboard (carbon glass they call it) and it’s the best part of the guitar for playability.
- devonkim 5y agoI don’t know if hardness is the best criteria. I have both rosewood and ebony fretboards on my basses and they feel differently and longevity seems only loosely affected. I’m not slamming down hard on the wood like what happens in flooring though and maybe other players are much rougher than myself.
- g0gzs 5y agoThe bamboo boards I ordered had a higher density than ebony (1100 kg/m^3 for bamboo vs. 955 kg/m^3 for ebony) and according to the suppliers site, they are roughly the same Janka hardness. That's why I went for it.
- lazide 5y agoKeep in mind these aren’t what you would get if you cut down some bamboo and used them. They’re usually processed, compressed, and a high % by weight of glue or epoxy. Many of them are harder and tougher than all but a tiny percent of exotic hard woods.
- NoImmatureAdHom 5y agoOne of the themes in this thread is reminding people that it's not actually bamboo, it's a bamboo composite--sort of like plywood. I doesn't work without petrochemical glues. I think it's fairer to say your build is 40%-ish bamboo composite. When we're calling it bamboo we're doing that industry's greenwashing marketing for them. Cool guitar!
- bombcar 5y agoI've noticed more and more "glue" boards - even beyond the classic MDF or plywood - such as "Edge Glued" boards. Lots of the Ikea "wood" furniture is made this way, some apparently from relatively small scraps.
- lazide 5y agoSome of the terms being used are getting more and more ‘artistic’ too - I’ve seen a lot more use of the term ‘manufactured wood’ for instance, and like you’re noting hybrid ‘core is mdf, edges are real wood, top is veneer’ type stuff that you have to dig to find out, and that is way more complicated than the ‘traditional’ mdf+veneer junk.
- bombcar 5y agoThe edge-glued boards at Menards are quite good - they're foot wide "shelves" if you will made from glued 4 inch wide pieces; they work and are roughly as strong as normal boards at a cheaper price - and come finished.
- handrous 5y agoEdge-gluing's one technique you'll find in woodworking books, for making large surfaces. Desktops or table tops made out of a single piece of lumber are wicked expensive, or practically impossible once you reach a certain size, so you join a bunch of smaller boards to make it happen. The really cheap & easy version of this skips the gluing and just frames them so they're smushed together, leaving visible seams and gaps like a slightly-tighter version of an outdoor picnic table (I've even seen this look imitated by solid table tops made from particle board and veneer, which... WTF? Those seams are crumb-traps! They make dealing cards a pain in the ass! Why would you go out of your way to have them?), but the better kind involves gluing.
- mromanuk 5y agowow that picture of your guitar is awesome, do you have a blog other place where we can see your work?