Official Luthiers Forum!

I used to pay ~ $45 for a 36" x 4" x .5" board on ebay (for neck blanks) but I am having a hard time finding it now. I do have the option of driving a couple hours and buying a big sheet and cutting it so it will fit in my GTI, but I would rather get smaller pieces. If you know of a source, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

It seems like a bit of an unusual wood for necks Lac. It is pretty commonly used for flooring I believe. Phone a few flooring stores.

Indeed, flooring suppliers are likely your best bet. Also, Bamboo isn't lumber: it's actually just a very large species of grass, which is why it grows so quickly and has so many issues with dimensional stability compared to actual wood. I think it has great potential for future engineered materials.

Makes good panda bait too

I saw bamboo laminate counter tops at Rona Lumber, recently. If you go the flooring route, not all bamboo T&G is created equal. Higher priced flooring is usually manufactured to a much better standard.

Alex

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Thanks all. I would not describe the three necks I have made with it as unstable. My understanding is that the grass is boiled to get the sugar out, and soaked in epoxy. It is pretty close to working with real wood. Occasionally there is a tiny bit of fraying of the strands. And rubbing your hand up and down the neck while shaping will get you plenty of splinters. Flooring stores is a good idea. Most of the bamboo I find there is either not the minimum dimension I need, or has a bamboo face glued on to something else.

If you're in the Pacific NW/Canada, Windsor Plywood has carried it. I picked up a board awhile back with plans to use it somewhere...

Our good friend Stuart Gort has used it, you might give him a ping.

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