I think plain old bamboo is a bit light for making our instruments. I see figures like 0.54 to 0.78 g/cm3. Blackwood is 1.2, and Delrin 1.4 on the same scale.Geoffrey Ellis wrote:Bamboo is a great material to cultivate in lieu of wood, if it has the necessary properties (I've never made a bamboo instrument).
But bamboo scrimber (or indeed scrimbers of other timbers) could prove interesting:
"The bamboo scrimber product is comprised of Phyllostachys pubescens (Moso) with a phenol formaldehyde resin. The final product is a 140 × 140 mm section available in varying lengths. As shown in Fig. 2 and discussed in the previous section, the process of manufacturing bamboo scrimber uses the bamboo culm with minimal processing. The resulting commercial product is tested as a final product with no additional modifications. The average density of the bamboo scrimber is 1160 kg/m3 with a moisture content of 7%. In comparison, Moso as a raw material has a relative density of approximately 0.5–1.0."
Scrimbers (invented by CSIRO researcher John Coleman) bring massive improvements in terms of reduced waste, as well as improved technical behaviours.
Who knows, one day we might rename Corney is Coming to The Merry Bits of Scrimber.
(Also known as Cheese It, Cornie Is Coming, Knit The Pocky, Merry Bits Of Timber, The Spinning Wheel.)