Yamaha Announces World’s First
All-Bamboo Guitar
 February 6, 2000
Yamaha announces the world’s first all-Bamboo guitar. The
top, back, sides, neck and braces of this attractive guitar are all crafted
from easily replenishable Bamboo, resulting in a totally new sound that
is remarkably bright and clear.
The FGB1 guitar will be introduced at Winter NAMM 2000 and has been
in full-scale production since January. When Yamaha offered a preview
of the new instrument at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival in California
in August, the world’s top luthiers couldn’t keep their hands
off it.
Bamboo has been used for centuries to make traditional Asian musical
instruments. Generations have enjoyed its warm, crisp, resonant sound
quality, while artisans have prized it for its stability and durability.
It’s also very beautiful. Bamboo’s straight grain gives it powerful
acoustic properties, and its warp resistance makes it a very stable building
material. In addition, the fast-growing Bamboo plant has the ecological
advantage of being easily reclaimable.
"I’m really excited by this guitar," said David Bergstrom,
director of marketing, Combo Group. "Its sound is like nothing you’ve
ever heard, and it makes a striking visual statement. We’ve developed
a brand-new production method to make this guitar a reality, and I’m
proud that Yamaha, a leader in traditional guitar making, is also leading
the way in this new category." Yamaha has applied for patents for
the exclusive process.
The guitar made its debut at the prestigious Healdsburg Guitar Festival,
sponsored by Luthiers Mercantile International and Acoustic Guitar Magazine,
in California’s wine country in August. Experts were taken aback
by the prototype’s loud, resonant sound, its balanced tone with excellent
sustain, and its rigid neck.
Rick David, Director of the Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans,
saw the guitar at Healdsburg and said later, "This is totally different
from what anyone else is trying to do. Yamaha obviously approached it
in a very professional way, and they’ve created some great stuff."
The Yamaha process for this guitar uses three- to five-year-old Bamboo
plants about 6 inches in diameter. The wood is sawn into strips, bonded
longitudinally, and laminated in three layers, with the inner layer at
90 degrees to the outer ones for rigidity. This laminate is then crafted
using traditional guitar making techniques. The only non-Bamboo parts
of the finished guitar are the Rosewood fingerboard and the Mahogany bridge.
For more information, visit Yamaha's web site at www.yamaha.com. |
