I'm looking seriously at a light bamboo grand and have a few concerns about such a light color on basically unfinished wood. I know bamboo is tough,stiff,light and love the look of the thing because the color differential of the various laminations is very even. I guess what I'm worried about is over time it might get skin oil,smudges and other funk that may get into the pores and grain and be hard to keep clean and nice. A light color Stick appeals to me also because there comes a certain point in a man's life when he would like to see his instrument and this one reflects a good bit of light off the fretboard. Also I was wondering about the various wood oil treatments one could use to A. protect the wood from said funk and B. To maybe add a shade or two of a darker brownish/yellowish tint and protect the wood. I know Emmett puts a light oil rub in finish on there to begin with but it seems very subtle compared with what I had in mind. Or is it best to just try to keep it clean and go with it on the natch. Luckily I have a very alkaline PH factor in my skin and hands and have not had the issues some guys have with strings and finish rotting off the instrument due to the chemistry of their perspiration,etc. Anyone out there had any experience with a light bamboo Stick? What can I expect?

I know Dave Brosky can shed some light on the reflective nature of the light bamboo.

As far as finishing goes, modern Sticks are done in Danish Oil, which is a very durable finish. It does wear away after an extended period of time (check Per Boysen, and Bob Culbertson's Sticks), but is easy and simple to reapply.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_oil

When you visited here last, I remember confirming your suspicion that the light yellowish natural bamboo fretboard color would indeed eventually stain in an irregular way. I forgot to explain that when we repair and rework Sticks of any age, we often refinish the fretboard surface between each fret all along the board.

We have a technique of fine sanding the surface between the frets before dressing the frets, thus any abrasive deformities to the metal fret caused by refinishing the wood are totally corrected by final fret filing and crowning.

Then with a couple coats of Danish oil or a similar Watco solution, your light toned instrument would look like new (and of course sound and play like new).

Still, I prefer our "dark" (medium tan) bamboo as a material, especially if it's stained a bit ("antiqued") to make it even a bit darker. It's still a "soft finish" like all hand rubbed oil finishes on natural woods, and very forgiving when touching up dents and scratches.

Since you've jumped in here Emmett,let me ask - is it possible to "antique" a shade or two more yellowing on this particular one we're talking about? How big of a deal would that be at this point?

As opposed to wood dyes, wood stains with an oil base make for subtle differences, slightly darkening or reddening the lighter toned hardwoods - a rich looking effect. Dark staining the very light toned natural bamboo wouldn't have much of an effect and you'd still see the finger stains after a year or so.

I'd go with dark bamboo and our new CNC machining run of all Stick models will be done in 2 or 3 weeks and ready for our next woodworking, assembly and setup stages.

If you want a really light color, the new Ash is spectacular.

If you are worried about seeing things on the instrument, dark woods with light inlays provide the best contrast for strings, frets and inlays alike.

My next Stick will be Ash! I love that wood. And I will have dark linear inlays. (I can dream, can't I?)

-Eric

me…. I like a dirty Stick!

Really?

I can plus 1 the ash suggestion. I love my ash Stick.