now that's just cool...

V.

Ain’t it, though? I saw it and couldn’t resist

It always amazes me how versatile a material bamboo is. Whether it's different varieties, I don't know, but it's crazy to think that this guitar is made of the same stuff used to support scaffolding in Hong Kong.

I'm very curious to see how durable this instrument will be in the long term. A traditional wooden instrument will 'open up' as it ages and most musicians will agree that they sound better after a decade or so of life. I'll be interested to learn if this behaves in the same way.

This is certainly a different look. I know it may be hard to describe, but how does it sound compared to traditional construction ?

That's a great question and one that is impossible for me to answer. This is the only bass ukulele I've ever heard and it can't really be compared to a traditional ukulele or to an acoustic bass guitar. I can say that, unplugged, it is much quieter than my other ukes. I have to attribute that to the relatively soft, strings which vibrate slowly to get that bass sound without a lot of 'oomph' to get the body to vibrate. It's plenty loud when plugged in, though and has a much more mellow sound than my acoustic bass guitar with its phosphor-bronze strings.