Musicians could be the revolutionaries in our society. Progressive and popular, their ideas and music speak to mass audiences and inspire change in those who listen. Motown sparked a racial revolution, Elvis karate kick-started a sexual revolution as well as the Beatles talked about a revolution once the country knew change was necessary.
Now musicians can begin a Green Revolution using the introduction of bamboo musical instruments.
Employed for centuries to create instruments in Asia, bamboo wasn’t as widely seen inside the Western instruments until the past few years. Yamaha, the world’s largest manufacturer of musical instruments, has pioneered a brand-new manufacturing procedure that incorporates bamboo’s sonic and ecological positive aspects into Western musical instruments.
In 2000, Yamaha introduced two products designed to address a pointed concern for the environment and heralding the next direction for musical instrument design. Their bamboo snare drum and bamboo guitar are made using the extremely sustainable and renewable bamboo plant.
Introduced to enthusiastic reviews at the Winter NAMM Exhibition in Los Angeles, the acoustic guitar uses 3-ply Bamboo for its top, back and sides, with multiple parallel Bamboo laminates inside the neck, resulting in a totally new sound that is certainly remarkably bright and clear. The brand new snare drums use 6-ply Bamboo inside the shell for a uniquely warm sound.
Conventional guitars of recent times are made from hardwoods like cedar, rosewood and mahogany while drums generally use beech, birch, mahogany and maple. These woods are chosen mainly because from the resonance they create within their sound as well as their warp resistance. On the other hand, these woods will also be slow-growing hardwoods that can anywhere between 30 -40 years to reach maturity. Continued harm to the environment comes with the cultivation of hardwoods combined with the utilization of pesticides and heavy machinery necessary to harvest. The bamboo plant is generally harvested above ground and will grow to harvesting length again within a few short years. Additionally, the bamboo plant includes a vast root system network which will sprout new shoots constantly, inspiring new growth.
When Yamaha offered a preview of the new Bamboo guitar at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival in California late last year, the world’s top strummers couldn’t keep their hands off it. Experts were taken aback by the prototype’s loud, resonant sound, its balanced tone with superb sustain, and its rigid neck.
During wintertime NAMM 2000, Yamaha’s best drum artists place the Bamboo snare drum through its paces alongside other snares in the annual “Groove Night” concert and came away with rave reviews. Renowned drummer Russ Miller utilized the Bamboo snare in the course of a current recording session and said it was the best of this year’s new snare drums.