Have recently gotten interested in finishing out bamboo rods and have found multiple suggestions to use lacquer as a color preserver. Tried some on a couple of wraps which resulted in near original color rendendition, but have not yet epoxied. Any experience/suggestions out there about lacquer CP?

Lacquer CP used to be the primary type used for all threads and rods. But it can be unpredictable and can be subject to cracking and checking at a later date. This was the main reason that the acrylics eventually replaced the lacquer variety.

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Personally I prefer the look of spar varnish over silk thread as I feel it is more in keeping with original look of the wraps on bamboo rods - it does darken a shade or two so if you want light colors you should either use a normal CP or a thread that is one/two shades lighter.

Many of the classic bamboo rodmakers used lacquer or shellac as the initial finish on threads. The need to preserve the spool color is a modern fetish -- the traditional makers worked with the color that emerged from various treatments (e.g., Payne, Leonard, Edwards, Powell, Thomas).