February 28, 2009

Binding

I was feeling good about the carved top of my guitar. However, the feeling was shortlived.

So what is binding? Binding is a trim that goes around the outer edge of the guitar. It serves an asthetic purpose but also helps protect the edge of the guitar. Binding can be made from all kinds of different things ranging from cellulose to plastic. Not all guitars have binding. The '59 Gibson Les Paul has binding around the top of the guitar body and the sides of the fingerboard.

I had alread routed the binding channel using a 1/2" flush trim bit with a 3/8" bearing. This produced a channel that was supposed to be about 1/16" or .060" if you prefer decimals.

I purchased cream .090" binding from Stew Mac. The binding is made of ABS plastic.

I started by trimming the binding so that it was about 1/8" taller than the top of the channel. It was necessary to leave the binding a little taller on the inside of the horn because of the transition of the carve in that area.

I started by using Weld On brand glue that is supposed to be the best choice for gluing the binding in the channel. My method was to spread glue on about three inches of the channel and then seat the binding in the channel. I held the binding flush with my fingers until the glue started to tack up. I then used special tape to hold the binding tightly against the body while the glue dried. I used a ten dollar Harbor Freight heat gun to bend the binding around the curves of the guitar. The heat gun is really cheap and is really just a blow dryer on steroids.

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My plan was to glue the binding up to the horn and then leave it and do the horn the next day. This is a prefered method of many luthiers because the horn is the most difficult area to bind.

The process was sloppy and I had glue all over my fingers. Even worse it got all over the sleeves of my new hoody. Nope the glue didn't come out so now the hoody is only worn when I'm puttering around the garage.

Gluing the binding is difficult. I was fortunate that my dad came out and gave me a hand. Once he joined in the job went pretty fast.

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As I stated above the binding is .090" wide while the channel is .060" wide. This means that the binding must be scraped flush with the body. I also stated that the binding is taller than the channel so the top portion must be scraped down as well. Even though I hadn't yet glued the binding around the horn I decided to sand and scrape some of the binding I had done flush with the guitar just to see how things looked. I proceeded to sand the binding flush on the outside and then scraped it flush on the top. as I looked things over I noticed that in many areas the binding had been sanded too thin and wasn't conisistent all the way around the guitar. This really bugged me and I couldn't understand why there was a discrepency. I pulled out my digital caliper that has a depth gauge and measured the channel in various places on the part of the guitar that hadn't yet been bound. It turns out that the channel ranged from .060" to .073" thick depending on where you took the measurement.

It was very difficult to photograph the flaw. This pic came out ok and you can see how the width of the binding fluctuates as it bends around the waist of the guitar.
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To be honest the inconsistency bugged me. I had spent all this time working and making everything as nice as I could only to botch the binding job. I think the channel became inconsistent because I routed it prior to carving the top. Over time I think it changed as I lightly sanded around the guitar.

I'm not going to lie, this flaw will probably drive me nuts. My options are the following:

1. Don't worry about it and this guitar becomes a "players guitar".

2. Route out the old binding and start again.

I chose number two.

To be continued........

More Pics

This is as far as I want to go on the top carve until the binding is in place. I have been comparing it to my buddy Jack's Gibson Les Paul R8 and it's as close as I can get it. I still have some work to do on the recurve and final sanding but that, as stated above, will wait until I've glued the binding on.

Just for kicks I put my the fingerboard I ruined on top just to see how things look. There is also a pic of my new board. Let me know how I did.

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February 23, 2009

I need to update: More On Top Carving

Sorry folks I've had some schedule changes at work that are kicking my butt and updating the blog has been difficult. Not to worry the guitar has actually progressed quite a bit. I'm going to try and get everything up to date this week starting with this post. I cut the pickup plane angle. When it was all said and done it ended up being around two degrees. I messed up and started the cut about an eight of an inch on the wrong side of where the neck ends. I'll clean it up when I finish the carve. The carve is coming along nicely. I've been using a combination of my finger plane and flap sanding wheel that fits on my power drill. I've been roughing things out with the plane and then cleaning it up with the flap sander. So far so good. I'm going to carve the rear last. I need to map out the bridge better. If there was one thing I would change about my topography on my template it would be to make the steps in the rear close to the tailpice. As it stands now I'm going to have to use and rasp or something to rough out the back because the steps are too far from where they should be. Here are a few pics of where I am so far: Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Don't you just love that cute little finger plane? I shot some videos of the carving so you can see how the work is being done. They are long and probably boring but some of you will find them interesting. Please excuse the quality. I do not have a regular video camera and have been using my point and shoot on video mode. It's also obvious that I'll never be a news anchor.
In this one I just carve away. I also show where I'm at at the end.
Another quick vid. I'm actually much further along than this.



Here are a couple more pics of the carve: Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket I'm very happy with the progress of the carve. It has been difficult but I'm comfortable with the decision to carve the top by hand rather than with a duplicarver. It has been a very educational experience. This week the updates should come pretty quickly as I try to get caught up so pay attention or you will get behind.