Do You Mask Binding Before Applying S&s

[strummer2k]

I am about to use ReRanch S&S on the guitar I built. I have just spent a whole lot of time scraping the bindings with a razor blade to clean them up after staining the top and doing some final sanding on the bottom(seems the sanding just drove bits of sawdust into the friggen' binding). I don't have any scrap binding left or I would test it, but will Sand & Sealer dirty up my bindings again?

Thinking about "if I had to do it again", do most people put the bindings on after staining and/or sealing? If so, how would you keep any excess glue from ruining the stained wood?

[erikbojerik]

Here's what I did:

Finish-sand the top

cut & clean the binding channel (cut it ever so slightly high so that the binding sits slightly above the top)

apply sand & sealer (keeping binding channel clean)

glue in binding

scrape flush (this way, if you goof and scrape slightly the body, you only scrape the sanding sealer, not the dyed top, which is OK since you need to rough up the sealer anyway before applying the clear)

apply clear coats

leave clear coats on the binding (don't scrape)

done