When To Glue On The Binding?

[Daniel Sorbera]

Ok so I want an Ebony fingerboard with flame maple binding. Do I cut the ebony too small than glue it on the neck, than glue on and trim the binding? or do I Glue on the maple, than glue the whole thing on? whats the easiest way to do it?

[doug]

Carefully resize the ebony just the same amount as the thickness of your binding. Then be sure your fret slots are deep enough so that when you sand the radius (if it's not already) the frets won't bottom out. You can now attach the binding to the ebony.

Use a sanding block made of wood or something that won't flex, and sand the bottom flat again. It's hard to keep the binding perfectly lined up along the bottom edge. You need good coverage here though so there is not gap after attaching the fingerboard to the neck.

Also it's not a bad idea to sand the top back to shape as well. Then you have a correctly sized fingerboard to work with.

-Doug

[Drak]

Good luck keeping the ebony dust out of your maple's pores.

And if that's your Coco-Bolo neck, then add in some Coco-Bolo dust too.

Personally, I would nix that idea and move on to something else unless you could apply some sort of finish to the binding before you apply it.

Tricky stuff.

[Daniel Sorbera]

good point drak. I never thought about that. Looks like it's gonna be just ebony fingerboard. That makes my life a little easier.

[doug]

The "trick" is top use compressed air to blow the dust out. It will come right out, and what doesn't will mostly be sanded away during the higher grit sanding pases. I have found that the dusts comes right off with air, and if any traces are left, lightly sand with 320 grit just the binding. No, it's not easy, but hey turn out real nice!

I've done this many times and it comes out flawless if you're careful.

-Doug

[Drak]

That's true, but I've found guys doing their first guitars rarely have compressed air handy, and I don't think the canned variety of compressed air is really sufficient for this, so I would rather lead them -out- of the trap then tell them it's possible, have them glue binding like that on, and still wind up with ruined binding, because you'll see the tiniest bit of bleed or pore-problem.

My opinion is it's usually better to stay away from that stuff until you've built your tool and experience levels up a bit.

And even if you DO have compressed air handy, you still have to be -Ultra- careful when applying your finish, because the CB oils will 'creep' thru the finish also.

I still stand by my opinion for beginners, FWIW. Just because you CAN do it doesn't make it appropriate for beginners to try.

A stunt driver can drive a car on 2 wheels, but would you tell someone trying out for their learners permit that it's OK to try it?

[Daniel Sorbera]

ya thanks drak. I will just go with no binding on this project and save it for a future project when I get better. (maple on ebony does look really good though )

[doug]

True enough Drak. Guess I took it for granted that compressed air is just a basic necessity.

Besides, the only way to learn is to try it. Well, binding is a pain though even after doing a whole bunch.

Godin, you could use white or cream. Still looks great when you're done and you need only a razor blade to clean it off.

-Doug

Just for the record though, show me the car and ramp, I'll jump in and try it out.

[Drak]

Yeah, I agree, you have to jump in at some point and just 'do it', but I would rather jump in for the first time on some scrap piece, install it, put some finish on it, and see what happens and take it from there.

The old rule (which I break a lot, hehehe ) is: never practice a new technique on the instrument itself. Always do your test runs on scrap, and only approach the instrument when you know exactly what's going to happen.

Easier said then done sometimes.

[doug]

That rule sounds like something that should be written in a book! It's great. I don't ever remember following it though...Ha.

I sort of abide by the measure twice cut once rule. Well...most of the time.

-Doug

[frank falbo]

I would think that if you use a flat, single cut file and razor blades as scrapers, you could get that maple binding flush and shaped without ever having to use "contaminated" sandpaper. Shake or wipe off your blade or file after every stroke. Otherwise Ivoroid/Black/Ivoroid looks pretty good against Ebony and other dark woods. Back to Maple binding though, you can use a blade as a scraper and get your junction points with that. A blade doesn't leave dust to jam into the Maple's pores. Then you can tape off the CB and Ebony to fine sand the contour of the binding and the shoulder, although you can leave the shoulder shaping until after it's fretted.

That's how I did the back of my Maple neck with 2 Ebony strips. The second I sanded it, the dust went into the Maple. So I just finished it off with a blade, then tung oiled it with several coats before the final fine sanding.

Another option would be to soak the binding in a highly thinned lacquer, compatible with whatever you're going to finish the neck with. If you're going to oil the neck then a super thinned nitro would be a good choice. Basically if you mix it thin enough you should end up with a lacquer-impregnated Maple that will both highlight the flames and protect against dust by making the Maple somewhat of a solid surface all the way through. It doesn't make the Maple impervious to Ebony dust, but it's a vast improvement. I did that with some Maple inlays once, and it almost became like working with plastic.