Finishing With Binding?

[vaxination]

i was watching a dan erlewine video and his partner paints over the binding then scrapes it off just prior to spraying the clear coats.

i was just wondering how you folks do it?

[SwedishLuthier]

I haven’t seen that particular video, but I think I know what goes on. I suppose that the guitar is painted with an opaque or at least tinted lacquer. If so, the paint will cover or obscure the binding, and the whole idea of a binding for decorative purpose is ruined.

This is how I do it. I shoot a thin layer of paint and wait until the paint it dry to the touch but not very hard. I use a razor blade for scraper. I give the blade a "hook" by running it at an angle against a screwdriver or something similar. I hold it between my thumb and index finger and use my thumb nail as a depth guide. Using light touch, and paying attention to not removing to much I crape away the paint. If needed, I shoot a new layer of paint and repeat the above. NEVER shoot all layers of pain before scraping. The paint will be too hard, and chipping of the paint WILL occur (been there, done that).

Please note that if you spray on several layers of paint before the clear, you will have to spray a lot of clear, sand back lightly, spray more and so on to be able to get a smooth surface.

[vaxination]

thanks for sharing your technique and the link to the reinforce the description of creating a hook for the razor scraper. it seems that it will take a lot of clear lacquer to bring the level over the binding up to the rest of the body.

[vaxination]

just had another question about finishing and binding while we're at it. if we are dyeing the body... say dyeing a maple top and a mahogany back, would it be better to put the binding on after applying the dyes?

[SwedishLuthier]

No. It is almost impossible to cut exactly the right dimensions for your binding. Standard way of doing it is to install the binding, scrape (or sand) the binding flush with the wood and then dye. If your wood was already dyed it would be ruined when scraping the binding flush to the wood.

And yeas, you will need quite a lot of clear to make up for the layers you scrape on, especially if you have sprayed a lot of layers for the paint to be opaque.