Rounding Edges--by Hand Or By Router?

[Mickguard]

roundover with binding,

←

That binding is beautiful --how did you do it? Is it grooved into the wood?

[Setch]

Dyed maple top, RW binding, and a light coloured purfling on the inside and base of the binding. The RW binding would have needed to be bent on a bending iron (incidentaly, exactly how much of a PITA is the tight radius at the horn? There may be one in my near future...).

[thegarehanman]

I've used figured maple binding. That was a major pain to bend around the horns. I found that soaking the binding in warm water for about 15 minutes, wraping it around the body, and taping it in place until it dries(at which point you remove it and glue it) worked better than bending with an iron. However, I don't doubt that Myka knows how to work a bending iron worlds better than me.

Edited November 19, 2005 by thegarehanman

[Mattia]

Here's a random factoid: figured woods rarely like being soaked too much. A light spritzing, just enough to create some steam, should be enough. If it gets too wet, some maple will just seem to delaminate along the figure. Not fun.

Other than that, practice on scrap, and thin the wood as much as possible before bending. Sometimes a wet paper towel/washcloth draped over the iron can provide continuous steam, which may be helpful.

[thegarehanman]

Actually, soaking yielded the best results for me. I got more breakage and "delaminating"(I assume you mean the grain's delaminating) by just moistening with a rag and bending, as well as with spritzing and using a bending iron. I had virtually no breakage using the soaking method. I did this method with both the front and back of the same guitar, so I don't think it was a fluke. The wood was quite figured as well. Perhaps figured soft maple is an exception to the rule?

peace,

russ

[Myka Guitars]

That binding is beautiful --how did you do it? Is it grooved into the wood?

←

Here is an article from Stew-Mac that shows some way sof doing binding. This guitar had a two step groove cut into the edge of the top. The first to hold the binding and the second to hold just the top purfling. The edge purfling was glued to the binding before it was bent. I use a bending iron for it all and sponge water onto the wood right before i heat it. Then I tape it into place as I glue it in. Glueing is a quick process so you have to get the fit pretty tight before you glue it. Some people tape the binding into place and then used thin CA glue to glue it. I tried it but I prefer to use Titebond as it is a thermal set glue so you can close gaps if you need to after it is glued in.

~David

[WezV]

I find it much nicer to round the edges over by hand. If i was building a tele i would use the roundover bit, but i dont want that factory look on my own designs.

The backs of most of my guitars are rounded over a lot more than it would be safe to do with a round over bit so i attack it with a microplane rasp and sand it smooth when i feel its close, this lets you play with the contours a lot more and you may start to develop your own style. If Davids doing it by hand i know its good enough, the backs of his guitars are very organic looking, much nicer than anything you will find coming from a factory.

[Lietuvis]

Haha. Doing it by hand is when it looks like a 15 year old made it in his garage.

What's that supposed to mean? I'm 15, and I'm building a guitar in my garage(well, our garage is divided into 2 parts: The garage, and the Fully-equipped woodworking workshop)and my guitar is turning out fine.

[Cerb]

+1 on the above. Though, I'll be 16 in a week if that is of any consequence O_o.

[Mickguard]

Here is an article from Stew-Mac that shows some way sof doing binding.

←

Thanks for the link...I'm thinking of adding binding to my next project...might as well keep raising the bar, I figure!

[Ledzendrix1128]

I might be Rounding edges by hand... im kind of scared

[Mickguard]

I might be Rounding edges by hand... im kind of scared

←

Got to recommend against it...there's one part on my guitar that I had to do by hand, because the router doesn't go there...I'm having a real hard time getting it to match up with the router-rounded edges...

[Mattia]

roundover by router = easy and safe. Just practice on some scrap first, and if it's a big roundover, do it in several passes.

[verhoevenc]

My round-over on my guitar (MeuX E-Series) is SO small... you might even just call it a break edge, even though technically it is rounded. And since I kinda modelled it based on a Myka Dragonfly when I first started (although it's kinda changed along the way) I was glad to see that Myka too does his rounding by hand! Even before reading this thread I was doing it exactly the way he described, just fold your paper to give it some form, then let the paper make the round. Also, if you're doing it by hand you have a little more freedom. Like mine the inside of the cut-away I wanted it to be a bigger round over cause your hand comes up in there alot, whereas the rest of the body I just felt the need for like I said, a break edge so it's not pointy. Using sandpaper and hands gave me this freedom, which I liked

Chris

[Pr3Va1L]

Personally, I did the back of my guitar with a 1/2" roundover bit, and it's VERY comfortable. I don't think i'll be doing any tummy cut because of it. And I haven't done the top (and it's glued so it's too late if I wanted it lol) So i'll probably do a very small roundover with sandpaper like you describe...