Bind On A Carved Top

[verhoevenc]

OK, well routing for binding on a flat top guitar seems easy... but whata bout for an arch top. Wouldn't the arch make it so your dremel/router base wouldn't sit flat and therefore give you angled and un-even routings on the edge??

Here's a pic to show what I mean. The black is the guitar body (flot top in the upper picture, carvedtop in the lower). The red is the router/dremel's base, and the grey is the actual bit "routing".

So what do you guys do to counter-act this??

Chris

[Nitefly SA]

i think you route the edge then attach the top, im probably wrong though

Edited December 11, 2005 by Nitefly SA

[Mattia]

The binding channel stays perpendicular to the sides, no matter what. There are several jigs out there for this purpose (look at LMI's, and google Fleischmann Williams Binding Jig for another), since it's a problem also faced by acoustic guitar makers (the back, in particular, is both domed and tapered. Essentially, you need to keep the router perpendicular to the sides, and only have a very small 'foot' indexing off of the top to maintain an even depth. For electrics, routing the binding before carving the tops is a viable option.

Stewmac also has a few dremel attachments for the job, although having done two instruments with a dremel, I would not reccomed it to ANYONE. You need more power, and a laminate trimmer delivers the goods. Look up discussions on routing for binding in the MIMF library, particularly re: acoustic and archtop sections for pictures and various different jigs and fixtures.

Edited December 11, 2005 by mattia

[WezV]

When building a guitar with binding and a carved top i do the binding before carving the top. This lets me use my router with the stew-mac binding set on the body while it is still flat. Obviously the ledge will be taller because you have to allow for the carving, actually i use the binding as my guide to carving.

[johnsilver]

You can look at Setch's Les Paul tutorial that shows routing the binding channel before carving the top. I highly recommend that method for electrics.

I cut the binding channel on a Les Paul style I am making after the top was carved. I did that because I was stupid.

However, using this guide and my Dremel, I was able to successfully cut the channel for a 7 layer binding. It was painstaking, but came out nice.

[fryovanni]

The binding channel stays perpendicular to the sides, no matter what. There are several jigs out there for this purpose (look at LMI's, and google Fleischmann Williams Binding Jig for another), since it's a problem also faced by acoustic guitar makers (the back, in particular, is both domed and tapered. Essentially, you need to keep the router perpendicular to the sides, and only have a very small 'foot' indexing off of the top to maintain an even depth. For electrics, routing the binding before carving the tops is a viable option.

Stewmac also has a few dremel attachments for the job, although having done two instruments with a dremel, I would not reccomed it to ANYONE. You need more power, and a laminate trimmer delivers the goods. Look up discussions on routing for binding in the MIMF library, particularly re: acoustic and archtop sections for pictures and various different jigs and fixtures.

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I 2nd. Mattia's comments. Although pre-carve routing is possible for many designs.

Peace,Rich

[Nitefly SA]

so...i was kind of right.....YAY ME!

[erikbojerik]

It is not as straightforward, though, if you want the binding to cover the glue line between the top and the rest of the body. For that, and for achtops, I would use the StewMac Dremel attachment and (like any routing) make several passes and almost shave it down to finished dimensions.

The other way, if you have one, is to use a pin router or over-arm router.