Stolysmaster Posted March 5, 2006 Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 I saw picture of a guitar the other day that had a beautiful masked/natural binding. The coolest part was something I have not seen before with this type of binding. The face/front of the guitar had "natural" binding about 1/16" all around the front edge just like real binding! How is this done? Has someone invented curved tape? Or, is it somehow scraped off evenly after applying dye and the first couple of clear finish coats? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitefly SA Posted March 5, 2006 Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 tape is flexible... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stolysmaster Posted March 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 tape is flexible... The only tape I know of that's anywhere near flexible enough to do that smoothly is "electrical tape", and I don't think that would work for this application. Don't most people have to scrape regular binding after dying or color finishing a top? If masking tape were flexible enough to use around the top edge, I would think that most would we doing it that way with regular binding. I have tried using masking tape along the top edge of plastic binding without any sucsess at all, and ended up just dying the whole top and scraping the top of the binding with a razor afterwards. I don't know, maybe there is a technique to using masking tape in this way that I am not aware of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted March 5, 2006 Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 The tape best suited for masking curves and things of that nature is called "pinstripe tape." You should find it at any store that sells auto refinishing supplies. Taping the binding isn't going to do such a good job of preventing the dye from seeping into the binding(or faux binding for that matter). Your best bet is to either dye the top and scrape, or, better yet, first mask off around the area you want bound(leaving only the area that will become your faux binding exposed), then put a few coats of shellac or vinyl sealer(make sure whatever you use is compatable with your clear coat) on the faux binding. Remove the tape, let the sealer or shellac dry, and dye the top. peace, russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stolysmaster Posted March 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 Thanks Russ, I was not familiar with pinstripe tape! When I get to that point I think I will get some pinstripe tape, and tape inside the faux binding area. Then tape below the faux binding area on the side of the body. Then I'll spray the entire faux binding area with one coat of vinyl sealer and two coats of clear, before dying the top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted March 5, 2006 Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 You don't need to spray it. That would require masking the top and anything else you don't want sealed. Save yourself the trouble and brush on 3 or 4 light coats; as long as you're not too liberal with each successive coat, it won't look brushed on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stolysmaster Posted March 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 Good idea. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikhailgtrski Posted March 5, 2006 Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 It's pretty hard to mask a really smooth, consistent curve on that top edge, even with pinstriping tape. What I did was mask just the side of the faux binding and sealed it by wiping on a couple coats of shellac. Then I did my grain fill and staining. Once the top was stained I scraped the top edge with a razor blade with a piece of plastic taped on for a depth stop. If you're careful it will give you a nice consistent clean edge, which can be difficult to achieve with masking alone. scraped faux binding I got the scraped binding method here: Erlewine tutorial And the masking/sealing method here: Myka's process pics Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mammoth guitars Posted March 5, 2006 Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 Mask off as much as you can, then after color coats, scrape and sand like normal binding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted March 6, 2006 Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 Mask off as much as you can, then after color coats, scrape and sand like normal binding. This is a good idea if you are painting solid colors, but if you are staining the top, you need to seal first. After sealed, then you can stain and finish by scraping and sanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikhailgtrski Posted March 6, 2006 Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 This is a good idea if you are painting solid colors, but if you are staining the top, you need to seal first. After sealed, then you can stain and finish by scraping and sanding. I agree that sealing is a good idea, but I've seen it done without... I imagine it depends on how much stain you use. Dan Erlewine didn't seal the binding on that thinline tele, but he only did two passes. If you're doing heavy stain/sand back/stain/stain/stain stuff it's a good precaution. Otherwise you might get stain seeping through the grain lines into your faux binding, which you can't remove even by scraping. Rodney told me that PRS doesn't even mask (or seal or scrape for that matter) their faux bindings unless they are spraying or grain filling the back... still scratching my head about how they do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stolysmaster Posted March 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 Thanks to all so far...very helpful. I'm trying to think all of this through multiple times before I get started. My neck from Doug should be coming soon, and I'm getting close to ordering my body wood from Gallery. I went back to the faux binding idea after I decided to have a flat 1/4" maple top (on a Black Limba back), instead of trying to go for a carved top with my limited experience. I've been taking my time trying to get the template just right lately. Buying a router and practicing with it will be my next step after ordering the body wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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