Binding Screw-up, Any Ideas?

[j. pierce]

I have a one-piece mahogany body I'm working on. Just put one-piece black plastic binding on it the other day. Used the tape the binding on, then glue it by wicking in water-thin CA glue method I have used in the past with success.

Looking at it today, I realized I screwed up - my binding is flush against the body (so looking at the top it is fine) but looking at the sides, I realized in just a of couple of places I have a barely noticable gap along the bottom edge. I don't know how I managed to do this. I'm kind of bummed out.

So I imagine my final decision is going to be to re-do the binding. (Probably route it off, I can't think of any other methods for getting the binding off after it's been CA'd in there)

But in the meantime, I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas for "fixes" I could try - If something actually works well enough, I may just go with it. I'm up for trying a few things out, as long as it doesn't prevent me from starting the binding over again. (And I can't see what would)

So anyone have ideas? Being plastic binding, I'm almost wondering if I can heat it up enough to soften it slightly and sort of flex it down a little bit to hide that gap. Doesn't seem like the best idea. Seems like a filler would work best. Would the black CA glue I've seen at the hobby store work as a filler? Can I dye epoxy that dark black? The gap is fine enough that I think as long as I can make it a non-noticable as a gap, fill it with something black, it wouldn't stand out. (I say that now, but I imagine I wouldn't be happy with it and still start it again) What about those laquer burn-in sticks? I have a black one of those at home, but no idea how to use it.

Is there anyway to get the CA glue to give? If I could get just this one or two small areas to give, I might be able to re-position it.

Eh, I think I'm going to have to do it again, no biggie, but any ideas are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

(BTW, My planned finish is the System 3 epoxy grainfill followed up by KTM-9 waterbase laquer, for compatibilities sake if anyone has ideas that depend on what goes on top of this)

[brian d]

You could try dissolving some binding in acetone to make a paste and use that to fill in your gaps.

(This is an idea I got from reading, not experience so take the advice FWIW)

Hope this helps.

Brian.

[SwedishLuthier]

CA will go soft if you use acetone, but that will soften the binding too.

But if you use acetone, you can actually melt the binding (not the one on the guitar, but some spare) to produce a filler. This will also melt into the binding and the colour matching will be perfect and no one will be able to see that you have filled the gap. One word of warning. The melted plastic shrinks some when the solvents disappear, so you will have to wait for a week or better two before you finish the guitar.

Stewmac sells both black CA and black epoxy. I don’t think you will have compatibility issues with any of these.

EDIT: Brian bet me to this

[j. pierce]

Thanks guys. Appreciate it.

Does the acetone-melting trick work with the ABS binding Stew Mac sells? (Link to what I bought) I was under the impression that it only worked with the celluloid stuff?