No Binding At The End Of The Fret Board?

[jtmullet]

hellow all this may seem like a bit of a stupid question but on some flying vs and some deans thyere is no binding a the end of the fret board and was wondering if there was a practical reason for this

[Setch]

Yes, it's easy to do, and saves time and money.

It also (IMO) looks halfarsed and incomplete.

[WezV]

i think it looks ok on some through neck guitars because it keeps all the stipes going the same way - like mike does on his guitars

http://www.rocksmithguitars.com/ph-1.htm

[thegarehanman]

i think it looks ok on some through neck guitars because it keeps all the stipes going the same way - like mike does on his guitars

http://www.rocksmithguitars.com/ph-1.htm

Yeah, but this is coming from the guy that hates binding. ehem, ehem.

Edited August 18, 2007 by thegarehanman

[Prostheta]

Yes, it's easy to do, and saves time and money.

It also (IMO) looks halfarsed and incomplete.

Not to sound pedantic, but this is probably as *practical* as it gets. Everything else is merely cosmetic and therefore subjective.

Dean's accountants must be laughing all the way to the bank on the savings they make on that bit of binding and glue :-D

Edited August 18, 2007 by Prostheta

[thegarehanman]

They'd save more money on the labor that would be required to miter, fit, and glue the piece of binding in than on the material itself. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't do it solely because they didn't think their employees could do a good job of getting tight miter joints.

[mattharris75]

It's not always a cost issue. On my first build I didn't bind the end of the fretboard because I cut a recess in it in order to allow access to the heel end truss rod adjustment. I thought it would look odd to bind the end and either leave a blank space or make the binding follow the cutout. And personally, I think it looks quite nice. But it's rosewood on koa, so there is not a tremendous amount of contrast. Leaving it bound or unbound is as much a matter of personal taste as any thing else. However, if I hadn't had the recess cut in the fretboard I would certainly have bound the end, simply for aesthetics if nothing else.

[Prostheta]

It's not always a cost issue. On my first build I didn't bind the end of the fretboard because I cut a recess in it in order to allow access to the heel end truss rod adjustment. I thought it would look odd to bind the end and either leave a blank space or make the binding follow the cutout. And personally, I think it looks quite nice. But it's rosewood on koa, so there is not a tremendous amount of contrast. Leaving it bound or unbound is as much a matter of personal taste as any thing else. However, if I hadn't had the recess cut in the fretboard I would certainly have bound the end, simply for aesthetics if nothing else.

Very true - I was pulling the point on cost issue further than necessary, just in the cause of humour :-D But as pointed out, the cost in labour-saving is real and (cough) "accountable" in the really-real world to big manufacturers. As to whether this is why Dean and the design of various Vs aren't bound at the end is currently moot on whether it's cosmetic or cost. Yours is cosmetic dictation due to practical restriction. Fair enough!

An example of an unbound Dean can be found HERE (big image, all you 56kers!). Perhaps the end binding confuses people into thinking they almost have almost two octaves per string? Perhaps they don't want any high contrast 90° angles? ;-D

I would vote cost with a whisper of cosmetic as the excuse.

Scuse me while I go bind the end of a fretboard

[postal]

I *guess* I can understand why Matt didnt bind the end on his.... but I think either put the binding on the entire board, or dont do it at all.

Binding done poorly looks far worse than no binding at all as well.... If you're gonna do it, do it right.

And you dont have to "miter" the end either..... do the end first, sand the sides of the end flush to the channel on the sides, and the side strip meets at a nice almost 90 deg angle.... simple.