ArieBombarie Posted May 30, 2008 Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 (edited) I'm in doubt, (about a lot off things but here I'll stick to the ones regarding my guitar ) I'm currently building a Les Paul style guitar (I started a build thread, see signature for the link)... It has a mahogany body and neck, a zebrawood carved top and a ebony fretboard.. At first I wanted bindings around the body, neck and headstock. But my design has a rather pointy horn and I figured that it would be hard to get a plastic binding around that horn, so I dropped that idea. Instead I used a natural binding around the body, so the height of the side of the topwood is the same around the body (about 6 mm) and I won't stain it, but leave it blank.... On the headstock I'll use zebrawood veneer on the back and front (for hiding the scarf joint and for the looks). The front veneer (about 4mm) will be thicker than the back and I will leave a natural binding on the front veneer aswell... I still want to get a binding around the fretboard but I think having a plastic binding there won't look right (as it would be the only part with plastic bindings). So I want to use thin pieces of zebrawood (about 2mm) as binding around the ebony fretboard. This, I think, will give the guitar a more together look. I already made strips of about 4 mm which I can bring back to about 2 mm ones there glued to the fretboard. Is this feasible? What mistakes should I avoid? Is the procedure the same as with plastic bindings (only with different glue)? Should I do this in the first place? In short... I'm in doubt ... I would really like to hear your views on this one… Grz Arjan Edited May 30, 2008 by ArieBombarie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted May 30, 2008 Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 Its entirely feasible, and you're right it would fit the theme of your axe better than plastic. Three major things to be careful of: #1 Make sure you are certain of the taper of the fretboard, then leave 1/8" or less for your bindings on either side. If you're not certain of the taper, you'll end up with binding that won't be parallel to the outer strings and could look weird. #2 Titebond works great, just make sure you clean out the slots very well, wait about 20 minutes after you glue up and the Titebond will come out easily with one of those StewMac slot cleaning tools. If you fail to do this, your frets will pop up at the ends. #3 Don't make the binding any thicker than 1/8", otherwise the amount of fret that is unsupported by the tang gets too long and it will bend sideways when you level the frets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArieBombarie Posted May 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 Its entirely feasible, and you're right it would fit the theme of your axe better than plastic. Three major things to be careful of: #1 Make sure you are certain of the taper of the fretboard, then leave 1/8" or less for your bindings on either side. If you're not certain of the taper, you'll end up with binding that won't be parallel to the outer strings and could look weird. #2 Titebond works great, just make sure you clean out the slots very well, wait about 20 minutes after you glue up and the Titebond will come out easily with one of those StewMac slot cleaning tools. If you fail to do this, your frets will pop up at the ends. #3 Don't make the binding any thicker than 1/8", otherwise the amount of fret that is unsupported by the tang gets too long and it will bend sideways when you level the frets. alright then... thanx for the info!!! Gr Arjan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted May 30, 2008 Report Share Posted May 30, 2008 #2 Titebond works great, just make sure you clean out the slots very well, wait about 20 minutes after you glue up and the Titebond will come out easily with one of those StewMac slot cleaning tools. If you fail to do this, your frets will pop up at the ends. Yes, titebond will work fine but I prefer to use slow setting super glue for this. Both will work just fine though. Super glue will be a lot more messy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 #2 Titebond works great, just make sure you clean out the slots very well, wait about 20 minutes after you glue up and the Titebond will come out easily with one of those StewMac slot cleaning tools. If you fail to do this, your frets will pop up at the ends. Yes, titebond will work fine but I prefer to use slow setting super glue for this. Both will work just fine though. Super glue will be a lot more messy. Had to read that twice. Erik is only talking about attaching the binding with titebond, and being sure to clean excess glue that may make its way into the fret slot. Otherwise, the dried glue in the slot will make it tuff to seat yout fret tangs. I think you are talking about using CA for the ends of the frets(where the tang has been removed). Titebond and metal don't adhear well, so that would not be so good to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArieBombarie Posted June 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 Ok, I'll give the wood bindings a go... still got a question about the finishing though... Normally you tape of the fretboard and bindings when you paint or clearcoat the guitar (right?).. But if the binding are made out of wood, they should get a clearcoat aswell... The problem I see here is that there will be frets on the binding... what to do here? clearcoat it before fretting or mask the individual frets before clearcoating the neck... any ideas? Gr Arjan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 Ok, I'll give the wood bindings a go... still got a question about the finishing though... Normally you tape of the fretboard and bindings when you paint or clearcoat the guitar (right?).. But if the binding are made out of wood, they should get a clearcoat aswell... The problem I see here is that there will be frets on the binding... what to do here? clearcoat it before fretting or mask the individual frets before clearcoating the neck... any ideas? Gr Arjan I think with zebrawood you could get away with just oiling the surface of the binding on the playing surface (i.e. lemon oil treatment) if your fretboard is rosewood or ebony or similar wood with high natural oil content. If you have a light-colored wood like maple as your fretboard, then yes you do need to clearcoat the board along with the rest of the instrument (search, there's a recent post about this very thing). Either way, you do want to clearcoat the edge of the binding where it meets the neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArieBombarie Posted June 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 I think with zebrawood you could get away with just oiling the surface of the binding on the playing surface (i.e. lemon oil treatment) if your fretboard is rosewood or ebony or similar wood with high natural oil content. If you have a light-colored wood like maple as your fretboard, then yes you do need to clearcoat the board along with the rest of the instrument (search, there's a recent post about this very thing). Either way, you do want to clearcoat the edge of the binding where it meets the neck. Yep, it's a ebony fretboard... so oil the top (both ebony fretboard an the top of the bindings) and clearcoat the neck including the sides of the binding.... got it... Thanx for the info.... Grz Arjan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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