DrummerDude

Yeah, but I will have to refret. Not good.

Yes, that too. I will have to sand the top layer and brush the wood with degreaser or something like that.

Hahah, yeah. I was thinking about the fretboard part of the "binding". OK, the sides will be finish over finish (acrilyc). But since the fingerboard is rosewood (and quite porous too) I think I will have to fill the grain on the thin line that will be about to be finished. I believe that using grain filler would make the whole thing look less crappy. Or do you think that it is not worth the effort because it is a rather thin line anyway? My lazyness says "Don't bother". My sense of pig aesthetics say "Go for it", so I am strugglling with a rather serious dilemma here...

Yap.

I remember you posing about some piece of wood, you had people spent time and effort trying to help you, now you want someone to approve a stupid idea like painted bindings. I think I remember seeing those on toy guitars. If your not interested in learing to build a guitar why post here, maybe some other site will be more appropriate like the toy makers forum. If you are just posting stupid questions just to post you have wasted my time and many others on this site who have knowledge they wish to pass on. I will put your posts on my Dee Dee Dee list (For you american mancia fans). As bright as a 5 watt bulb. Please, accept my apologies, Sir. I am willing to pay you cash for wasting your time. I am pretty serious. How much? Is $500 OK? By the way, if you have any tips about how to apply a painted-on, "toy guitar" faux binding finish, please share because this is exactly what I am after from the very begining of this thread.

You haven't seen anything yet. Wait for my thread about the chainsaw fretboard slotting job I did recently to appear...

The point is that the method you are suggesting will look just as bad as that. You shouldnt come here asking for bad advice and expect people not to point out that it will look like cr*p Agreed and lesson learned. I will just try to filter the useful replies from the advices which, though rightful, don't answer my qestions. Thanks for your help, guys. It is painting time here.

The funny part here is that I am not a drummer. Actually, I have never touched any drums (if we don'tcount NI Battery, FXPansion BFD and various drum loops packages). Also, my English is shite, so I don'tknow what gaffer tape is but if this is something like those duct tapes - there is a guy on naother forum who actually uses them to apply cheap bindings. And this is not a joke. There was an army of lame ass guys who loved his duct tape bindings and asked for a tutorial on how to apply them. I am not THAT cheap, though.

Read my first post, please. Really, it's all there. I just wanted to know if painting is OK and eventually to learn if there are any other methods. Didn't need any advices about wood binding or warnings about how bad a painted binding would look. It seems that painting the fake binding on is OK and some cheap barnds are doing it. This is all that I needed to know. Thanks, I will do a fake binding and sure will share some photos here.

I just don't understand this. If you're doing this for only aesthetic reasons then what is the point in doing it 'ugly'? This means that cheap looking things look appealing and totally OK to me. I know tha tit won't look awesome like some $500 binding job. Heck, i am not after a $500 job. I just need a cheap and fast way to apply a faux binding without it looking TOO bad. Thought that it was all in my first post - I need a FAKE binding and I clearly understand that it will not look fancy. Still, sticking tape (like that other guy did) is not an option for me. It's way too cheap and ugly even for a cheap guy like myself. I understand your confusion. Whatever questions you have in mind, please remember that I am cheap and lazy and what you consider "ugly" is OK with me.

^ My English is quite poor and often I don't catch sarcasm. I am still looking for a fast, cheap (no matter how ugly) way to do a faux binding.

Uhh... Fast? (as in "easy")

I just found a thread on some forum - a guy is making faux binding by sticking some automotive pinstripe tape to his guitar. Not the kind of faux binding I was considering for my project, though...

This really answers my question. So, it appears that the only way to apply a faux binding is to paint it on, no? OK, sure it will wear off. Any ways to prevent this from happening? Any tips on how exactly to apply the "binding" so to make the trasition smooth and not-annoying to the thumb? Apply clear coat over it? And it's absolutely true that I will not decompose a healthy neck and go through the re-retting hell just to install binding. Thanks

No thanks. I am not interesetd in plastic binding, wood binding, abalone binding, mother-of-pearl binding, metal binding, water buffalo horn binding, Jurassic era walrus tusk ivory binding or what ever kind of REAL bindings are there. Nope. I have a neck that came from a cheap Squer. It is in great shape, has its frets installed and all. How to apply a FAUX binding to this neck? Thanks!

I am interested in a cosmetic binding effect on the fingerboard only. Binding a whole guitar body in PVC crap looks absolutely pointless to me anyway. So, how to paint (or should I paint at al?l) the edges of the fretboard so to make them look like they were bound? Any other methods for applying a fake binding besides painting?

OK, I want to make it very clear that I hate fretboard bindings. I freaking hate them. Hate the look, hate the feel of crappy PVC plastic under your thumb, hate all the headaches that bindings cause to lutheirs too. But I saw a few good guitars that actually looked kind of sexy with the binding installed. So I decided that I will be doing a fake binding on one of my future projects. By "fake binding" I mean that I intend to just paint the edge of the fretboard white (or creamy-white). So, is this a no-no? Is this a common practise at all? Have anybody done this before? What are the risks here? And last bt not least: What is the best way to apply a fake binding to your guitar's fingerboard and headstock without all the trouble a real binding job can cause? PS: No, I will not take my time applying a real binding.

Hi guys, a just bought a BC Rich neck from Jon. I will wait for the neck to arrive and see if it will fit my project without any headstock work. I want to convert it into an ESP-esque headstock and my latest PhotoShop experiments showed that a BC Rich headstock can not be converted into a ESP-like headstock just by cutting the excess wood out. There will be lots of glue work too. But that is not aproblem at all. I am ready to do all that work becuse the result would be worth it. I am still trading my Stratocaster neck for a pointy. No Ibanez necks, please (I can easily make an Ibanez "beak" out of my Strat neck just by cutting it out). Just necks with a nice drop angle at the headstock - ESP (LTD), Jackson, BC Rich... etc. Thanks!

Thanks. I just bought a pair of Wilkinsons and reading your post was wondering whether they would fit my Tele at all. It appears that it's your guitar's routing fault. I don't think that you will be needing to make a template to widen up the cavities. A couple of straight rulers would serve you just as well if you take the sides of the cavities one by one. This is what I do but then again - I am a pretty lazy sod.

No problem man, I am happy with what I've got because it was cheap. And since I am a pretty cheap and stingy guy myself, I'm really satisfied. Speaking about cheapness and being cheap: do you know of a good source for dirty-chep (second hand?) Telecaster parts like pickuards, bidges and electronics controls paltes? Anyone has some for sale? Thnaks!

^ So, I am f*cked. It seems that I bought the less cool pickups at the same price. This guy too explains that the material of the magnet is of absolutely no importance for the sound of the pickup: http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/Pickupology/magnets.htm

I already bought them. Thank you for your help, guys!

I don't want to spend cash on original Fender pickups because they are horribly expensive. Apparently, I am no pickups expert but I am sure that there's no huge difference n sound between an original Fender pickup and a good Far East copy. People like to pay for brands, unfortunately. I need a set of extremely dirty-cheap, ultra-low0end, fake Telecaster copy pickups. But ones that at least "look" and install like the originals and don't have any "improvements" like those Wilkinsons.

I know that Wilkinson specialize in producing exact copies of different brands. I am 100% sure that the Wilkinsons ar ebetter pickups than those MIM Fender pickups. But the screws kind of annoyed me because the "original" Fender Tele bridge pickups don't have them. There is another thread by some guy who claims that his Wilkinson pickups do not fit in his Stratocaster body, so I am kind of suspicious about these Wilkinsons too. Seems that i got offered two very unappropriate sets of Telecaster pickups.

I was looking for cheap Tele pickups for my project. I also got offered a couple of Wilkinsons by another guy. Them and the funy looking MIM Fender pickups from the photos above. The Wilkinsons don't have ceramic magnets on their back but they have screw heads which also puzzles me to eternity. Here is a photo: Seems that both sets of pickups have an "unorthodox" base plate, so to speak. I guess I will not buy none of them but still, what would the better choice be here? Thanks!