Binding width choice

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Steve Sawyer
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Location: Detroit, Michigan

Binding width choice

Post by Steve Sawyer »

I have three sizes of cream-colored plastic binding in the stash. For this Lester, I was planning on using 0.090" binding for the body, 0.060" for the FB and 0.040" for the headstock. None of the guitars I own are bound (save one that is bound only on the FB) and these seem reasonable, but want to make sure that this is indeed the case before I go cutting channels for it.

Thanks!
==Steve==
Freeman Keller
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Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2012 11:34 am

Re: Binding width choice

Post by Freeman Keller »

That sound reasonable, but my StewMac LP plans call out the body binding as 0.070 by 0.220. I might have used 0.060 on mine.

One minor little quirk about binding a Lester is that depending on how you cut your horn the binding may be taller at the inside than 0.250. You can either route your channel so that it rises in the horn (in which case you are bending in two planes - a little heat is your friend) or StewMac sells some special tall binding (in which case you are scraping 90 percent of the guitar ). I chose to put the little hump in mine and on later ones I changed the arching slightly in that area.
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Steve Sawyer
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Re: Binding width choice

Post by Steve Sawyer »

Thanks, Freeman. I made a test piece in part so I could get the feel of binding, and the 0.090 seems ok. I was more concerned about the FB and headstock binding. However, your use of .060 for the body makes me think maybe I should pick up some .020 and tape some on to decide. .020 seems like it might be challenging to work with, but a delicate thin binding on the headstock might be striking.

Because this is a flat-top, I should avoid the issue that I think you're describing. My complication is interfacing the body and FB binding in the horn, but should go ok if I go slow and take my time.
==Steve==
Freeman Keller
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Re: Binding width choice

Post by Freeman Keller »

Steve, I brought my calipers in and measured the binding on my LP clone. Eyeballing the calipers held up against the binding I'm consistently over 60 thou, but under 70 on all three areas - body, fretboard and head. I'm going to guess that I used 60 for everything , I do have some out in the shop and I will verify its width.

A couple of random thoughts. First, whatever I have used has been easy to bend, I usually apply a little heat while I've fitting tight curves but it is so much easier to bend than wood. I do lots of wood binding and it is always the premade 80 thou stuff - I often add a little 10 thou accent line. The plastic binding is a lot thinner looking so once again, I would say it is less than 90.

I use the same thickness on both the heads and the f/b because I want it to look uninterrupted - the nut crosses the binding but it is the same thickness on both sides. Depending on the shape of your head, that tends to be a harder place to bind. Points aren't too bad to miter but dimples can be hard both to bend and to miter. That is one of the reasons I don't do the Gibson dimple on the top of the head - mine is simply curved (no chance of miss identifying mine LOL).

I have bound f-holes with both wood and plastic - I am quite sure that I used 40 thou for that. I have bound pick guards, truss rod covers and other small tidbits - I've probably used 20 or 40 for them. I also did one guitar with plastic binding that I added a few b/w/b lines - again, I would guess the binding was no thicker than 60 thou and the lines were probably 20.

As far as the interface at the neck joint, I just do the best I can. Sometimes the neck just stands over the body and the bindings don't line up, sometimes you are able to make them come together.

Hope this helps, looking forward to seeing your guitar.
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Steve Sawyer
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Location: Detroit, Michigan

Re: Binding width choice

Post by Steve Sawyer »

Freeman Keller wrote:Hope this helps, looking forward to seeing your guitar.
Me too! :D

Back when I wasn't half the guitarist I am now, I had an Epiphone Sheraton (ES-335 clone) that I really liked, but didn't use much. I ended up selling it to raise funds for a piece of shop equipment. Now that I can say I'm a musician without having to grin real big when I say it, I'm looking forward to adding this to the stable.

I just glued up the scarf joint. I used a combination of hot-glued "stops" and a variation on your toothpick trick (1/8" dowels) to keep everything behaving. Offcuts from cutting the scarf make great cauls for clamping this joint too.
==Steve==
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