Official Luthiers Forum!

I took a long lunch today and drove up to Eisenbrand Exotics to buy some curly Koa for binding material. My mind wandered on the drive back to the office, and thought I'd open up a couple topics for discussion.

First: Eisenbrand is very cool. All the candy you can eat. I spent half an hour or so looking through their bins of snakewood -- it took every ounce of self-restraint to keep from buying all of it. I am proud to say that I walked out with nothing more than the curly Koa I went there to buy, but I had a lot of fun. (This isn't really a discussion point; it was just a neat trip.)

Second: On making your own. Do you make your own binding, or buy it from our wonderful sponsors? And why? What about kerfed lining? I find making binding and kerfed lining the less entertaining part of lutherie, but I can't bring myself to buy this stuff pre-made, either from a financial or a philosophical perspective. I whipped up a batch of reverse-notched kerfed lining a couple weeks ago --- enough to make six guitars, and my investment was $3 worth of honduras mahogany and three-and-one-half hours of time. Financially, even at a modest $16/guitar for lining, I was making roughly thirty bucks an hour. Binding is even better than that from a $/hr standpoint. Philosophically, it's sort of a Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance thing. The closer I get to ripping the wood off the tree with my bare hands, the more I feel I built it rather than assembled it.

Third, on Koa. It seems prices have shot up over the past few years, and it sounds like it will only get worse as harvesting continues to become more restricted. Eisenbrand's prices are reasonable overall, and their wood is great, but I just spent close to $200 for 3 board feet of curly Koa. It's beautiful, and I can make almost a lifetime supply of binding from it. But that's a lot of money for a modest size board. What will the Koa market be ten years from now? And if you think prices will skyrocket, have you stocked up on whatever you will need/want in the future?

Kelby,

I don’t have any answers for you but my problems are no tools and no space. It would be very difficult for me to manufacture parts unless I want to do it with limited hand tools.
If I did have the space and the tools then I would certainly entertain the idea of making all the part I could. Making all your wood parts would be time consuming but rewarding.

I actually live in the same city as Eisenbran Exotic Hardwoods but have never made it by their store yet. Hopefully I will soon have the time or the need to stop by and check them out.


Philip

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aka konacat

If you think my playing is bad you should hear me sing!
Practice breeds confidence and confidence breeds competence. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in practice.

I see your point.... I do.

But I have no problem paying for the stuff I want / need. For instance I want to bind a guitar with Pernambuco. Rather than sourcing the lumber prepping it, cutting it, sanding it etc. It is just easier to call LMI and order 4 sticks of it. 30 seconds and it is done, I can get exactly what I need and I don't need to make such a big investment in time or funds.

On stuff I use a ton of, it is more feasible. I have cut lots of rosewood bindings in the past .... I am just glad to have options.

:-)

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

I enjoy being able to say that it all started out as lumber. I just finished a Walnut dred, and the back, sides, back bracing, kerfing, and end blocks all grew within 25 miles of my shop. No good top or fingerboard wood grows in southern Illinois, or I'd be using it as well.

Al

I usually cut my bindings from the side sets I use. I also have some bloodwood and maple that I also cut binding material from. I can understand the convenience of just placing an order with one of our fine wood dealers for this sort of thing, but my attitude is, I've already got it sitting here, so why not use it? But I tell you what, if I had a client ask for koa or snakewood or BRW bindings, and the sides weren't the same stuff, I'd just buy it ready made.

I built myself a jig using a jigsaw for cutting kerfing. It worked well, but it was still time consuming. I've since gone to using basswood linings (cut from pieces of basswood I have laying around ), so I don't use kerfing anymore, either. However, if I were to go back to using kerfing again, I probably would elect to buy the ready-made stuff rather than fire up the jigsaw jig again and do it myself.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

I make my own bindings all the time. That way, you can get exactly what you want. And then, when you burn 'em up on the bending form, you can replace them.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Made my bindings on the first, was given some for no 2 and no 3 and i could say for no 4 and 5 also but will probably cut my own again if i run out on them. I made my own kerfing twice, using the table saw tip from Mario and it works quite fast actually, not even worth waiting to receive some through the mail since i build so slow. The fretsaw blade works really well for kerfed linings i found out when doing them that way for no 2.

[QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird] I make my own bindings all the time. That way, you can get exactly what you want. And then, when you burn 'em up on the bending form, you can replace them.

Steve[/QUOTE]

Let's not forget snapping a few either

I make my own bindings,good way to use up your
trimmings. I try to do it efficently by making
as many sets as I can when I do the setup.
I also like the idea of knowing they match.
I make 5 not 4 to a set. ( of course sometimes I'll
break 2)I would almost bet it cost me more to make my own.

Tom

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http://www.moriciguitar.com

A bit of both really. I always rip some bindings from the excess wood on side sets and as most of the wood I have bought recently from the UK and Spain had 6" wide sides there's plenty of spare for bindings. Also I like the look of self bindings (the same wood as the side). But if I want a binding wood that I haven't got any side sets of,I just order from the tonewood guys, recently some bubinga and Eucalyptus from Bob for example.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I have bought wood from Clay Eisenbrand and would reccomend him highly-great wood,great service!

I usually make my own because it allows me an infinate number of choices as far as size, type of wood and that sort of thing.

That said, I did just buy 10 sticks of curly koa from Steve at Colonial that are really nice.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars