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You guys are very convincing, and make a great argument against wood binding on my first guitar. I will probably go with tortoise binding and no purfling for this guitar. Simple as it may sound, I think it can still look decent (if I don't screw it up)!

Thanks again!

Hi-

If you do use wooden bindings and you don't use John Hall or BobC then take a look at this guys Ebay store. I have bought from him before and he's a really good Ebay seller. He sells walnut, maple, zebrawood and rosewood dread pre-bent bindings. If it were me I would go with John Hall or BobC, but this is another option.

Happy Building-

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds

As much as I want to do wood binding, everyone's suggestions to start with plastic was heeded. I bought a set of tortoise binding from John Hall yesterday. Not my dream binding, but it should still look nice, if I don't hose the job.

Thanks for the input and help!

The tortoise on the mahogany will look great! You might want to get a piece of tortoise for the endgraft so it all matches...


-Mark

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Pullman, WA

The more I know, the more I know I don't know.

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yup go with what you have.

I've bound two instruments (both guitar shaped Mandos).

The first I bent rosewood the "proper" way over a hot pipe (well, actually a hot air paint stripper heat gun.....

Oh yes, I also freehand cut the binding channel with a dremel as I didn't have the right router bit.....

The rose wood bent fine but there were a few little gaps left and once I'd sanded the edges some of the binding was thinner than in other places......

tolerable, but far from perfect.


My latest attempt I cut the binding to length then steamed it with the wallpaper stripper till it was REALLY floppy. Then I towelled it dry(ISH) and stuck it (with 2" masking tape) as I bent it round the binding channel (cut with my new SM binding cutter!!). This was FAR more successful even though I stuck in a little maple purfling strip too.....



while it's nowhere near some of your work folks, I'm really pleased with this second attempt at binding. Walnut salvaged from a dumpster BTW!!!

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My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

I'm going to be the contrarian here, and strongly, strongly recommend the wood binding (yes, I realize it is too late).

If you plan on making guitars regularly, then you are going to have to learn to do wood bindings. And yes, on your first few attempts you will probably make mistakes.

Now ask yourself, on what guitar do you want to make that mistake on? The first couple, which are going to be so-so anyway (I've never seen a first guitar that knocked it out of the park), or on a guitar that is really really nice?

I.e. learn your skills on the first few guitars, which are going to have goofs, and less than perfect tone anyways. Don't ruin/degrade a guitar that could have been great with a poor binding job.

Just my opinion. I went all out on my first few guitars, and then backed off somewhat once I acquired the necessary hand skills. And it worked out well, because the first ones had issues with tone, neck angle, etc. I'd hate for my current ones to be the ones subjected to the bad binding, inlay, etc., of my first attempts.

[QUOTE=rlabbe] I'm going to be the contrarian here, and strongly, strongly recommend the wood binding (yes, I realize it is too late).

If you plan on making guitars regularly, then you are going to have to learn to do wood bindings. And yes, on your first few attempts you will probably make mistakes.

Now ask yourself, on what guitar do you want to make that mistake on? The first couple, which are going to be so-so anyway (I've never seen a first guitar that knocked it out of the park), or on a guitar that is really really nice?

I.e. learn your skills on the first few guitars, which are going to have goofs, and less than perfect tone anyways. Don't ruin/degrade a guitar that could have been great with a poor binding job.

Just my opinion. I went all out on my first few guitars, and then backed off somewhat once I acquired the necessary hand skills. And it worked out well, because the first ones had issues with tone, neck angle, etc. I'd hate for my current ones to be the ones subjected to the bad binding, inlay, etc., of my first attempts.
[/QUOTE]

You make a good point. I might think on that. I spent about $10 for the tortoise binding set, so the investment cost is almost nothing.

Good arguments on both sides. Not sure which side I'll fall done on when the rubber meets the road.

That is some good advice,

I like wood bindings and I like Ivoroid and and other types as well. The easy bending plastic types may be easier, but I did not find bending wood bindings or purflings all that difficult, so don't be to worried if you go that route.

Mike
White Oak, Texas

Another voice for wood bindings here, i used aromatized red cedar on my first and cut them myself too so i learned the hardway but don't regret it at all, experience is the key.

Like Roger and Mike have said, go for it, you will enjoy it more in my opinion.

Serge

Well, I went ahead and ordered some wood binding afterall (rosewood). My thinking is like a few who responded, that if I'm going to mess up I might as well learn early rather than wait. Many have said that there is not a lot of difference between installing wood vs. plastic binding anyways. So, I'm going to give it a shot. I ordered the binding from John Hall, and he is going to bend it for me, so that should take a lot of the risk out of doing the wood binding.

I do have another question, and it probably should be the subject of another thread, but I'm trying to figure out the best method of routing the binding channels. I have a Dremel, but most everything I read says it's underpowered. I also have a laminate router. I don't have a fancy binding jig, however, so without having done it, getting the channel routed without a big "oops" and tearing a chunk out of my guitar scares me!

Markms96038894.3849074074

I just checked into this thread. I am all for wood bindings, but unless you have the equipment to do them they will never be right. Benders are nice, but bindings almost always need to be touched up a little on a pipe to make them fit right. If you just "jam them in there" you will probably be disappointed with the results. I would factor this into your decision making. You can do wood binding on your first, but the time and effort required are exponential compared to plastic.

Regarding the dremel.... get a laminate trimmer. The dremel is seriously under powered, I think you run a much bigger risk of a oops with this than you do with a lam trimmer. I did my first several guitars with a lam trimmer with a tilt base and a rabbet bit set. This works ok, but it takes a bit of finesse.

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

Hi ms960??? (insert your name here)

If you are concerned about tear out, try scoring your rebate with a gamil (perfling cutter ie:Sloan) by hand prior to routing. This will greatly reduce any risk. Also, if you check the archives, there are a few cheap, simple, and I am sure quite affective binding jigs that will do the job, some of which have been posted quite recently. Me thinks last week maybe.

Cheers...I swear

Kim

Congrats Mark, i think you have the right attitude towards building, Yes the laminate trimmer is the way to go and fine touch your bindings on the hot pipe is the way to go also like Brock said. Kim also has great advice with the gramil that you can purchase from our sponsors here or from LMI!

lET US KNOW HOW IT GOES BUD!

Sorry Mark,

I should have paid more atention...ya did post your name

Cheers

Kim