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Hello all --

It's late, and I'm frustrated. My excitement over closing the box on my two sister OMs has quickly been replaced by a nagging sense of inadequacy as a result of trying to get my bindings to sit flush in their ledge. I'm not sure if it's the bindings (flamed maple) and my lack of hand bending expertise, or the ledge, which I thought came out pretty good. Here's a pic:

The ledges seem nice and square, and when I run a small piece of binding around the edge, it sits nice and flush, yet when I put the actual binding in place, there's a significant gap, only around the upper bout, which leads me to think that it's a result (in addition to my utter lack of experience), of the binding distorting in response to the dome of the back.

I'm wondering if any of you have encountered this, and what can be done to deal with it. I'm pretty sure I can't sweet talk it into place come glue-up time, and I don't imagine glue filling the gap in a...pleasing...kind of way.

Seems like the only solution is to undercut either the binding or the ledge to accomodate the other, but this seems like a compromise. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Ken

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Ken try relieving the bottom inside edge of the bindings and see if that helps. You can do it rather quick with a single edge razor blade used as a scraper.

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Definitely chamfering the lower inside edge will help.
On tight inside curves, I use a clamp to get the bindings nice & tight.
Sometimes I need to scrape the mating face of the binding at a slight angle to get a good fit. You could try warming the binding up with a heat gun as you fit it into the upper bout area... Might help.

Heck, that ain't no gap! I would conquer that with 3M masking tap and CA!
The 3M tape works well, it will pull that in tight, then you can wick in the CA to nail it down.
I have also used the LMI Brown tape, and the 3M fiber reinforced packing tape. You want to be able to stick it to the side, and then push your binding tight, and tape over to the back. Then repeat.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

And that's my opinion on the subject!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I also use the reinforced packing tape in the waist area, and sometimes on the upper bout if I think the binding may gap.  It is great stuff for binding.