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For my next guitar I'm planning on using a carpathian spruce top with striped sapele back & sides. What kind of wood bindings do you folks think would look best. I like the look of the Curly Eucalyptus bindings. Would this look good?

I'm very fond of rosewood bindings with Mahogany like woods. My vote
would be either Cocobolo, Or brazilian rosewood.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

I agree with John, I like darker bindings with sapele/mahogany color wood.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Hi Colby,
Check in with Bobc, he has a great selection of wood bindings at good prices. He might have some good suggestions.
Let us know what you decide.
Good luck,
Walter

Cocobolo for me too

I don't see any cocobolo on Bob's site, but he does have some snakewood and walnut. What about these?

I used some left over bubinga on the one I just built with sapele. Looks pretty nice. Very simple looking, I like that.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Sapele can darken up quite a bit under finish, no? I would almost think something more contrasting would look good. Maybe something light like ivoroid, or even flamed maple. That said, ebony would look good too. Oh heck, I also happen to like cocobolo as a binding with medium colored woods too. Depends partly on the purfling scheme too.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

   I like Maple or sycamore. Sycamore has a beautiful flame or tiger pattern in it when cut well quartered that Pops under a finish

[QUOTE=Don Williams] Sapele can darken up quite a bit under finish, no? I would almost think something more contrasting would look good. Maybe something light like ivoroid, or even flamed maple. That said, ebony would look good too. Oh heck, I also happen to like cocobolo as a binding with medium colored woods too. Depends partly on the purfling scheme too. [/QUOTE]

You know... if you want to go white, I like holly much better than plastic.....

... and the stuff is nearly as pliable as plastic.... Very easy to bend.

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

I tend to be a conservative stick-in-the-mud when it comes to the bindings I use with most of my builds. The sides I buy are always much wider than I need so, when I'm trimming them to width, I take these offcuts and trim them up for binding material. That way, the bindings match the sides.

Now, I have built a few guitars where I've used contrasting bindings. One has a redwood top and striped padauk back/sides. It got curly maple bindings. A nice contrast. Two others were spruce/cocobola and I used bloodwood for the binding material on those.

Of the above three, I like the bloodwood the best. It adds a warm, satisfying richness to the build, I think.

Best,

Michael
Michael McBroom38563.8376273148

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Colby I do have cocobolo bindings. What I don't have is time to keep my website up to date. Bloodwood with a black white perfling may look nice too.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

[QUOTE=Bobc] Bloodwood with a black white perfling may look nice too. [/QUOTE]

You betcha, Bob!



Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

[QUOTE=Colby Horton] I don't see any cocobolo on Bob's site, but he does have some snakewood and walnut. What about these?[/QUOTE]

Hi Colby,

This morning my order arrived from Bob C. (Thanks Bob!!)Cocobolo, curly sapelle, and curly eucalyptus bindings. My sets of Euc is almost indistinguishable from the sapelle, till you rotate the euc. Then you really can tell. Similar stuff. (At least the sets I got.)

Terry Stowell38564.5666087963

Michael that looks terrific. I really like your work.

Terry glad everthing was satisfactory my friend.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Hey Bob,

What are the dimensions of your Cocobolo bindings? How much do they cost?