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I have a customer that wants a binding around the sound hole.
What is the best way to to do it? Any tricks? Thanks
Andy

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Well there are some who simply bend whatever round, and then tape it onto the fresh cut soundhole edge - I talked to Marc Beneteau last week at a little fingerstyle gathering and thats how he does it -I told him how we (I) do them and he thought that it was a neat idea.

One of my students and I did one recently, somewhat differently, and I think, easier. No tape required. What we did was to thickness the top some till its clean on the top side, but still way thick, like 150 or so. Then route a channel of appropriate width for the soudhole edge , to a depth of 130, leaving a skin on the back side. Now inlay the binding like a thick rosette. Continue thinning, and the binding willl come thru on the back side. Inlay the actual rosette as normal. Then cut out the soundhole and the binding is there ....

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

binding is all i adorned my last soundhole with. indian rosewood. bend it however you can... my method involved pre-shaping it by hand and then placing it wet in a graduated pyrex measuring cup and sort of clamping it with a second pyrex mixing cup of the same size --stacking them with the binding wedged in between. threw it in the microwave for a minute and i was set.

clamping proved another challenge with another relatively simple solution. i scoured the shop for a roll of duct tape that measured the same as the inside circumference of the soundhole (with binding). then i buttered up the binding, put it in place and then worked the roll of tape into the hole. i could have sworn i had pictures. anyway, as i recall, i had to use a couple of tiny shims to get a really snug fit.

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yakmatter.com

I do it very similar to what Tony does.

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

i just bound the soundhole on my first. i actually used my wife's curling iron to bend the wood because i dont have a pipe bender, just a fox style. after snapping a few pieces of ebony, i went to walnut. bent like plastic. then i just made sure to carefully cut the strip to length and glued and taped it place with lmi binding tape. worked great and turned out perfect. easier than i thought it would be. if you do happen to use your wife's curling iron (im guessing most people will not be that ghetto), make sure you wrap it in foil as to not stain her iron. sorry, no pictures yet.

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sweat the small stuff.

If anyone is wanting to do this in ebony, I might suggest the black fibre .. it bends like butter, and glues very easily ... plus its dimensionally even to work with.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

That's a great idea Tony, I think I'll try that on my next build.
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Does this count?

I do every sound hole with at least a .010" maple or black. This is a rare one that got W/B.
No bending required. Just glue and tap in place.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Tony, do you mean you're inlaying wood that's cut in a circle, rather than bent?

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

I have a small oval sound hole on my mandolins and I bind it after the hole is cut.

First, I put some sprinkle baking soda on the edge of the sound hole. This is an accelerator for the super glue. I gently rub it into the wood with my finger.

Next, I cut and bend a piece of binding into the shape of the sound hole. The ends of the binding have a taper on them. This is a shallow taper and is about 2 inches long and the tapers will over lap once the binding is glued into place.

Next, I put on nitrile gloves and start taking the binding into place with super glue. Normally, I wouldn't use super glue on spruce end grain but the baking soda is a very good CA accelerant and it causes the glue to set instantly and to not wick into the spruce's end grain. The nitrile glove are just to keep me from gluing myself to the sound hole. An pieces of glove that get stuck are scraped off later.

I work my way around the sound hole until I overlap the tapers on each end. If the binding is IRW, you can't see any seam unless you use a magnifying glass. I have used fiber but I have used black plastic and that seam is completely invisible.

Thanks, Mike. That method makes a lot of sense to me. I would be inclined to seal the spruce with shellac first, though, and also to get all the binding taped in place, then wick in the CA. Not that I have done this on a soundhole yet. The part I like best about your method is the tapering of the ends. That way, even if the overlapped, inboard end of the binding doesn't come out perfect, you could just scrape or sand it back to a smooth edge. Sounds pretty foolproof to me. Even if the seam is visible with some woods, so what? It seems to me that it would look very neat and elegant.

Still waiting for Tony's clarification on his method. Breaker 1-9, Tony, you got a copy? (I was a C.B. radio buff as a teenager.)

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Copy that Todd ....

The one we just did was with the .060 black fibre, doubled to give about 1/8 wide look of ebony, without the pain of bending it that tight. I have never inlayed a ring to do this, but no reason it couldnt be done that way as well .. cool idea, glad you thought of it !!!

we simply sealed the area with LV french polish, then CAed it in ... sweet.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

10-4, good buddy. Thanks!

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

I have covered this in one of my YouTube clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f_t-wGo30o

hope this helps.

http://www.nkforsterguitars.com

Thanks for all the advice

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com