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I have a guitar that I am doing abalone purflings and rosette on. I know there are several ways to do this, and I chose to use a teflon strip. The problem is that the teflon strip is a wee bit more narrow than the abalone, which is 1/16". When putting in the abalone in the rosette, I had to really cram in the abalone. I really think the teflon strip is too small, or the abalone too wide. In reality, teflon is about .002" more narrow than the abalone. Doesn't sound like much, but apparently it is.

I got the rosette in, but I am going to have to purf the top next. I thought about using some wax paper to shim the teflon, but don't know if this will work. I have also considered not using the strip, placing all the trim in place dry with tape, and super gluing it all together between the tape, then removing the tape and gluing those areas. I'm going to have to break the abalone in place and dry, I guess.
If any of you have any good advice on how to best go about this, I would greatly appreciate it!

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Brad Tucker

If the teflon strip is too narrow, with the sweling of the purflings there will be no room left for the pearl. Why don't you buy wider teflon?

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Dang....missed the edit window by 5 seconds.

The curved pieces ended up to be .005" greater than the teflon. I had measured a straight piece and thought they were supposed to be the same width. That's what I get for assuming!

Do most people here use the teflon, or use one of the other methods?

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Brad Tucker

G'day Brad

I put together a tutorial on how I did the manual method here on the OLF Tutorial Page.

I will say that I've since bought teflon strips and have no intention of repeating the piece by piece process.

Cheers

Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

I do it differently than Bob.
I glue on the purfling lines and the teflon together and after the glue dries, then I remove the teflon to expose the channel ready to accept the shell. I only use straight pieces, no curved pieces are used.

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Great tute, Bob, I don't know how I missed that one! Speaking of Le Fidge, mine got a couple of visits by the time I got the rosette done, and right now I'm working on 2 guitars, both of which will have ab top purfs and rosies.

Peter, do you miter the ends of the ab pieces, or break them into the channel?

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Brad Tucker

Once all of the binding and purfling are cut, bent and dry fitted, the installation of the top edge
system should only take about twenty minutes or so.

I like to use all wood bindings and purflings to avoid some of the swelling that can take place
with fiber material, but have used the fiber/maple purflings and have compensated for the swelling
during the channel cutting process.

I prefer the same method as Peter and use only straight solid Abalone strips and not the popular
Abalam material or curved pieces. You have to be much more careful with the depth od the Abalone
strip inlay since the color and figure in it can run as little as a few thousandths of an inch deep and
can easily sanded off when leveling it.

The solid material gives you much more control over the consistency in the color and figure around
the edge of a guitar, but the Abalam is very easy an quick to work with so both have their benefits.

After the binding system is glued in place and the glue is dried, it takes another 15 to 20 minutes
to pull out the Teflon strips and crack in the Abalone strips in the channel left by them. I then flood
the inlaid Abalone line with thin CA glue and level it with a sanding block and 120 grit paper and then
finish it up at 220 grit.

It's a fun process that is very gratifying since it adds such a dramatic touch to the appearance of
any guitar that is adorned with it.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

Hello Brad,
I've had the same exact issue with some teflon strips (they were a tad narrower than the abalam strips). What I did was just sand the sides of the abalam strips a "tad bit" to match the size of the channel left after removing the teflon. I used a sanding block with some 120 grit. Hold the strip with it's side down facing the sanding block. Apply a little pressure with a couple fingers, then pull it off the block a couple or three times, and you won't break them. You'll need to do one end, then flip it over to do the other end.

Glen

This may sound dumb... but it is in the "ask me how I know" category.

Sometimes these teflon strips are wider on one side than the other, but almost close to square. You might check it with a caliper, you may find one side is wider.

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

I found that the teflon strip worked like a charm on the rosette but I didn't notice that one side was more narrow and I had to sand the abalam on the back strip. It didn't work out as well as I had hoped but I think I learned something about measuring in the process.

one thing to keep in mind here is when you measure Teflon strips, depending on who made the strips they may have a different width than height the Teflon strips I use for 1/16 or .063 purfling is .062-.065 wide but only .060-.062 tall. but my Teflon for .125 purfling is .123-.125 wide but still .060-.063 tall. It is also easy to stretch Teflon which will reduce it width inconsistantly this can happen during the manufacturing process if the feed system that pulls it across the knife that cuts it to a desired width is causing too much tension.

Always check for in tolerance before use.

It seems I've read that some make their own filler strips from UHMW plastic. Without anything else to order from StewMac, I'm considering this route and would love to hear any comments. Also, are the teflon strips a single use item?

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Gabriel Regalbuto
Carlsbad, California
Freedom 35!

Thanks for the info. I finished the top of my 000 size today, and did what Kevin suggested. I sealed the channel with vinyl sealer (didn't have any shellac), taped it all in place, along with the teflon, flowed thin CA, removed the tape after it set, flowed CA where the tape was, let it dry, then removed the teflon. I wouldn't be surprised if I stretched it some, and will probably get a new one for the next job, just in case.

I put the abalone in by starting with one end of the shell at the miter of the armrest channel (another subject entirely ) and I used an exacto knife handle to break the abalone and press it in by rolling it across the shell, worked great! After I did that, I would take the pointed "handle end" of a small file and push it together to close the fractures.

I can see why shell trim is so expensive, and a built in armrest.....whatta bear that was to figure out, especially the purfling and binding channels. Even with the info I dug up here it was still a challenge, but I managed to do it, and enjoyed most of it!

The teflon was .062 square, both sides from LMI. It made for a tight fit, but I managed to get the ab, which was .001 wider, into the channel.

I really do appreciate the help! I would have never tried the armrest or the abalone had it not been for you guys here.....well yeah I would have, but it wouldn't have been perty!!!

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Brad Tucker

blah,blah,blah....

WE WANT PICS!!!!!

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Here are a few pics. I still have to do a little cleaning up on it.

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Brad Tucker

Nice job, I want to do an arm rest on my next build along with a bevel at the waist next to the body. I glue on the binding and then dry fit the purfling and CA it. But I also cut my own ablam strips so if the channel is a bit tight I can adjust the ablam strip width. I do the same thing on my fret boards and heads.

Todd,

Do you first stand the UHMV on edge and run it through the saw, then flip end to end and do it again to get the proper width for 2 pieces, then lie the sheet flat to cut off the strips?

The UHMV sounds like a good idea. I noticed with the teflon that I left some small dents in it when I used something to lever it out, thinking I would not stretch it.

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Brad Tucker

Hmmmm. I glue in the inner purfling, glue in solid shell, glue in outer purfling, and then the binding. I guess that makes me a dinosaur, but the fact is I kind of enjoy matching the ends of the pearl pieces up as I go around the guitar. Ablam has more figure, but always looks like ablam.

From this conversation, I have not yet gotten the sense that using a filler strip is a whole lot easier. For one thing, I can break pieces in by pressing them into place from the side, which is the way one wants them to break. I'm not picturing how one does this from above, other than to break them off the guitar and then drop them in. Is that it?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Howard,

I don't know how most people do it, but what I did was glue everything in, along with the teflon, using the CA wicking/tape method. To put in the abalone, what I did was to start one end of the piece in the channel, and use the handle of an exacto knife and roll it over the abalone with one hand while holding the other end of the shell with my other hand. For the most part, the handle would frag the abalone as it pressed it in, around curves and all. After that, I flowed CA over the shell until it filled. If I didn't hold onto the other end of the shell, occasionally a piece would go flying across the shop, so I'm not saying it was the most orthodox way of doing it, but it worked and went rather quickly. The main issue I noticed was that sometimes a piece would fragment in such a was as to produce a chip that was not full thickness, and would be hard to place. Initially I tried to use the back of a spoon to break it and press it in, but the knife handle seemed to work better; I just had to be careful that I didn't dent the top with it.

I'd love to know the details about how you do it. I was concerned that I would end up with a gap between the purfling and its channel, or a piece of shell that would sit out too far, hindering the fit of the outer purfling, or a blob of CA where I didn't want it, which is why I opted for the teflon strip method.

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Brad Tucker

I cut my strips from the the ablam sheets cross grain . It makes the butt joints undetectable especial if you have them turn on and off the same. I also like to cut pieces length wise about 1" -1 1/4" wide and and cross cut those into the purfling pieces. They are easy to handle and give you more of a choice when matching up color. I wouldn't be overly concerned with the butt joints as the CA does a good job of hiding and filling small gaps. If you mark the edge of the shell with a black sharpe or the like the CA will take on the black and help to define the edge also. Also make the bottom of the ablam pieces black so you don't put a piece in upside down. I know some people cut up the plastic milk jugs or the waxed containers into strips and insert them in the fret slots when doing a bound fret board to keep the CA out of the slot. I'm with Howard when it comes to the teflon. If I'm going to inlay the teflon strip then I might as well inlay the shell. Does that make sense?
By the way, I wonder where you were hanging out Howard.