Cracked bindings

Hi everyone, hoping I can get some advice off some of the more experienced builders here in regards to cracked bindings.

I'm currently building an FC-1 kit I got in the January sale, all was going well until I came to stain it. After doing some research I decided to stain the whole guitar and then scrape the bindings clean. As I scraped it back I noticed parts of the binding have small cracks in them which have absorbed the stain, leaving it looking like this.

I don't think the problem was my technique as the bindings on the fretboard and f-holes came out looking great, and the cracks seem to be mostly around the horns where the binding takes tighter turns.

I'm unsure how to proceed from here, while the damage is only cosmetic it is very noticeable and spoils the effect of the white binding and dark stain. I would rather not try to remove and replace the bindings as I think it would be beyond my capabilities at present.
I only have stain on the body at present, no clear coat, so I can still make changes, but short of painting over the damaged areas I don't have any ideas on a fix.

Don't know if anyone else has had this problem before but I could really use some ideas and advice.

Cheers, Ricardo.

Bugga....

I am not sure if you can ever get all of the stain out of those cracks.
If your stain is a solvent based one, You can try to remove the stain with a rag and thinners, but first test on an area that wont be too visible just in case the thinners melts the binding.....

Reckon the thinners may melt the binding....
What did you use to scrape the bindings clean?

How deep are the cracks? If they are superficial enough - can you scrape them a bit more?

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Originally Posted by Brendan

How deep are the cracks? If they are superficial enough - can you scrape them a bit more?

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Yeah! thats my thought as well...but would suggest using a razor blade....

Razor would be spot on - alternatively - some small cabinet scrapers... https://www.carbatec.com.au/handtool...-3pce-veritas?

I've already scraped them as deep as I dare, any more and I will be eating into the right angle. They go pretty deep.
I scraped them with a fresh Stanley knife blade, worked really well after a few hesitant tries at first, trick seems to be big bold strokes.
I will try the thinners idea to see if it works, stain is feast and Watson black which is thinned to a grey colour with metho, will see what happens.

Ricardo, before you painted the guitar did you prepare (smooth) the bindings as part of the preparation of painting the body or did you focus on the body (wood section) and simply paint over the bindings?

It's a pity they aren't all the way around. Then you could make it a feature, not a flaw.

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Originally Posted by Fretworn

It's a pity they aren't all the way around. Then you could make it a feature, not a flaw.

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Fretty, I was thinking the same thing.....to do this he would just need to run the (razor) blade around the edges to achieve this. A few 'branches' as well so it is not too uniform. The thing that has me intrigued is that many of the cracks look perfectly straight like they may have been made from a previous scrapping of the bindings?

I have had this happen and when I looked at it closely (with the aid of my supa dupa magnifying gogs) it was apparent that the bindings had indeed cracked.
My thoughts are this happens because the bindings are not the usual ABS plastic but rather a more brittle plastic that isnt into tight bends.
Ergo, these cracks wont scrape out easily......

I like the Gavmiesters suggestion. It would look pretty cool with the "crackle" effect, would look even more amazing if you could get the same crackle in the body finish as well :)

Hey Ricardo the cracks look too deep to scrape back so you might have to make it a theme on the binding.
What is an FC-1 kit the link doesn't work ?
You could turn it into a vintage looking axe

Hmmm… Interesting idea on making the cracks a feature, I did consider it early on but got blinkered into finding a fix. should be able to make a few extra cracks without too much trouble, i'm going for a storm cloud burst finish so it would probably fit the theme of the guitar too.
I did polish the bindings with fine steel wool before staining and they seemed smooth, guess they weren't.
Wokkaboy, the reason you can't find the FC-1 kit is it doesn't exist anymore. my understanding is that Adam got these kits in as a 'coronado' copy, but when they arrived it turned out to be a Fender style neck stuck on a 335 style body. They got sold off in the January sale this year, I picked one up because I thought I could make something similar to a DG335. So far it's taken a different direction but i'm loving the way it looks. I've reshaped the headstock and will reshape the pick guard, still not sure about the final destination but I'm enjoying the journey!
I will have a look and think about making the cracks part of the finished guitar, Still not decided.

Ok Ricardo, the coronado. Looks great love the theme

Hi Ricardo, I've got exactly the same problem in the same area, where the binding is bent at the highest angle. Those tiny cracks have opened up where the binding has been bent around the horns. There are also patches of stain that seem to have seeped into the binding as well. It looks pretty bad. I'm not sure I want to turn this into a feature, so my only option would be painting. Any ideas folks?

Take another perspective, with the darkened cracking, it makes it look Vintage..:)

I had that happen to me on my IB-1 too. I tried the thinner approach, but the cracks were too deep (same as yours). I thought about making it a feature, but I couldn't find a way to make extra scratches that left me with a result I was happy with. In the end I ended up staining over the binding on the sides, leaving only a thin white feature line visible from the top. It was by no means a perfect fix, and if I had my time again I would have replaced the binding, but it was the best result I could come up with while still be semi-happy with the guitar.

I think the crackle effect looks really cool. It looks quite unique.