Clear stains and binding

[DJP]

Quick query. Any advice appreciated.
I am going to finish a spalted maple top with dingotone clear finish. With a clear finish should I still mask off off the binding - or can I just apply the finish over the binding ?

[Zandit75]

I did exactly the same kit, and for the binding I taped it off when doing the back and sides with a darker stain, but didn't worry about it when staining the front with clear Dingotone. After I was finished with the finish(sorry bout that!) I took a new blade from a Stanley knife and holding it very carefully to not damage any of the finish, just scraped it over the binding to clean it up.
You can use very fine sand paper if you like as well.

[DJP]

Thanks - The Stanley knife sounds a very good idea.

[wazkelly]

On the only build I have with binding I just used TO over the top of everything and it has given the white an aged tint look plus also avoided any hard edge lines where it was taped up and binding remains unfinished.

Just re-checked it and compared to the white scratch plate it is only slightly off-white in comparison but not too obvious. Doing it this way saved heaps of mucking about scraping and risking damage to the binding and/or the rest of the guitar.

[andrewdosborne]

Same as waz, TO over the binding from me. I have a Gibbo that does the same (with Nitro) so copied that.

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[Simon Barden]

It's normal to put a clear finish over the binding. Wrap several turns of masking tape around the knife blade, leaving only just enough blade to match the depth of the binding exposed, so that a) you don't scrape the finish of anything but the binding and b) you don't cut yourself accidentally when concentrating on the binding and not the blade in your hand.

[wazkelly]

What's with all this scraping the binding stuff if you intend put a clear finish over the top?

If binding had been well taped up before the staining process wouldn't a very light sanding of the edge line be all that is required before applying top clear coats?

Only ever done one build with binding (Tele) and really cannot see why all the fuss as a LP top is similar with no intricate f holes to worry about?

[Zandit75]

I can certainly see your point if you are using one product, and clear coating the whole thing.

I've only had the one build with the LP that had binding also. I only passed on my experience, as I had two different clear coats. The British Paints product on the back, and the DT clear on the front. I didn't want any clear over the binding, so I scraped it afterwards.
As it was, I taped the binding to apply the black stain, and I got a nice clean edge. However when I applied the DT clear, I didn't tape it off, so I had to scrape of some small amounts around the edges.

It's only a personal thing, but there were some high end Gibson LP's at Allans Music in Melbourne that I looked at over Xmas, and I was not impressed with the finish on any of them. You could pick any build here on this sit, and I would have preferred it over the genuine unit. I'm thinking now it was because rather thick clear coats had been applied over the binding, giving the guitar an unnatural finish to my eye. I guess I'm used to seeing less finish on my acoustics.

[Simon Barden]

There is no actual need to put a clear coat over the binding - the plastic isn't going to need protecting. But depending on the depth of your finish, you might end up with a ridge where the binding meets the finish. If you try and smooth it down, you are then eating into the finish at the edges. In this instance, clear coating over the binding, and building up some thickness on the binding, lets you get a smoother transition.

It's easy enough to nicely tape of the binding on the sides of a body, but it is a lot harder to tape off the binding on the top of the body with all the curves. You need the right sort of pliable tape and you need to be very careful that your tape is following the line of the binding exactly - otherwise you end up with a mixture of body that hasn't got a finish on it, and binding that has and still requires scraping.

Commercially built guitars have clear coats applied over the binding because it's easier, quicker and cheaper to do so. When building one yourself, you don't have the time constraints of a large manufacturer, so you can do things differently if you want to.

[wazkelly]

Thanks Simon & Zandit, good points raised by both of you.