Lefty Trini build

[fender3x]

The gold top is cool ;-)

My experience from trying to scrape binding has not been too good. My impression from watching youtube is that the folks who get the best results are the ones who have done it a lot. I tried it on my first build, with less-than-stellar results. In fact, I ended up redoing the finish and using tape the next time.

FWIW, I use 3M 1/4" fine line vinyl tape. It's not perfect, so there is usually a little scraping to do, but it minimizes the amount. It takes an hour or so to apply the tape because I wear a magnifying visor to help me get the tape right up to the edge where the binding meets the wood. On the finish I just applied I had almost no scraping to do. It left a sharp line right at the edge of the binding over most of the body. There were just a couple of places where the tape pulled away a little where I had to scrape. A bit of a time investment at the front end, but I have discovered the hard way that I am much more likely to have an accident with a scraper than with tape.

[LexLuthier]

This is good to know. I might want to build a Les Paul with a burst next, in which case I am sure I will have to fight the binding to make sure it looks clean. Luckily for this one, I just want the binding hidden by paint.

Good call on the magnifying visor! I was wondering how people do binding edges properly and think it would be tempting to take shortcuts that I would regret later.

[LexLuthier]

The gold top is cool ;-)

My experience from trying to scrape binding has not been too good. My impression from watching youtube is that the folks who get the best results are the ones who have done it a lot. I tried it on my first build, with less-than-stellar results. In fact, I ended up redoing the finish and using tape the next time.

FWIW, I use 3M 1/4" fine line vinyl tape. It's not perfect, so there is usually a little scraping to do, but it minimizes the amount. It takes an hour or so to apply the tape because I wear a magnifying visor to help me get the tape right up to the edge where the binding meets the wood. On the finish I just applied I had almost no scraping to do. It left a sharp line right at the edge of the binding over most of the body. There were just a couple of places where the tape pulled away a little where I had to scrape. A bit of a time investment at the front end, but I have discovered the hard way that I am much more likely to have an accident with a scraper than with tape.

After looking at the guitar I am getting inspiration from, I am going to leave a little bit of the binding on the top and sides exposed so the 1/4 tape recommendation will be super useful! Thanks again.

I am about to apply grain filler to this thing. Do you know whether I should cover the binding or if the filler should clean/sand off easy?

Thanks again