Well the binding phase is complete … and if I’d thought cutting the trough was a worrisome a undertaking, then I had little idea of the problems that lay ahead in the bending and gluing of the binding (but it’s only banding and then gluing the bloody stuff on, right? … if only!)
… as rewarding as it is to gaze on the end result, the process itself ain’t for the faint of heart!
There’s many great instructional guitar binding videos on “YouBube” (the StewMac ones especially) and without going into the trials and tribulations of my experimentations, it’s probably easier to illustrate by what I learned from my first foray into this mysterious art.
- adding a single-layer binding to a guitar is MUCH easier than a compound (i.e. multi-layer) binding
- bend/shape each layer individually before gluing them together
- Use a form/jig to bend the binding strips rather than the actual guitar – it makes it a lot easier for cutting the mitres at the corners/angles
- Heat-guns make a far quicker job of bending the binding but are also easier to get away from you (picture a molten gob of ABS plastic!
- Once the binding’s installed, forget sanding or filing to bring the height of the binding down to the face of the head (or body) – a sharp-edged cabinet scraper is by far the easiest and safest way to trim down the binding height and gives a damn nice finish (a fresh Stanley-knife blade works just as well)
Anyway, with the binding installed, trimmed and scraped down to height all that’s left now is a final sanding (primarily to finish off the timber on the face of the headstock) to bring her all up to ready-to-varnish.
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