forearm contours and binding?

Hi,

I'm thinking about using binding around the top of my next build, but I also want to have a forearm bevel/cut. I've never tried binding yet, and I'm wondering how tricky it would be. I'm guessing I'll have joints where the contour starts and stops, which I'll need to patch with binding/acetone goop, but what I'm wondering is if typical plastic or celluloid binding can bend a bit laterally without concerns. It seems to me that the part going around the contour would have to bend side-to-side as well as front-to-back. . . .

Doable?

Heat and patience will do the trick. A compound curve in binding might not be the best starting point to learn this though... practice (alot) on scrap.

The trick to heating plastic is patience. Plastic is very poor conductor of heat... so you can easily melt the outside layers of a workpiece while the inside remains cold. Reduce the heat source and wait for the heat to migrate slowly into the material.

A compound curve in binding might not be the best starting point to learn this though... practice (alot) on scrap.

Yeah, there's going to be a steep learning curve (:cool:) on this one; I'm going to have to cut a compound curve binding channel first....

I have never done any binding but the problem I forsee is with the channel. The channel is normally perpendicular to the top surface but in the contour, the router will tip away from perpendicular to the true top and become perpendicular to the sloped arm cut surface.

Yeah, there's going to be a steep learning curve (:cool:) on this one; I'm going to have to cut a compound curve binding channel first....

Which is nearly impossible to do right with router... or at least without a 5 axis mill.

You can route the level part of binding cutout and simply finish the contoured portion with... with... with a sharp human-powered chisel and deft hand. That's how I've done it...

Boiling water is alos a good way to heat/preheat... so many plastic out there and even types within a specie can have different "plastic" temp ranges, again, practice with scrap

Which is nearly impossible to do right with router... or at least without a 5 axis mill.

You can route the level part of binding cutout and simply finish the contoured portion with... with... with a sharp human-powered chisel and deft hand. That's how I've done it...


Yep, I'm thinking I'll start by whipping up a little tool like some guys use to scrape binding, to cut grooves at a fixed distance from the edges, and then carve the meat out with a little chisel. It won't be a big contour....

Yep, I'm thinking I'll start by whipping up a little tool like some guys use to scrape binding, to cut grooves at a fixed distance from the edges, and then carve the meat out with a little chisel. It won't be a big contour....

How about some epoxy binding? Apoxie Sculpt should do the trick with no problems. I think one of the challenge builds this year (old last year) used it, works a deal, looks good und apparently very easy to do.

What about natural binding?

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/mathaskins/2012%20Challenge/ps5809a1.jpg

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/mathaskins/2012%20Challenge/ps4796C.jpg

I know you said you want one but how about a strat with no arm contour. Most guitars don't have it and we all seem to get by.

http://cdn1.gbase.com/usercontent/gear/2962371/p1_ueca4h0x4_so.jpg

I'm bringing up these alternative because a bound strat with the contour for someone who has never done it before will be tricky. You can definitely do it but these look like some nice and much simpler alternatives.

Use a SM compound-curve-binding-channel-jig :mrgreen: Or make a setup that is common for acoustic guitars.
NaskY2eG_5Q

You can make this yourself, no rocket science.

How about some epoxy binding? Apoxie Sculpt should do the trick with no problems. I think one of the challenge builds this year (old last year) used it, works a deal, looks good und apparently very easy to do.

Yeah, it was tklaavo's build this year. Go to about the third page of his thread (if memory serves).

I confess, the binding-with-arm-contour is a problem I've thought about. Cutting the channel with a chisel would be my suggestion. So long as the base of the channel is perpendicular to its side, you should be fine regardless of what the eventual angle of the finished edge of the binding will be.

Good luck.

Yeah, it was tklaavo's build this year. Go to about the third page of his thread (if memory serves)
And Motor City Tele's from the 2011 Challenge :wink:


p.s. Sorry, it took me awhile to find the thread, LINK (http://www.tdpri.com/forum/2011-tdpri-tele-build-challenge/263818-motor_city_teles-2011-tdpri-build-challenge-thread.html) :smile:

Yep, I'm thinking I'll start by whipping up a little tool like some guys use to scrape binding, to cut grooves at a fixed distance from the edges, and then carve the meat out with a little chisel.

I have been thinking about this for a while after I saw a thread where someone cut a binding channel with a tool that looked like what you described.

If you mix this technique with the apoxie sculpt I think you would have a winner.

A gizmo like this might be the best thing since it bears against the side and not the top.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bindings,_trim/Tools_for_Binding/Ibex_Purfling_Cutter.html

LMI sells a similar tool.

That Ibex cutter is great, but it's expensive for something that's not going to get used often. I'd recommend putting that money into a binding guide for a Dremel.

You really can do the whole thing with chisels; it depends on what kind of money you want to lay out for something you might only do once or twice. When I first started building, I had no idea I'd be binding so much; I didn't want to spend a lot until I was sure I'd use the stuff.

It is well worth looking at newtherapist's 2012 challenge build where he did binding and a forearm contour. All of the stuff relating to it is on the first page of the thread.

I've seen some real nice stratocasters with masked/simulated bindings around their contours. I tried my hand doing a double route on a Les Paul that I wanted abalone purfling & black binding to replace the creme binding that came with the kit body-that carve top contour kicked my ass and it ended up with plain black binding and a bit smaller body :)

There's a recently-launched small router from Makita called the RT0700CX3 (http://makitatools.com/en-us/Modules/Tools/ToolDetails.aspx?ID=380464) which appears to be interesting. I haven't had one in my hand, but from the reviews I've read it seems something worth having. In particular, it seems it could do binding routs easily enough, on flat guitars at least. It would be a more versatile buy than a single-purpose tool. If any of you here own one or have looked at it, I'd like to know what you think of it.

Thanks guys, and sorry I didn't notice all the posts until today....

It's going to be a kinda skewed tele. It needs to have a little bit of contour at least, because the lack of it is one of the things I don't like about a standard tele, but it doesn't take much to make a difference in comfort. It's also going to be a semi-hollow thinline-type of body, as if it weren't already complicated enough....

I'm planning to do this exactly once, so I don't want to buy a bunch of gizmos. I will already have to buy a bit for the rest of the binding. I'm thinking the length I'll have to hand-cut will be less than 8 inches anyway.

I remember seeing the binding on newtherapist's 2012 build; I'll revisit that. :-)

If you are going with semi-hollow AND belly cut, plan ahead to leave enough meat inside the body in the area where the belly cut will be.

If you are going with semi-hollow AND belly cut, plan ahead to leave enough meat inside the body in the area where the belly cut will be.

Yep! :smile: