The Emeraldcaster Project (aka Son of Meloncaster)

[Buckocaster51]

We just work our way around the body.



By the way, I am putting some serious pressue on that tape trying to get the binding to conform to the channel. That's why I use strapping tape. If I use regular old masking tape, the stuff just tears. Strapping tape is STRONG stuff. Almost as good as spray epoxy.



All the way around the body.

The cutaway is fun.



It just takes massaging, pressure, and tape.

It can be done.



Patience and time.

[Buckocaster51]

Then we get to this. The last corner.



Once again, we just go slow and try to apply pressure in the right places.



Notice how my fingers look by now. Plenty of glue on them.

Then we have to match up the second end with the first end. In this case I left the first end a bit long, so that will have to be trimmed. The handy old good old #11 blade will do that.



We'll mash it into place. Apply some glue. The hold it in place with plenty of STRAPPING tape.

[Buckocaster51]

Then we'll set the entire mess aside to sit and dry.



Maybe...just maybe...tomorrow we'll start on the front.

That will be much more fun...we will have that checkboard to deal with.

[JOHNNY FOWLER]

mr dithers, where you butt the ends of the binding together how would a diaginol {sp?} cut work as oppossed to the stright butt. or would it even work . man i wish i would of had teachers like you way back when i was in school, watching your work makes me feel lke a caveman thank you for all you share with us . johnny fowler

[BarnesTO]

Lookin' good, Bucko! Can't wait for more....

[getbent]

bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!, bucko!,

That is as close as I come to a cheerleader!

[Trimmed&Burnin]

Another great thread Bucko!,,, are you using heat of any kind to bend the binding?

[Atrox]

Originally Posted by JOHNNY FOWLER

mr dithers, where you butt the ends of the binding together how would a diaginol {sp?} cut work as oppossed to the stright butt. or would it even work . man i wish i would of had teachers like you way back when i was in school, watching your work makes me feel lke a caveman thank you for all you share with us . johnny fowler

Personally, I usually just cut straight, clean up the joint a bit, then fill any gaps with binding "melted" in acetone.

[Jellecaster]

I don't feel like any less of man for saying - Bucko, I love you.

I just finished my first binding and I couldn't have done it without you. I used a Dremmel with Stew Mac's precision router base and it was okay. I think I might need to get their binding bits for my "real" router.

Great thread - as always.

Question - would it be easier to route the binding channels using a router table?

[maestrovert]

Hot Diggity !

Q 1: why not checkerboard binding front and back ? jes' curious is all...

Q 2: any problems with adhesive residue from the strapping tape ?

Thanx once again for your time & efforts documenting your builds....i'm enthralled, seriously !

[Marco_NL]

Just love your projects! Can't wait to start building my own tele when I see your pictures!

Are you shure this is going to be a Emeraldcaster? Looks to me you are building a Grinchcaster! LOL

Keep up the good work!!

[Hockey Rocker]

Hey Bucko. Great tutorial as always. Thank you, it's a big help for us less experienced, and perhaps less ambitious, partscaster assemblers. One question: I see both of your hands in some of the pictures. How do you do that? Does Mrs. Buckocaster help out in documenting these projects?

I may be able to build my latest effort, a classic 60's Tele partscaster, but I don't think I could persuade Mrs. HockeyRocker or the little Rockers to take photos for me. You must be doing something right over there besides building guitars.

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by Atrox

Personally, I usually just cut straight, clean up the joint a bit, then fill any gaps with binding "melted" in acetone.

Great point.

Binding that "melts" in acetone (not all of it does) can be easily patched up with this method. Once dry, sanded and finished...the seam will be invisible.

Some people keep little containers of an acetone/binding mixture handy for such things.

I'll try to show you how it can be done after I get the top done.

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by Jellecaster

Question - would it be easier to route the binding channels using a router table?

Probably.

Right now I just like having the router on top...doing the cutting where I can see it.

I might try the router table for the top binding and see how it compares.

One thing for certain...after I started using the router table to shape the bodies, I wondered why/how I ever did it with a handheld router.

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by maestrovert

Q 1: why not checkerboard binding front and back ? jes' curious is all...

Q 2: any problems with adhesive residue from the strapping tape ?

A1: I don't know. I've played Martin Style-45 guitars that have pearl binding at every body joint. I've played Martin Style-42 guitars that have pearl binding at every body joint the audience can see. To the audience they both look the same. One is filthy stinking expensive, the other is stinking expensive.

To tell you the truth, when I did the first Buckocaster, I didn't know THE REAL THING had checkerboards front and back, so I only did the front.

This one will only have it on the front. One coming up soon is going to have it front and back. I'll know then if they sound any differently!

A2: All sorts of adhesive and filament residue. But the body has to get sanded top, back, and sides before I begin to apply the final finish. It doesn't bother me. (Too much.)

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by Marco_NL

Are you shure this is going to be a Emeraldcaster? Looks to me you are building a Grinchcaster!

I am actually shooting for a sparkle version of that green I remember seen on shutters and windowboxes when I visited NL in the early 90s.

As you can tell from my last name, I have a connection there!

Cheers

Steve Dikkers
aka Buckocaster51

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by Hockey Rocker

One question: I see both of your hands in some of the pictures. How do you do that? Does Mrs. Buckocaster help out in documenting these projects?

I'm just fast. I can push the button, then get my hands in frame before then light from them gets to the shutter!

Yeah! Sure! That's the ticket!

Actually, I use a tripod and the self-timer on the camera.

I set up the shot. Turn on the timer. Hit the button. Get my hands where they belong. Then wait until the shutter fires.

A veritable piece of cake!

[Buckocaster51]

Thanks for all of the kind comments.

Sammy the Squirrel connected two ends of a transformer fuse on a utility pole not far from school this morning. While Sammy winged his way to Heaven, the power in town went down. Here at school, it was off long enough that my UPS ran out of electricity, and my servers in the server farm shut off. One of them...never really came back to life...the entire district uses it for mail, data, and web services...so the old Buckocaster is probably going to be playing computer weenie tonight instead of Telebuilder.

Amazingly...it is the same server that serves the pictures in this thread...and they are appearing! So I guess it isn't really hard-broken! But the stuff the bosses need to use isn't working...so that is making my day interesting!

<---- that it happened

<---- that I am getting it fixed

[Buckocaster51]

Here's another "by the way."

Today is my 1000th day as a TDPRI member!

A pat on the back to anybody who can tell me how I know that!

[getbent]

2260 posts at 2.26 per day = Anne of a thousand days...


sorry to hear about your server... but I know you'll get it fixed.

[Ronkirn]

Did Sammy Say Bzzzzzzzaaaaaaappppppp! as he waived B-bye....

Ron Kirn

[maestrovert]

Originally Posted by Ronkirn

Did Sammy Say Bzzzzzzzaaaaaaappppppp! as he waived B-bye....

i wonder if he got to see the "Blue Flash" 'fore he checked out ?

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by Ronkirn

Did Sammy Say Bzzzzzzzaaaaaaappppppp! as he waived B-bye....

I'll tell you...I try to love every living creature with every ounce (and there are a lot of them!) of my body...but right now...after playing with this server all day...and not being able to work on the Emeraldcaster...

I have no use for Sammy.

None at all.

Or any of his little beady-eyed, bushy-tailed, tree-rat relatives!

Pax on them!

[Ronkirn]

Well ya know, all a Squirrel is . . . is a Rat with a good Tailor...

Ron Kirn

[hourglass]

Originally Posted by Buckocaster51

One thing for certain...after I started using the router table to shape the bodies, I wondered why/how I ever did it with a handheld router.

Same here.

And to think I didn't even have a bandsaw the first time - it was hogging with the router all the way...

[Buckocaster51]

Sammy the Squirrel (may he RIP) saw to it that I couldn't do too much work on this tonight...but I did get to peel the tape off.

Looks about like it should look.



The acetone works pretty well for getting cyanoacrylate glue off the fingers. It is nasty stuff...so we don't want to get too much on our hands...or stink up the house too much.

[Buckocaster51]

For those of you following this melodrama, the damage caused by Sammy the Squirrel has been fixed!

It looks like the weekend is mine!

All mine I tell you!

Watch out Emeraldcaster!

[MandyMarie]

Steve....you're are the KING, my friend, the KING!!!

[spankdplank]

Bucko ( a/k/a/ El Rey de Sparkle Tele Deluxe). I'm about to start on a pink sparklecaster to keep my seafoam sparklecaster company. I have never done binding and you have giving me the courage (or foolishness to try). Where do you get your binding, and what do you think will go best with pink sparkles, white or black binding? KEEP THE PHOTOS COMING--YOUR FANS AWAIT ANXIOUSLY!

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by spankdplank

Bucko ( a/k/a/ El Rey de Sparkle Tele Deluxe). I'm about to start on a pink sparklecaster to keep my seafoam sparklecaster company. I have never done binding and you have giving me the courage (or foolishness to try). Where do you get your binding, and what do you think will go best with pink sparkles, white or black binding? KEEP THE PHOTOS COMING--YOUR FANS AWAIT ANXIOUSLY!

Custom Inlay has been fixing me up with the checkerboard purfling. I have been getting my binding from Stew Mac.

I can't imagine white binding with the pink. My pink sparklecaster has black with the checkerboards and I think it looks a-ok.

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by MandyMarie

Steve....you're are the KING, my friend, the KING!!!

Well thank you very much!

If this turns out like I hope it does, I may be thinning the herd!

I bet that caught your attention!

[Buckocaster51]

I started working tonight.

I really did! I promise!

Then Life called and sucked me back into my computer problems.

When Life calls, sometimes you just got to answer.



Tomorrow is another day.

[milkshape]

hope you get to stop playing geek squad soon, and get back on the yellow brick road. Learning a lot cut the templates for the mini strat sparkle caster tonight. Looking forward to lots and lots of pictures of shooting green sparkle.

Thanks again,
Moo

[Buckocaster51]

Geek Squad IS MY LIFE!

It pays for my bad habits.



But you know, I'm sitting here, listen to David Alvin singing "Shenendoah" on Boot Liquor Radio (via iTunes), reading TDPRI, and playing Geek Squad...all at the same time.


Life is good!

[Buckocaster51]

Even if I don't get to make any sawdust tonight, I am going to post the pictures I took earlier of the set up work.

This is what we are going to put along the top.



It was made special for me by the kids at Custom Inlay. Their normal product...which is intended for banjos...has black and white checks on a WHITE background (I call it the substrate.) White wouldn't work for these guitars...so they made some for me with the BLACK substrate. They have been great to work with.

I call this stuff PURFLING. Binding is on the outside edge. Everything to the inside of the binding is purfling. That may not be exact, but it is a pretty good description.

Here is a little sample I made up of the entire stack we have to put on the edge of the guitar. Binding, checkerboards, and substrate.

The binding I am using on the top is 0.04". I used 0.06" on the back. I like working with the thicker stuff. But I am using the thinner on the top to match up with the substrate. How's that for sneaky?

[Buckocaster51]

Here is my set of adjustable bearing rabbetting cutters that I got from Grizzly a while back. You can spend a lot of money getting "real" binding cutters from luthiery places, but I have been able to make these work.



When I put the second largest cutter on, I get a 0.06" deep cut...exactly what I need for the back binding.

But the top is...



not quite so thick. More like 0.04" (more or less)

about the same thickness as the "substrate."



If nothing else, it will be nicely balanced.

If I can get it all where it belongs!

[Buckocaster51]

So here is what I am going to do.

Have to warn you though...this is a bit unconventional. I am sure that there are much better ways to do this.



With a fine dinner plate to cut on (the back side!), a sharp #11 blade, a straight edge, and a roll of sticky sided aluminum tape (that I sometimes use to shield control cavities,) I plan to "shim" the bearing. By CAREFULLY wrapping the sticky tape around the bearing, I can make a small bearing just a little bit bigger...the exact size that I need.



My tape is about 2 lines thick. I need to increase the radius of the bearing by about 6 lines. Three "wraps" of aluminum sticky tape should be just right.

The tape is sticky.



If I pull it good and tight as I apply it, keep my fingers off of the glue, and



burnish down the edges of the tape good and hard, it will be just like I have applied a piece of aluminum tape over a steel bearing!

But it I don't let it get too warm as I route - frequent pauses to check my work should do it - it will be okay fine.

[Buckocaster51]

I think that you can just make it out here.



The step off between the cutter and the bearing (with three pieces of shim tape applied) is the same as the thickness of the binding (0.04") which I have locked into my calipers.

I perform the same magic on a smaller bearing to get it set up to cut deeper to make the groove for the purfling and binding.



then I will be ready, set, go to make some sawdust!



and I would have too!

'cept I had to go play Geek Squad!

But tomorrow will be another day!

[Telarkaster]

Thanks for sharing with us, I love your threads. Great work, keep it up! You have quite the fan club!

[Buckocaster51]

Let's make some sawdust!

The first cut we will make will be for the purfling. Of course, we also have to cut away part of the channel for the binding at the same time.

Let's set the depth of the cutter for the purfling.



You can also see the "shimmed" bearing on the cutter. If I hadn't told you that tape was there, you would never notice it.

We'll clamp the body down, and make some sawdust.



Before we go any farther, we'll let the cutter cool... ... and check to see how the depth is.



It passes!