Official Luthiers Forum!

Ok - Kyle and I are still working on our first solo build - and we've not bound a headstock yet.

So here's probably a silly question.

I've got the fingerboard bound and it looks good - but when I look at binding the headstock things don't seem to line up at the nut. The angle of the headstock (with my ebony overlay) would make it so the binding on the headstock would sit below the nut - and the neck binding sits flush with the bottom of the nut. This would cause a stair-step look - and I'm not aware of seeing that before.

Am I missing something here???

Should I be using a much shorter piece of binding for the headstock binding so the offset appearance is minimized?

My first inclination is to say "hmmm..... doesn't look too bad without any binding on the headstock "

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

Binding at the headstock usually does one of two things:

1.Stops either side of the nut, with the nut at the same depth as the binding on either side.

2.Continues under the nut, and flows into the binding on the neck.

If you choose to do 1 you need to use a nut stop on your neck blank, or use a thicker than standard head veneer. Alternatively, you can use a less tall binding.

If I understand your question correctly, yes, the bottom edge of the binding should be even with the bottom of the nut. Or, another way to put it..it should be the same thickness as the headplate overlay. I bind my headplates before I glue them on.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

Kent & Setch - thanks for the quick reply.

So - how thick are your headstock veneers when you bind them?

I'm thinking mine is too thin - and I'll need to come up with a different idea.

By the way - do you use the same height binding on your headstock and neck?

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

Here's a link to an OLF post that goes into good detail on this...

Joe

Is your fretboard bound, and glued to the neck?

If not, you can follow the second approach, which allows you do use a thin headplate, without having binding which looks unusually narrow. Here's an example of what I mean from David Myka's website.

http://www.mykaguitars.com/instruments/032/49.jpg

Great photo - and great thread - helps make sense of things for me.

My fingerboard is bound - but NOT glued to the neck yet - so it appears I do still have some options.

Thanks!

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

I carry the binding and if have it purfeling from the neck to the headstock. If I can figure out how to do a picture I can show it. Put a very small wedge at the nut and have it slope slightly toward the headstock. This raises the binding to meet the headtock at the nut.

I guess the file pic is to big to do and i have no idea of how to make it smaller. If someone can tell me that or how to get a photo from my blackberry I will show picture of this. I don't even know why have a blackberry since have no idea how to use it, but son and wife decided a good thing to have. to me just an expensive cell phone

I do mine using the Benedetto approach, with the end of the fingerboard as the point where the headstock side purfling slopes down parallel to the headplate (as shown in John Watkins pic & Anthony Z's great dwgs in the OLF link.)
Once the headplate (& the fingerboard stop) are on, the dimension from face of headplate to base of fingerboard stop determines total height of head binding/side purfling - set that as binding router bit height on the router table & route the step.

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Dave
Milton, ON

What Dave said is better explaination and good pics of this above, so don't need to do the pic's after all, that is a good thing

What Joe said.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.