Official Luthiers Forum!

I will soon have to decide what to use for binding on my Cocobolo 000, I have used curly maple on the 1st 3 builds but I can not decide if it will look good on Cocobolo. I am looking for ideas on what wood will look best.

Fred

_________________
Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Hey Fred,

Curly Koa binding on Cocobolo looks awesome!http://mustapickguitars.com/db/3/index.php

PS Don't know if you remember but we meet at John Hall's place last year...Went for Pizza with John and Brenda.

_________________
Guitar Building = Continuous Improvement Process

On the cocos I have built .. mostly ziricote, a couple in ebony, and on one coco.

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I would use coco as Tony suggested - make it look like it is dipped in beautiful coco.

Coco with a thin maple purfling line oozes class IMO.

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Curly Eucalyptus. Looks very much like Curly Koa but a good bit less expensive. Another good choice in wood is Snakewood. A great choice over all is tortoise shell celluloid backed up with maple or white plastic.

I vote for curly mahogany. I like koa too but the mahogany I got from Bob at RCTonewoods has a lot more curl than the koa I have been able to get.

Warren.

I'm using snakewood on my current coco build...

Justin

If you must have maple, I am sure it will look nice, while as an alternative, I would use coco (darker is possible) or ebony. I've seen a number of Indian RW + maple guitars and it looked fine, and maple should should match coco even better imo.

_________________
Build log

I checked out snakewood on RC Tonewood site, it looks cool, have you a photo this on a guitar Justin

Thanks guys we all must think in similar directions, I was thinking Koa or ebony myself, and if there would have been enough width on the side wood I would have used the off cuts as this looks great when the grain and color is matching on the binding and side.

Thanks
Fred

_________________
Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I have a photo of Snakewood on Narra while the graining will be differnt the color would be close to Coco

I love Ebony bindings....Looks great with cocobolo.
Ebony just frames the guitar well without having woods clash

_________________
Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Beautiful Andy my friend!

I've got to go with Ebony. Andy's guitar is stunning!

Mike Franks
www.mjfranksguitar.com

Michael, that snake is beautiful!!! I'm using some lacewood now... similar but not that dramatic. What about leopard wood?

Does this need to be said? Remember to scrape and sand the sides BEFORE binding. I bet yu are wondering why I mentioned that?

This may be stating the obvious, but I would suggest thinking through the combinations of woods throughout the entire guitar - the B&S, top (esp if it's something with significant color like redwod or cedar), neck, bindings, headplates, rosette, FB and bridge, purfs, etc. I spend quite a bit of time thinking through many possibilities for each guitar, looking for beautiful combinations that harmonize well throughout. It's a fun puzzle. I don't start building until I've worked the whole thing out. Obviously, several of the choices may be dictated by the desired sound, but from there there are always many possibilities for the decorative elements that can tie everything together beautifully, or, on the other hand, create something that looks more like a mish-mash or a series of afterthoughts, or bling overkill.

_________________
Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

I have decided to go with ebony, is there anything I should be aware of when bending them, other than what is done in Robbie's video.

Fred

_________________
Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Fred bro I bend ebony in my Fox style bender and have no problems bending it. Just a light spritz with water, tape all four pieces together in the buddy system, wrap in craft paper and it bends fine. I bend it at .090 but I have read here that others have had problems bending it. I do bend it waiting very so slightly longer to start to get it hotter (I use a blanket and wait 30 seconds longer to start the bend).

It is easier to bend thinner and easier to horse around the domes too when it's thinner.

I have a question. Assuming the ebony is solid black and pore filled can you tell a difference between it and black boltaron (plastic) under the finish?

_________________
Jeremy Douglas

Jeremy I don't know if you can tell the difference at a quick glance, but real wood has a character that plastic tries to copy.

Hesh thanks for your prompt reply, I probably will bend tomorrow. I have 2 guitars on the go at the same time so I work on the most interesting thing 1st and that will be binding.

Fred

_________________
Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Jeremy under finish and from a little distance black ebony binding can IMHO look like plastic. Upon close inspection you can see that they are wood - or VERY good plastic.....

I've used ebony (and it was a very black piece too) for a headplate and with a thin medium gloss shellac finish, it looked woody enough. But I knew it was wood. No need to pore-fill.

Are you going to put a maple purfling on it?

_________________
Build log

It's difficult to tell the difference (unless your plastic binding is the type that shrinks and ulitmately comes lose in the waist area, then the difference is quite easy to tell...), that's why I like to use ebony with 'character' for bindings. I don't know if you can see it in this picture (upper bout, treble side), but the ebony binding on this coco guitar has lots of streaks which looks I think looks quite interesting up close.

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I actually have black boltaron binding and an ebony butt wedge. I can't tell the difference unless I shine a light directly onto them, then the plastic is slightly lighter in color.

Arnt, I can't see the streaks but the guitar sure looks nice.

_________________
Jeremy Douglas

Arnt wrote


I like the color match on your neck in the photo, what stain did you use or is it natural and the photo makes it darker.

Fred

_________________
Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866