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I have struggled with getting good binding channels cut on all the guitars I have made since coming home from Sergei de Jonge's guitar making course. Few things are more frustrating than getting to a very important step in the guitar making process and utterly butchering it every time. I tried making a couple of different jig designs and while each one got better, they still weren't quiet good enough. I finally gave in and made the Don Williams designed binding cutting rig. I found that someone had modified the design so that a bearing set is not required. http://precisionworkshop.com/bindingjig I used this modification on my rig. I added two touches of my own. I added a tray and a drawer. And, rather than having to screw the whole apparatus to my bench, I added a maple piece to the bottom that is then clamped into my vice on the end of my bench.

I love this design. It works flawlessly. And so I say thank you to all of you who are smarter than me. You make my life so much easier and a whole lot more accurate.

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
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http://ensorguitars.com

This modification of the Fleishman/Williams jig was made by Dave White and is detailed on his website. It is without doubt a truly inspired piece of design, and made the process of cutting binding channels one of the easiest processes in guitar building. One of the biggest benefits is that you can use a downcut bit for an uber clean channel. This is one of the many reasons I'm grateful to Dave.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Nice jig! I am going to be making one of these, already have all the hardware except the smaller lazy susan bearing. That modification by Dave White seems like a really great innovation, plus I wont have to spend a pile on all those bearings. Couple of questions if I may:

-How long is the arm, is it a 22" or 24" drawer slide?
-How high is the bottom of the arm off the table?
-Do you find the lazy susan bearing on the router mount has any slop?

Thanks
Ed

The slides are 22". I made the box for the arm 26" so that the parallelogram would have some meat to attach to.

The bottom of the arm on mine is about 13" off the bench- though it might be a little easier closer to 10" or 11". I have pretty tall supports on the body holder and they are almost maxed out when the body is in place. Note: the holders shown here have since been replace with taller hardwood supports.

The router lazy susan works great. Because it is suspended and has weight holding it down, I haven't had any issues with rock within the bearing. I did dig through the pile of them at Home Depot to find the tightest one though. The most important bearing to not have rock in is the bottom one. I added a support system to my base so that the whole apparatus would have no wobble. It works great.

Hope that helps.

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

Are there plans available for this ?

I did some searching around, and all I could find was a dead link to an expired ebay listing.

Edit: I found this link
http://www.dewguitars.com/BindingJig/Binding%20Jig.htm

I was hoping for an actual plan. Anyone know if one exists?

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Jim Hansen

As far as I know everyone just builds the jig from the details on Don's website in the link above http://www.dewguitars.com/BindingJig/Binding%20Jig.htm

Dave White's modification can be found on his website here: http://www.defaoiteguitars.com/page38.htm.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Just looking for plans myself and found these http://www.luthierscooltools.com/Dwgs.htm#Binding%20Jig

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes