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I ready to bind my guitar and finally have a jig I can use to cut the binding channels. Following advice I've read, I cut the binding channels part way to practice with the guitar body on the new jig and to make sure the top and back were recessed where I could level the sides in prep for the cutting the binding/purfling channels to the final dimensions.

Yesterday, I started leveling the sides. It struck me that this is my first step in preparing for finish so I needed to do a good job. I'm planning to cut the channels 0.010" oversize to allow for glue thickness and swelling and then scrape wood down to the binding/purfling rather than scrape the binding/purfling down to the wood.

I'm curious, how much prep work you do preparing the sides for binding? Are they ready for finish before you even start?......90% there?.......or are you only worried that they are level (rough sanding)? Second question, how do you prep the sides? So far I've dropped all the way down to 80 grit to get level then finished off with 150 grit. I also scraped but the more I'm thinking about it, that was probably a waste of time since I will need to scape more after the binding purfling is installed.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Darryl, I like to get my sides flat and smooth in preperation for binding. Use what ever works best for you to get out any cupping or irregularities. If you have the ability to sharpen a scraper easily, you can do most of the leveling with that. Or use sandpaper and a block. For the waist you can wrap the paper around a scap piece of pipe. If I were sanding, I would sand to 120. Remember the inside line of you pufling and or binding will follow how smoothly you prepare your sides.

Chuck

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Darryl: My jig for binding registers off the sides. The first thing I do is to make sure the sides are absolutely flat across their width. Next I remove any humps or bumps that resulted from the bending process. It's best not to trust your eyes for this operation. Take your hand and with your fingers parallel to the top and bottom rub your hand over the full length of the sides. You will be surprised to find how sensitive your sense of feel is in finding irregular sections.I will use 60 or 80 grit to do this and then a clean up with 100 grit and I'm ready to go for cutting binding recesses.I leave my bindings proud of the sides and level with scrapers. One of the main points of the process is to ensure even thickness of bindings allover when you are completed.Hope you can follow. Good luck.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

darryl, ive only built two guitars, but i used 80 grit or so to level and finish sanded through 220 grit to prepare for finish. its very important IMHO to get the sides level in order to obtain a uniform binding channel. i use a straight edge such as a good ruler or a scraper to check all the way around the guitar. you probably already knew that.

as far as cutting the channel .010" oversize to allow for glue line and wood expansion, IMO that is too much. i think youll end up having to sand a lot more of the sides away to get everything level again. ive kinda shot to get the binding mostly level to the sides once installed. that has left me with minimal work to do afterwards. some people leave binding proud and some the opposite. both work and you can find what works best for you.

you can also try and do a test fit on the area under the fingerboard. just cut a small section and use short pieces of your binding purfling scheme to test fit. sneak up on it. any imperfections will be covered by the fretboard.

just my two cents. good luck.

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sweat the small stuff.

Darryl-
I generally sand to 100/120 grit before cutting binding rabbet.
A scraper is a great tool, but I prefer a hard sanding block for flattening sides. Be especially vigilant in the area where the neck will attach- if there is not a good, sharp corner between the top and sides, you will have a gap showing there. (Also, be sure to cover this area with tape or some other reminder to stop you from rounding over by accident when you are smoothing the rest of the binding....why do I say this???? )

Be sure to spend plenty of time checking the binding rabbet depth with a piece of scrap- even with a jig you can get shallow sections.

Also, I've had a lot of trouble with 'thin spots in the binding' in the past, so I have now switched to the 'sand down the sides to meet the binding' school of thought. (I do use thick sides on my guitars, and we're not talking about sanding down very much - perhaps .005" ?)

Cheers
John

Thanks for the replies!

I'm using Ivoroid binding and Herringbone purfling with Duco glue so hopefully the 0.010" oversize is about right.

I'm very close now but will do a tad more leveling in the waist area. By the way, I'm not yet consistent on getting a good burr on the scraper. I think I need a burnisher that is a little harder.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Darryl, cut a channel into an edge of a scrap board first. It doesn't have to be guitar shaped, just something to glue a piece of binding into to make sure you have the depth set where you want it to be. Finding out after you've glued the binding in that you have to scrap the sides down to the binding will make a lasting impression, but I can promise you it won't make your day.

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Aoibeann