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On my first guitar, I used bloodwood for binding and had a very difficult time bending it. This time, I want black binding but I want to save myself the headache of bending ebony.

So, I have been looking at plastic binding. Can anyone who uses plastic fill me in on what I should expect? Does it bend readily and without heat? Is it true that it will "shrink" and one should therefore wait before scraping everything down? What kind of glues do you use?

Thanks ahead of time!

-Eric

Plastic binding bends easily, glues with fresh weld-on 16 or duco, and it's good protection. But it's still no free ride. I don't know about shrinking, but it's usually not dry enough for scraping for a few days, even tho it seems to be in an hour or two. One good scrape with the scraper at the wrong angle and a lot of damage can be done, at least in my experience.

Plastic binding looks better than ebony in a lot of cases. Bad ebony looks streaky and good ebony looks like plastic. Of course the whole design is important so it has to fit in.

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Ken

I'll offer the opposite opinion. Ebony thats not pure black actually looks like wood...not plastic. I hate plastic binding, black or white. It looks cheep.

Grizzly tools has a product that best looks like ebony . it is wood fiber and you can apply it just like plastic binding

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it