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I have a question on binding at the end graft inlay.



Here is a sample piece of the edge binding I'm using - it has the accent strip laminated to it.



I’m trying to figure out how to get edge binding to meet the end graft inlay so that the accent strip terminates at the corners of the end graft inlay as shown in the following detail (top) rather than running straight across. If I run the binding into a uniformly cut channel, which seems like the easy thing to do, I would end up with it looking like the lower detail.



Thanks for any insight on doing this.

Joe

Joe,

When I do this, I take a shallower pass at the depth of the binding minus the lamination across the end graft. Then, I cut the binding channels to the depth of the binding with lamination. At the end graft, I stop the ledge cut about an eigth of an inch from the graft. Then I cut the rest with a sharp chisel. I mitre the corners of the end graft. I'll be interested to hear what others are doing, since I came up with this method on my own.

On this one, I cut the b/w/b lamination off of some pre-made binding and added it on either side of the end graft I made up.





Chris.

You have to miter the purfling strips of both the bindings and the end wedge so that they meet at roughly 45 degrees at the end wedge. This means that you can't trim the end wedge flush with the binding ledge. Rather it will be left slightly proud the height of your binding purfling to accommodate the miter. There is a good explanation in Cumpiano's book if you have access to that. I'm sure others can offer pictures with better explanations.

Chris beat me to it. Looks great to me Chris.

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Aaron Craig

Thank you everyone.

Joe

Funny you mention that -

The Courtnall book was highly touted and i finally got it - it makes me realize the great amount of detail found in the Cumpiano and the way it was written. The Courtnall book is great in it's own right - for the plans and the historical information - but Cumpiano wins hands down for actually building a guitar.

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The way I learned from Sergei is to take an extra piece (or pieces) of the purfling that you have attached to the binding and tape it to the top over the end wedge. This way, the router will raise the exact thickness of your purfling (plus the tape). Leave the purfling a little longer than the wedge so you don't accidentally cut too much. You then, as Chris mentioned, finish the channel cut with a sharp chisel. Once you miter the purfling on the binding and end wedge, you are good to go.

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Somogyi has a very interesting idea in his "Making of the Responsive Guitar" book that I hadn't really seen elsewhere. He does it kind of backwards to the usual way in that he installs the binding/purfling first, and then installs the tail wedge. So you'd install the binding and purfling around the sides, then after it's in place you'd chisel away the side purfling at the tail wedge area, and miter it with a tiny chisel. Then he fits and glues in the wedge purflings, and then finally drops in the tail wedge. It's a little counter-intuitive, but it seems like it would allow lots of control to get a really tight fit where the purflings miter together.

That's all off the top of my head, it's been a few months since I read that chapter.

Thanks for the reminder on Cumpiano, I don't know why I never seem to remember to reference that book.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Ah...Cumpiano and Natelson
Perhaps we should organize university courses the same way?
Get two profs, teaching two different (but related) courses and put them in the same lecture hall with one group of students.
Each one lectures for 10 min, alternately. Confused students have to take the same course again, next semester!

Apparently some of the info is not as accurate as it might be; I know that there are quite a few gaps in the information. It's always best to try to get more than one source, if possible. (Romanillos on Torres, Bouchet's 'Notebook' etc...)
That said, there's not much competition for Courtnall, so probably essential for the well-stocked bookshelf.

Cheers
John

Here's how I do it.

The start.
http://johnjayplatko.com/buildingasteelguitar46.aspx

The end. (there's purfling and binding in between.

http://johnjayplatko.com/Buildingasteelguitar48.aspx

John

John – Thanks for that detailed and informative tutorial. Nicely done!

Joe

You're welcome, Joe. It looks like we have the same taste in end grafts.

John

For anyone interested – I finished binding over the weekend and just thought I’d post a follow-up. Things went pretty well I think for my first effort, in spite of my faltering eyesight.



Thanks again to everyone here for all the helpful advice.

Joe

Looks great! Really nice work.

Chris.

Joe,

Looks like you nailed it. That's as good as any tail wedge I've seen.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Poor Natelson. I imagine him saying, "Sure Bill, we can put your name first. It won't make much difference."

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Here are some pictures from a “build thread” I did over on Luthier Community a while back. I have cut and pasted a bit, to make it as relavant as possible to this topic. Nothing new here I guess, and others have mentioned most of these techincues already, but since I have all these pictures....

I start by sawing and chiseling out the waste for the end graft.








Here, I’ve inlaid a piece of binding with a single purfling line on each side








The side purflings will be mitered to the end graft, so I tape a piece of veneer which is the same thickness as the purflings over this area to avoid taking a too deep cut here.








I now use fish glue for most of my bindings, but I glue the end graft / side purfling miters with CA first, so that is all taken care of before I start getting messy. The FG is awfully tenacious, and it is no fun to be fiddling with little miters and sharp tools when you have the stuff all over your fingers. CA glue can stain spruce if allowed to soak into its end grain, so I seal this area with some more shellac







Cutting the end graft purfling miters with a polished chisel. The shiny chisel mirrors the purfling, and by adjusting its angle you can easily see if you are cutting right










Testing the fit







Gluing in the purfling with CA







The rest is glued with fish glue, as I said.








The bindings and puflings are taped up as I go. I like to use this super strong strapping tape to hold everything in place. I like the fact that its clear, too.








The result

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Nice work and good idea with the veneer bump on the top and bottom, Arnt!

that looks great. good work.

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