Official Luthiers Forum!

I ordered some of the StewMac cream binding, hoping it would look somewhat vintage.

I got it today & it looks sort of orange/beige - not what I imagined. I was hoping it would be more of an ivory color.

Has anyone used this stuff, does it look better under finish?

Thanks,
Kevin Looker

_________________
I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

It looks like that under finish too. 'Standard' Gibson Les Paul custom color binding, not 'vintage acoustic Martin guitar' type of look. You'd want ivoroid for that, which I'm sure StewMac used to carry but no longer does, likely because of HazMat shipping restrictions.

EDIT: LMI has it, for one.

This is actually going on an electric but we get a lot more traffic on this forum.

What did Gibson use "in the old days" - white celluloid as opposed to ABS?

Kevin Looker

_________________
I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

It looks great under a finish and it pairs real nicely with warm colored woods--but it doesn't look exactly like ivory. However, it DOES look somewhat like white binding under a very aged lacquer finish--after the lacquer has colored off to an amber tone. I like it for that reason. It looks great with unbleached bone nuts and saddles, too. It's easy to work with, but if you need to bend any real tight curves, warm it with a hair drier first. If forced into a tight bend without warming, it can show lighter lines where the bend was forced. It'll make a nice looking instrument, but maybe not the exact vintage look you're after.

I used it on this new neck I built for a 60's Univox (Japanese copy of a Gibson). I put several coats of amber shellac on it to try to match the original vintage binding before shooting it with lacquer.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Gibson used ABS binding on the body and Cellulose on the neck. The ABS was called Royalite. It was ivory colored and didn't have the ripples like ivoroid.

How much do you need?

_________________
Ken

Interesting. So did they use white cellulose on the fingerboard, ivoroid, or an ivory colored cellulose w/out grain?

I need enough for a Les Paul.

Thanks,
Kevin Looker

_________________
I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Yea that is right. I would just use ABS though.

I like to stay away from the beige or peach colored. Although under an amber finish it looks ok.

This is Ivory colored ABS. I get it from a guy in Germany who has it made for him. He doesn't sell it as a business though. Bartlett has the good stuff but it is expensive.

_________________
Ken