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I'm trying to decide what kind of binding to use with curly koa back & sides. I've go a selection of most species. Pics are always appreciated

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Mike McNerney

i would consider curly maple with b/w/b. i don't do shell, but you could purf that with some black on either side.

fwiw, i make short 1 inch long binding and purfling combo "stubs" for tryout and checking rebate dimensions. makes choosing a bit easier.

For some hue contrast, purple looks good next to orange. Either purpleheart, camatillo rosewood, or bois de rose (although it's nearly black). Green might also be interesting, so lignum vitae, verawood, or greenheart. Ziricote is also a bit on the green side, though less striking. Indian rosewood or curly maple would also be good for a more tame look. Spalted maple would look good, though would need to be drowned in thin CA to harden it up.

What are the fretboard/bridge/headplate materials?

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sweat the small stuff.

i have used curly eucalyptus. It's good if you want to go subtle.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I'm thinking African blackwood bridge, head plate, fret board. I did use lignum vitae binding on a uke last year & it bent easily. & maybe that Argentinian ironwood for the bridge.

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Mike McNerney

Somewhere there was a pictorial library of binding/purfling schemes.
Anyone remeber where?

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Blood wood looks great.

"I'm thinking African blackwood bridge, head plate, fret board."

Black plastic....

For flamed koa I like flamed maple





If its not flamed I like not very flamed maple





Throw on a black accent line to set them off

How is the color on the lignum holding out?

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

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Pat

I've done a few Koa bindings recently. I like the looks. So do the clients.

African blackwood might look pretty good. I am currently building two EIR guitars and one macassar ebony. I'm thinking of using macassar ebony to bind at least the ebony guitar, maybe all three. Dark can be good

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

how does curly koa bend & and how thick can you make it. The lignum is still a nice green.

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Mike McNerney

Koa Binding

We apply purfling to curly koa at .090", then thin to .078" for bending. No special techniques for koa, other than as with any other lower hardness wood, which is to say that we ensure that the bender ram does not compress the wood (we use .078" x 32" x 1.75" sacrificial filler strips of whatever scrap is handy on either side of the binding packages to ensure the pressure at the waist or in the cutaway area is even). Supersoft II works well with koa, but we usually don't use it on bindings due to the possibility of discoloration of the bindings due to the mobility of the water and glycol-soluble extractives. Koa can discolor badly if any aluminum comes in contact with the wet wood, causing a blue/green stain, so the same kraft paper we use for the moisture reservoir in the bending package does double duty as a barrier.

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-Mark Helprin, The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story (A Novel)

Curly koa bindings with Australian blackwood.

perhaps I'm totally missing the point, but I'm pretty sure the OP wants binding choices for a koa bodied guitar, not for advice on how to bend curly koa...

that being said, I rather like the black plastic binding on my '86 Taylor K20...of course I'm not recommending plastic as binding, but I think ebony, African blackwood, or similar would look nice.