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I want to glue b/w/b purfling to some ebony binding before I bend it in my side bender.

Is there a trick to doing this that makes it easy with no special jigs???

Thanks

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

Best trick is to not do it. If your have mitered purfling joints like at the end graft and such. You are better off to keep purfling separate from the binding. Glue them in at the same time but as separate pieces. The reason I say this is if you’re binding and purfling is glued together and you miss cut the bevel length short on the purfling then you are screwed. And have to make up another binding/purfling If you keep them separate and allow for rubber length at the neck joint you have much more room for error to work with.

MDP - yeah - I appreciate the idea.

However - as relatively new builder I'm concerned about handling 5 pieces of material and wanted to possibly take one out of the mix.

I'm doing binding/purfling/zipflex/purfling on the top and was hoping to only have to deal with all the "top pieces"

I do understand the point you are making.

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

Sideways stack is a bad idea in my opinion. better off to install the binding/ purfling/ teflon strips (to accout for the zipflez)/ purfling. allow the glue up to dry remove the teflon strip and install the zipflex later. You reall need the purfling to be indipendent of the binding on the top because the bindings will likely spring out and not be perfect bends. This neans that as you install all of theis you will have to pull the binding in tight as you either tape up or rope up. with the purfling glued to the binding you have made a much stiffer piece that you will be trying to make conform perfectly to your channel shape. This is easy enough to do as individual pieces. but when you glue them togather they become much more ridgid and harder to make conform.

MDP - I think maybe you misunderstood. I was not talking about gluing up a sideways stack - just the side purfling at the bottom of the binding.

Have you used Zipflex on a guitar yet? Kevin Ryan's site says you don't need to use teflon and can just do the zipflex.

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

Paul, I too do it the way Michael mentioned. It really is not that hard.

What I really like about this method is that you don't need a right and left binding anymore. Just tape the side purflings inbetween the bindings and put it all in the bender. The purflings will bend very well this way, just make sure you sandwich them between the bindings.

How will you be gluing it all in? With CA or other glue? I use CA to glue in my bindings and purflings and I fit it all first, so here's my way of doing it.

And actually, tonight I'm going to be doing this on a top so I'll take some pictures for you. My side purfling is loose (not all 3 pieces mind you) and then there is the binding, on the top I have b/w/b/zipflex/b/w/b so that's alot to handle, but it really isn't that difficult, just got to decide in your mind that you can do it

First you fit the side purfling in the waste and mark the end where it mitres at the tail wedge. Cut the mitre, get it perfect, then you can just tack the purfling line down with a drop of CA. Put a loose piece of tape to hold the purfling from falling off the side.

Than you do the same thing with your binding. Fit it at the waste and mark where the center is at the tail. Cut it and hold it in place with tape, just loosly though, not snug.

Next take your top purflings and zipflex, ensure the ends are square and hold them in place at the centerline, fitting them in the channel between the top and the binding. Butt them up with the binding using a piece of wood or ruler (just so they are all at the same center location). Now either tape or hold and give it a drop of CA.

Once this is done, you just work your way around the edge, taping as you go. You can actaully use any type of glue you want at this stage, either working the glue (white, yellow, hide, fish) in while you tape or just tape it all up and then wick in CA. It's really not that difficult and once you get the hang of it, you'll really be surpised at how quick it goes.

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Rod - thanks - sometimes the most obvious things escape me. I forgot that I could sandwich the purfling between pieces of binding - tape it together and bend it - that will help.

Your other description is good too and I look forward to seeing those photos.

I'm sure it will help having 4 hands on this project with my son and I both involved. One person holding - one person taping.

We've built a deck that we then use long rubber bands to stretch all over the guitar to hold things in place while our white glue dries. It worked really well on our last guitar.

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

well if your son isn't in the mood for helping use the vice and clamp for a second on that spot then loosen it up slide it along and tape as you go. its like an extra set of metal hands that will never get bored!

Paul, I've added the steps I use in the tutorial section, you can find it here

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Ditto on Todd's post. I just finished doing the binding, purfling, zipflex all in separate pieces using CA. It was quite easy, because you have all the time you need. If you only glue small areas and tape, you can then take as long as you want organizing yourself for the next few inches. You can also take all the much needed time and attention on the mitres. One trick is to tape all the pieces together with the sticky side of the tape facing out. This way all the pieces stay well organized and you can just slide the tape as you work along.