So I had to do the bindings on guitar #2 (I'm working on it at the same time as #1, which is probably not the cleverest approach as first finishing one so I can see how that works out, but whatever)
So I decided to do wood binding on this one. I did Ivoriod on #1, and it was OK, but kind of a goopy mess as I was doing a double purfling at the same time. After planing, scraping and sanding it came out OK. I scraped too much of the binding away in one place, and I started scraping and sanding too soon (after about 8 hours, I should have waited at least 24). I used the LMI plastic binding glue, it's pretty goopy and has a relatively short open time.
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So on #2 I had change things up a little. I used bloodwood bindings, and the first attempt to bend them was a complete failure. I got them from LMI, and they had a lot of short grain (the grain was running at about 30 degreed to the length of the strip). I soaked the first batch in veneer softener for half an hour or so and they snapped when I slid them into the fox bender. No pressure, no attempt to bend them, just a tiny bit of flex ad snap.
I ordered some replacements from Stew Mac (plain, without the accent strip this time), let them absorb the veneer softener for about 2 hours and then bent them. One of the four fractured, the other three were great, so I repeated the same process with two more, and they both survived. (so I guess I have to build another L-1 body with bloodwood binding. It's like milk and cookes, you never run out of cookies and milk at the same time).
I wiped a coat of shellac on the top and sides of the body where the binding would go to try and keep the glue out of the wood pores.
On the top of the guitar I used Titebond. I test fit one strip and trimmed it, and glued in in place using blue tape to clamp it. Masking tape wasn't quite up to the task as the waist and ends wanted to spring away. I put a clamp on the ends and got the first strip in place. After an hour or so I test fit the second strip and clued / clamped it in place, then left it to dry overnight.
It was at this point where I finished bending the additional binding strips, which I let dry in the outside mold ovenight instead of using them right out of the bender. That helped, they seemed to fit a little better.
On the back I applied shellac to the groove as I wanted to try using CA, and didn't want it wicking into the end grin and discoloring the surface. I fit both pieces and used strapping tape to hold them in place. Then I applied thin CA between the tape and let it wick into the joint. Once that set I pulled the tape and ran CA around both edges.
This worked pretty well, but there was a lot of tape/glue residue to clean up. After sanding off the residue and leveling the binding it looked good.
I like the CA method, and will probably use it in the future with a fed mods. First, more shellac to protect the back and sides from the tape. Second, I'll probably make some acrylic cauls for the waist, and wax them, so I can see that the binding is tight against the waist and not have tape in the way. Maybe the same for the ends too. And I'll get some of those little tiny tips for the CA to try and do a neater job on applying it.
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