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Hi all

I've been using a tower binding jig for a while, and it's fine, it does the job. But fiddling round with bearing of different sizes, having the router ride on the top, cutaways.......all got me looking round for alternatives.

After watching a video with Tom Sands using the Elevate Binding jig it looked perfect. No bearings, routs perpendicular to the sides etc etc.

BUT now I've got it and I've used it a few times for taking the top and back below the level of the sides, prior to leveling the sides.

And each time I've done this the guitar has tipped and it's taken out a 'nib' that's slightly deeper. Elevate say you've got to keep the guitar in contact with the bearing nearest to you. I'm trying, but maybe once per side the guitar tips slightly.

For routing the binding channel I'm not too bothered, since any 'nibs' will be routed away anyway by the purfling channel. But when it comes to the purfling channel it seems like an incredible risk.

And yet the Elevate jig seems popular and I haven't read anyone else having this problem.

Any ideas/advice???

(I'm not looking for other ideas on how to rout binding channels, I know how to do that. Just advice re the Elevate jig)

Thanks in advance!

For trimming the plates to the sides, I don’t use the Elevate jig. There’s too much chance of taking too big a bite and tearing out if the plates stick out too much. I use the bit in the photo below with the donut base on the router.

But, for cutting the binding channels, I haven’t found anything that works better for me than that Elevate jig. I mount it upright on the table like in the photo (but with more clamps). Chris Ensor and I had discussions on the direction of mounting. He is adamantly opposed to mounting it any way but vertically with the bit overhead (when you crouch down). I found it very difficult to control in his preferred position. I can tell clearly from his video that he is below the age of bifocals and creaky knees both of which make control in his position very difficult. I found that I have much better control with it mounted as in the photo looking down on the guitar held horizontally. It doesn’t eliminate the possibility of the snipes when the sides of the guitar get off the far guide, but it makes it a lot easier for me to control and try to prevent.

I like the bit that comes with the jig and I like the clean, consistent binding channel that it cuts. I particularly like the adjustment of the depth and width of the cut that the jig provides. For over 20 years, I cut my channels freehand with the StewMac bearing bit and the donut router base as in the picture. I did pretty well, but the continuous adjustment of the Elevate jig does a lot nicer job for me.

Thanks Bob.

That's interesting about mounting it horizontally....I may give that a go and see if it improves.

How long did it take till you were confident of not making mistakes?

I’m still not confident, but I do pretty well. My most frequent mistake is coming off the guide near the cutter so that the cut isn’t deep enough. When that happens, I hope I discover it before I change the settings or put the jig away. I haven’t made a gouge yet that I couldn’t fix. (The difference between a jackleg and a craftsman is that the craftsman goes back and fixes the mistakes.)

Just upgraded to the Elevate jig myself. I did notice the same 'feature' - the need to keep the body on the outboard guide to avoid a divot from dipping the guitar into the cutter.
The extra caution needed to maintain that contact was offset for me by the more consistent channel I got. Well worth the effort and $$$.

I had a local kid who worked at the binding dept of Santa Cruz and he told me they cut the binding channels with a jig similar to the Elevate but the purfling on a tower jig.

That makes sense.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

No offence, but I'm kind of hoping I don't need to come back to you to ask about fixes....

Yeah, makes sense to me as well. It had occurred to me that maybe this was the way to go - do the binding with the Elevate, knowing that there is the safety margin of the thickness of the purfling in case something goes wrong. It's a shame because the Elevate is so quick and convenient....

Remember that when you’re cutting the purfling you have the depth of cut thin—only the thickness of the purfling. A lean at that depth doesn’t make as deep a gouge as one at binding depth. My problem with the purfling cut is making sure I got it even all the way around. Stated another way, it’s making sure the guide at the cutter end is touching all the way around. I’ve had way better results (more consistent with fewer repairs) with the Elevate jig than before.

I sold mine partly for the reason you mentioned. I even successfully routed a couple of guitars without unfixable issues. But way too much stress and I felt I had to be right there in the mess while routing making sure the the side index was on the side. The second issue I had is the requirement that the bit had to be perfectly centered or there was an uneven route as the guitar rotated on the index. Luckily I still had my Fleishman Binding Machine that uses a router bit with a bearing. I went back to guitar in cradle, cradle clamped to bench, calmly route the binding channel with the help of the binding machine.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

I have used the Elevate jig for the last 50 guitars or so and have had great results.
There definitely is a learning curve....
I use some pretty wide purflings and it excels at that

I’ve done about 5 guitars so far with my Elevate jig. I like the results and have retired my tower/cradle setup. As Brad says there is a learning curve.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Interesting. I don't own the Elevate jig but made something that works on the same premise - though apparently not as exact. It does binding well enough but I've learned to cut shallow and finish up with files, but for purfling I'm seeing the same issue. I ended up having to resort to using a violin purfling channel cutter, an Exacto knife and some jeweler's files to clean out some shallow cuts. Now I'm thinking about saving up for the True Channel tower jig.

Very easy to make your own tower out of scrap wood and cheap drawer slides…