Bound

Snip snip snip

In my last post I prepped the body to be bound.  It entailed two major steps: Pre-bending the binding into a Les Paul shape and cutting a channel around the body blank for the binding to sit in.

So - let's glue in that binding!

There are a bunch of options to choose from when gluing binding to a wood guitar body.  I went with the option that was going to hide my mistakes the best (and it's good that I did - as we shall see).

The process I'm using is to create binding paste (aka binding goop).  Binding paste is made up of acetone and binding - specifically small pieces of binding.  The acetone melts the plastic binding into a goo-like substance that hopefully has the  consistency of elmer's white glue.  The paste sticks to the wood and melts the binding until the acetone evaporates.  So, you end up gluing the binding with itself.  It's supposed to cover any goofs because it fills any cracks with more binding that will eventually harden and be indistinguishable from the solid stuff.

Here's how you make it:

Mmmmm...
Biege Chicklets

Cut up about two inches of extra binding using a pair of snips or cutters to make a bunch of tiny binding bits about the size of tick-tacks.  If you make them smaller the bits will dissolve faster - if you make them bigger it will still work but it will take longer.

I forgot to rotate the photo.
Think of it as an excuse to stretch your neck

Add in just enough acetone to cover the binding bits.  If you use too much the acetone paste will be thin - you want it to flow slowly.  

Couple things about working with Acetone:  You probably want to mix up the paste in a glass or ceramic bowl.  The acetone will likely eat your mixing bowl if it's made out of plastic.  I am unsure what it will do to a metal bowl but seeing as acetone comes in metal cans - you are probably safe. 

Acetone is the main ingredient in nail polish remover - but it is more concentrated (maybe that's why nail polish remover comes in plastic bottles and acetone doesn't...?).  But it is recognized by the state of California to be hazardous to your health - so don't bathe in the stuff.

You want to cover the mixture so that the acetone doesn't evaporate and let it sit for a few hours.

I poured in the acetone (which is clear) and it did this within seconds (see below).

Mmmm... Beige Chicklets
... that are melting.  Um, no thanks

I did stir it a bit with a wooden skewer (don't use Mom's silver!).  Within a couple of minutes the acetone is opaque and it's time to let it sit.

About four hours later the paste was ready to use.  If you find that your paste is too thin - add more binding chips (or you can try letting the acetone evaporate a bit).  If it's too thick - add more acetone.

The five year old 'chemist' in me loves this almost as
much as mixing vinegar and baking soda

Once your paste is the right consistency - you should get ready to start.  It always feels like you need an extra pair of hands when you install binding - so anything you can do to prep is going to make your life easier.  I cut out a bunch of strips of tape - so that I could just grab one and go.

I like my workspaces like I like my jackets - with fringe.

You may have noticed that the above photo was not taken in my shop.  My shop isn't heated and the temp dipped to 32 degrees - so I moved everything inside for this part.  I'm not just being a pansy - the binding will become too rigid to work with in that kind of cold.
...although to be honest I'm not looking forward to the winter temps in the shop.

What could possibly go wrong?

I don't know about you - but my parents raised me to do the hardest part of any task first - so that you get it out of the way.  As I've grown older I prefer to start with the low hanging fruit.  I like to work up a steam by finishing the small tasks first.  Sometimes you should listen to your parent's advice...

It's gonna be a walk in the park

The horn and the cut-away are going to be the hardest thing to bind.  I knew that going into this and still chose to do it last.  That was a bad idea.  My rationale was that I wanted to get a little practice in and work up a rhythm by starting easy and ending on this part.  I probably won't do that on the next build.  The reason being that because I pre-bent the binding on a template that was bigger than the body blank - they were not a perfect match.  So, when I got to this point nothing lined up.  I'll show you what I did to fix it - but this felt like a good place to mention it.  Start off with the hard part and everything else will be smooth sailing.

Yum!

So, once you get started with this process - It's hard to stop and take pictures.  You really need to stay focused.  Here then is my description of how it should go down:  Spread the goop onto the channel you routed on the body.  I worked in 2 or 3 inch sections (Until I got to the butt of the guitar and then I did 3 or 4 inch sections at a time).  You want it on the side and the bottom of the channel - pretty much anywhere the binding is going to touch the wood.  Don't slop it on - as the masking tape won't stick to wet wood - but be generous enough to get everything good and covered.

Hold the binding as tight as you can against the body - remembering to press in and down - as the binding channel has a lip.  Then start taping the binding to the body.  Obviously don't tape past where you have spread the goop.  I would leave about a half inch between the last piece of tape and where I spread the goop - to give myself a little play to stick a glue brush between the binding and the wood - in case I didn't have enough goop in there.  If you notice a gap that you can't fix by squeezing a little tighter - then try and drop-fill the crack with more goop.  It's going to dry as hard as the original binding and you can even it out later.

Tastes like chicken!

Halfway there and I need more tape

I was able to stop when I got to the butt of the guitar and take some pictures.  Let me re-phrase that...
I was forced to stop as I had run out of tape strips.  Here's where we stand:

Looks...
...good?

Here's the problem when you glue beige binding with beige goop and tape it down with beige tape.  It's kind of hard to see what's going on.  I think this section is going to be fine.  I won't know until I take the tape off.  That's why it's useful to use your fingers to determine if the binding is well seated.  If it can move around - you're doing it wrong.

Round Two!
Fight!!!

I kept going using the same process but I already knew that the binding wasn't going to match up to the body.  The binding horn and the body horn were misaligned by about a half inch.  Which meant I had to stop what I was doing - run to the workshop - get my heat gun - and reshape the horn.  All while trying to keep the binding in place.  One thing I will mention:  The heat gun will dry (or is it cook?) your binding paste.  So, bend the binding with the heat gun and then apply the paste.

I had a difficult time bending the binding around the horn when I was just pre-bending it.
Adding in the extra complexities of holding the binding in place while gluing it and taping it and heating it/reshaping it (all while not damaging what I've already bound) meant that it was quite messed up by the time I was done.  Additionally, I was running out of goop because the acetone was starting to evaporate (it evaporates quicker as you have less in the bowl it seems).  So, I was left with what I'm guessing will be a bit of clean-up work.

Just squint a little and it looks great!

Almost, but not quite, just enough

Speaking of messes...

As you can see the goop dries pretty quick.  On the guitar, on your workbench, and on your fingers.
I could have just wiped my fingers with more acetone but I chose to use soap and an abrasive.  It came off fairly well.  If you had that kind of patience - you could also pull off the flakes like dried elmer's glue but I was all done by this point.

Here there be dragons

I'm not quite sure what to expect - but there is some touch-up work in store for me - no doubt.
I already started mixing up another batch of binding goop to take care of any mistakes I may have to cover.  So tomorrow, when I pull off all this tape we'll see what's what.