Boundless

Uh oh.  Dad's got the fringe out again...

I see tape fringe!  That can mean only one thing.  Daddy's gonna have a good time tonight!!!

...ahem...

Sorry. Wrong blog...

But seriously, it's time for more binding (yay!).  I decided way back that I wanted to bind this Les Paul style neck - including the headstock.  So, here we go.  In a previous post, I discussed how I needed to make a channel for the binding to sit in.

57 Channels and nothing on

Also in a previous post, I talked about making binding paste...

Mmmmm... Death Chicklets

The joy of watching plastic melt...

Death Chicklet soup...?

I've also talked at length about working on plastic binding: here, here, and here.

Always the same:  It's picture day and I have flyaway binding

So what more is there to talk about?

Not much.  I just thought a post of nothing but pictures would be a bit boring.

And I thought the blog would be a bit dry without my pithy observations.

Something pithy

But in truth - here's the bit I wanted to get to: The headstock.

Binding the neck isn't really that new and different.  If anything, it's easier than a guitar body because it's pretty much a straight run of binding with no curves.  Until you get to the headstock.

Curvy you say?

The headstock was the reason I needed to bind the neck over two days.  Day one was the neck and the big curves of the headstock.  Day 2 was for all of the little curves.

All wrapped up and nowhere to go.

So, after Day 1 we are left with this:

No, my workbench didn't magically turn into polished stone.

After all the tape was removed we had this: 

Ladies and gentlemen - my kitchen floor

If you look closely you can see that I cut the binding too long - so I need to trim it.

*Blink-Blink*
And we're back in the garage.

Take some snips and cut the binding to the correct length and you are left with this:

That middle bit is going to be a problem

And this:

And this is gonna make the guitar look better how?

And this...

Son of a...!

So, remember when I said there was really nothing new to report about doing the binding on the side of the neck.  Yeah, I lied again.  Lying liar that I am.  What happened here?  

I was pretty surprised myself.  I must have pulled the binding in the wrong direction when I taped it down because I was about a half inch short.  And by the time I realized this the binding was mostly done - so it would have been a real pain to redo.  So, I slapped another small strip on there and we'll work on it.

Lil' bits

Day 2 working on the neck was to affix the little bits.  Now there is a reason I split this process over two days.  To make these pieces blend seamlessly with the larger bits you have to trim, sand, and pre-fit them.

Unless you actually know what you're doing and then you do this in one night...

I started simple with the small piece that goes on the butt of the neck.

Heh, heh.  He said butt!

Then I tackled the top of the headstock.  On a traditional Les Paul guitar, the final profile or shape is supposed to look like an open book.  Which means I'm going to have to do something about that peak in the middle there.

Binding gives you wings!

Since we use anthropomorphic terms for guitars (neck, body, head-stock) this last part here would be the what?  Jowls?  Adam's Apple? Lymph Nodes?

Caressing the guitar jowls
...ew

Anywho!  All these pieces were cut to fit.  And in the few cases where they were not an exact fit - I used a bit of extra binding paste to cover my mistakes.  It's not like that went poorly the last time I tried that trick.

Then I waited overnight and on day 3 scrapped that sucker.

I will mention again that I use both a cabinet scraper and a utility blade to scrap bindings.  This time out I also tried using a 1/4 inch chisel.  Which worked for the area where the nut will go as that is harder to scrap or snip.

After a rough night on the town

After a shower and shave.

Scraping turned up a few blunders.  I kind of thought this one might not be a tight fit as I taped over it.  But until you take the tape off it's hard to know either way.

Heisenberg's lesser-known experiments with binding.  No dead cats required.

And I knew the top of the headstock was going to need a solution.

Pictured: Unresolved issues

Buth otherwise - it's starting to look pretty good

Pictured: Pretty good

Seeing as this neck started out life looking like this:

So, I've had some work done.  So what?

I mixed up a small batch of binding paste and filled in the cracks.
Once that's dry we'll scrap again.

A little schmeer...

And now we wait for Day #4

What could possibly go wrong?

More tools and jigs

Am I a Liar?
Yes.  Yes, I am a liar.

So, I decided to start working on the Les Paul again after a loooooooong hiatus.
I got myself all psyched up to get my hands dirty fixing the neck and neck pocket.  This morning I took the body and neck down from the fridge, took one look at it and decided, "I'm not working on the neck pocket today. " Even though I haven't touched this project in 18 months - I'm going to 'switch gears' and work on the neck.

Okay - here we go...

I had alluded to the fact that I was going to make some drastic changes to the neck in a previous post. Here's where we dig into that process.  My plan is to take the existing neck that I bought from Guitarfetish and add the following:

1. A headstock veneer to match the body
2. Binding all around the neck
3. Replace the existing diamond inlays with standard Les paul 'block' inlays
4. Install an Irish coin inlay (most likely a 1 penny piece) in the headstock

If you've been following along - I finished the headstock veneer a while back.

Today we'll look at how to do the binding around the neck.

The binding was going to be a mixture of easy and hard.  Most of the binding was going to be set in straight runs (with few curves) but I wasn't sure how I was going to route the channel for the binding as I don't own a router table.  This kind of work is hard to do freehand with a router as the neck is curved on both sides and tapered to boot.

After a quick trip to google - it became clear that I had all the necessary parts to build my own primitive router table.  So, first up: build a router table.

Kinda looks like a reject from 'The Lego Movie.'

 The process is actually quite brief.  Take the bottom plate off of your router, trace the outline of it on a flat and wide board (most people use plywood or melamine as they don't warp easily. I used Particle Board which also doesn't warp easily but isn't as durable - it's what I had on hand).

Make sure to mark off where the holes go to attach the board to the router and start drilling holes.  I made a one inch hole in the middle of a sheet of particle board for any router bits to fit through and drilled four 1/8 inch holes for the mounting screws.  I also used a 1/4 inch forstner bit to countersink the screws so that they don't bump into the workpiece.

Once the holes are all drilled - screw the router base onto the bottom of the board, turn the board upside down, mount it to something (I used a black and decker workmate bench), and adjust the height of the router bit until it pokes through the hole.  Voila!

It took almost as long to write this description as it took to make the thing itself.

For any of the more seasoned luthiers/woodworkers out there - this is a temporary router table.  I'm aware that this won't last (particle board warps).  But it got the job done and I didn't have to drop $300 at Rockler.

Anywho!  This particular router bit is larger than the ball bearing on the top - so the ball bearing runs along the work piece and the blade cuts deeper leaving a channel that I can use to install the binding around the neck.

What? Me worry?

As the last several post about binding have proven - I have no idea what I'm doing!  So, we'll see how this goes.  But for now - there is a channel for binding, I have already purchased neck binding, and there's no legal or ethical reason why I can't just bind this sucker at any given moment.

Les Paul Dreamin'

Wow, that went fast!
The last post that I completed for this Les Paul build was almost two years ago.
This is the downside to having too many hobbies.

So, where were we?

I am a patient boy.

The guitar body has been sitting on top of my fridge for all this time (my garage isn't temperature or humidity controlled) so, I didn't want to leave this out there.  The fact that I thought it was only going to be a couple of weeks until I came back to this is neither here nor there.

For good or for ill - we're back.

If you are just joining us I've been working on a 12 string electric guitar for the last few months.  But that one is sitting in my basement while I wait the 2-3 weeks for the nitrocellulose lacquer finish to dry.

The previous five posts for this guitar (from two years ago) were about binding.  Let's be clear: it was about how to fix a bad binding application because even though I'm 44 years old  I still have the patience of a frickin' teenager...

...ahem...

So, in short, the binding took longer than I expected...
...and it didn't come out exactly how I planned.

The thing is - it was really small potatoes compared to the actual problem with this build:  The neck pocket wasn't straight.  I've tried to make a point about how important it is to get this part of the build correct (here and here).  It's kind of a thing...

Funny then ( funny strange not funny ha ha) when I routed the pocket - I thought it was okay. It looked fairly straight.  And that neck pocket was tight! I mean that in the literal and colloquial sense.

Sadly, as I looked closer I found it wasn't quite right.

If you look at the diamond inlay under my thumb in the below picture - it is supposed to be lined up with the purple stripe on the body.

I wait, I wait, I wait, I wait...

You can also see that the neck isn't quite lined up with the laminations either.  In short - the neck pocket is crooked.

...boo...

Now, I know what some of you are saying, "It's really not that bad."  And you're right.  It's not that bad - but it's also not how I want it (as I plan on keeping this one).  And to top it off - did I mention it was a tight fitting joint?  I can't tell you how proud I was of that little bit of craftsmanship right there.

My time is like water down a drain

So it has to be fixed.  How to do it...?

There are a few different ways - the hardest one being to fill the neck pocket with a block of wood (cut to size and glued in place) and re-route the entire pocket completely.  I'm not wild about that option.

The other options I know of are less invasive but they all start with making the current neck pocket bigger so that I can change the angle of the neck.  Those of you playing the Luthier Home Game - I mean the Lateral neck angle. The Vertical neck angle is still fine.

Sitting in the Waiting Room

It's frustrating to have to fix this - but it will bug me if I don't.  Once the neck pocket will accommodate the neck in the correct position you can do one of the following to tighten up the fit:

1. Glue in a shim of wood (or a couple of sheets of wood veneer).
2. Fill the gap (gaps?) with a sawdust and glue mixture.

Sadly, the easier the method - the more visible repair. I'm looking at you sawdust and glue.  So, I think I'm going to go with option number 1 - shim it!
I first need to straighten the pocket and evaluate what comes next.

Sandpaper don't fail me now!

Function is the key

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

So close. But so far away

It has been almost two years since my last post about building guitars. I'm not really sure where all that time went.

You see a guitar body.  I see a 'to do' list.

As you can see, I have two projects that are pretty far along (and another two projects that are just starting out).

I have, in fact worked on these two projects here and there (but not much) in the last two years - I just haven't written about it.

The Les Paul (the darker of the two in the pictures above) needs more work but is the one I've been working on more 'recently.' The 12 string semi-hollow is much older. I started it about 8 years ago but is pretty far along. So, which one to work on?

Shiny!

I'm kind of thinking I'll start with the 12 string. It would be nice to FINISH a project - and that one is closer.

Sorry Les Paul.  Your day will come.
...soon, I hope.

The original blog for this build can be found here: https://jerrys12.blogspot.com/

I'm going to finish the 12 string build on this blog.

Once more into the breach!

Busted Stuff

"Didn't we just leave this party?"

Some days it feels like I'm just doing the same thing over and over...

Mmmmmm...
Doesn't that look healthy?

In order to fill in the gaps of my poor binding job - I had to over-fill those gaps.  So I started out making another round of binding paste using acetone and tiny pieces of binding.

We're all all fine here...
How are you?

This time around I let the acetone evaporate a little more so that the paste was very thick - almost the consistency of spackling paste.  I then made a first pass on the binding - to fill up the spots that went down to the bare wood.  It looks pretty thick - but was actually significantly less than my first attempt.

Things can only get better from here, right?

After a two or three days of letting the acetone evaporate (and the binding harden) I went back for Round 2!  I basically did the same thing again - put another layer of really thick goop on top of what I already laid down in order to build up the binding enough to be able to scrape it flush with the body.

A sad state of affairs when this can be referred to as "progress."

A mess with a purpose...

I then let this sit for another couple of days (okay maybe it was a week - who's counting?) while this layer of goop hardened.

One step forward - two steps back...

Then it was time for Round 3!
Round three was more of the same, really.  Scrape with the card scraper, sand with the sand paper, and try not to mess it up.  There was one addition this time around and it came from Dan Erlewine of course.  Dan is Stewart MacDonald's spokesperson, main tool developer and guitar repairman extrordinaire.  I have to say - I keep coming back to this guy's advice and it's usually on the money.  He suggests using a razor blade to do fine scraping instead of a card scraper.

Um...
That's not half bad...

Boy, did that make a big difference.  I was having a hard time getting the last bits of binding paste smeared on the wood off - trying to use sand paper.  The card scraper was taking too much off and thinning the binding too much.

The Russian Judge gives it a 7.0

One difference (one of many) between Dan and myself: he uses safety razor blades and I use utility razor blades.  I'm sure that at some point I'll do what he does ('cause he's usually pretty spot-on) but I liked the rigidity of the utility blades for scraping and the results were fairly good.  Safety razor blades just seem to flimsy - but my opinion may change with my level of experience.

Perhaps I shouldn't be so negative...

I'm feeling much better about the binding now.  It's still uneven, sloppy looking, and unfinished but it's 1000 times better than it was - so I'm going to leave it alone for now and move on to finishing the headstock and neck pocket.

That'll do...

 Once I get those two squared away we can finally start digging holes in this sucker!

Pictured: All is not lost.

And the mistakes begin - Part 2

It looks like a wad.
...of gum!  It looks like a wad of gum.

When last we looked at the binding process - things weren't going well.  

In fact they looked like the above picture.  It was kind of a mess and needed some TLC.

No Sir.  I don't like it!

So I scraped (and scraped and scraped) away all that excess binding goo until I was left with...

@#*%^!!!

Well, that's not what I intended to do.  In my zest (okay, let's be honest - it was frustration) to finish up the binding I was a tad too aggressive with the scraping and this fresh bit of nonsense happened.

A nice fat chip of binding came out - right down to the bare wood.

I believe the word you are looking for is, "Craptastic."

It was about this time that I took a breather from fixing the binding and moved on to plugging the tuning peg holes in preparation for laminating the headstock.  When I came back to this it was with the knowledge that I had more to do and little idea of how to go about it.

So, I did what seemed most logical - I kept scraping...

So this is what happens when you scrape with a cheese grater

The binding now looked marginally better but more importantly - it was flush to the body.  As you can see the area around that chip is thin.  Like super thin - near paper thin.  I'm going to try and build up this area (and fix all those chips and dents) slowly - in small passes.  Like I should have done in the first place.
But since it is also pretty flush to the wood - I can't build it up too much.

Another challenging aspect of the needed repairs is that the thinnest sections of the binding are no longer glued to the body.  Right near that chip the binding has come away from the wood.  The really thin section on the other side of the horn has come away as well.  I can probably wick some CA glue in there but I don't know if I want to risk getting any on the wood.  That's the one downside of CA (superglue) - it seals the wood so it won't take a finish or stain.  We'll see...
Getting CA glue in there will be easier - but I think binding goo will look better.

My next step is to mix up another batch of binding paste/goo and try to cover some of these mistakes.

Let's all remember kids - the reason I'm in this mess is because I wanted to take the easy way out.
There's something to be said for doing the hard part first.  In my case it's that I would be fixing a mistake that didn't need to be made.