Portland Guitar Co.

( 290 ) 21-May-2011

In this picture I have set up my binding router machine. This tool allows me five degrees of freedom while holding the router parallel to the side of the guitar.

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The router guides are adjusted to cut a channel for each piece of binding.

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To create the full channel I make several passes of the router.

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Here you can see the channels for the binding and purfling on the top of the guitar.

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I start by installing a thin green pin stripe.

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And then next I install the herringbone next to the green pinstripe.

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I install a b/w/b pinstripe on the bottom shelf.

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This is what the assembly looks like before I install the Snakewood binding.

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I install each piece of binding or purfling separately to insure that each piece makes a perfect fit. Here are a few of the tools I use.

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In this picture I am using a small router to cut a channel for the vertical binding that frames the heel of the neck.

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The cut channel.

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And the installed vertical b/w/b pin striping on the cutaway side of the guitar.

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And the installed vertical b/w/b pin striping on the non-cutaway side of the guitar.

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Now I am getting ready to install the Snakewood binding. The first thing I do is cut the shaped binding at the peak of the cutaway .

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I use the bending machine to reshape the cutaway portion of the binding.

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And finally I use the form to complete the shape of the cutaway binding. I will bake this assembly until the binding holds it shape.

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Now I start to install the binding. I start at the peak of the cutaway because this is a critical intersection and I want the joint to be perfect.

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When I get to the tail of the guitar I cut the excess binding off so it ends at the center line.

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Here I am installing binding on the non-cutaway side.

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I cut the piece so that it makes a good tight joint at the tail.

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This is the most difficult section of binding to install. Once again I start at the peak and work my way to the front.

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A little bit of tape helps hold it in place as I install the binding.

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I use a push stick to force the binding into place. I pay special attention to insure that there are no gaps between each piece of binding and purfling.

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The two pieces of binding that will frame the heel of the neck will be installed after the neck is finished. I wait to do this so I can make sure the gap between the neck and the body is even and minimal.

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Now that the binding is installed I use an orbital sander to sand all of the pieces flush. During this process the edge of the top is reduced resulting a looser top.

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The back gets the same treatment as the top.

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I use this drum sander to sand the sides flush.

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And the crook of the cutaway gets special attention with some hand sanding.

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And finally binding gets rolled over to remove its sharp edge.

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A picture of the final result.

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A picture of the final result.

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A picture of the final result.

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A picture of the final result.

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A picture of the final result.