L-00 Kmg walnut-spruce log and very basic questions thread.

[mike-p]

ok, thanks Ken, I have normal CA, this is what you mean by thin right?

When you say seal the channels you mean shellac in the actual channel where the binding is going to be glued or on the visible sides and top of the guitar adjacent to the binding?

Cheers.

[ken cierp]

To prevent staining the spruce you need to seal the edges entire channel with "lacquer" otherwise CA is sucked into the end grain.

Thin CA is labelled as such.

[mike-p]

hmm, I've just got a 3g tube of SUPER GLUE EXTRA SUPER POWER. Possibly not the best stuff. Damn, wish I'd bought the thin stuff, I thought the thick would be easier to deal with.

Do I need to seal the walnut on the back channel as well?

I just want to be completely clear, the laquer goes IN the binding channel so as to seal the end grain and on the outer edges of the SB. But then I am i not effectively gluing the binding to a thin layer of laquer?

Sorry for the many questions, just want to be sure I'm doing it the right way.

[ken cierp]

No need to seal the Walnut or even the Spruce it you are going to paint it black (is that still the plan?)

If you are concerned about the CA not sticking to the lacquer you better warn Bob Taylor at the factory in CA, because this is the process they use -- if it did not work I'd never make such a recommendation.

[mike-p]

Thanks Ken, my only doubts are in my own understanding!

I do want to paint it black but I question this plan every time I look at the lovely walnut. I chatted to a supplier who has a black gloss which is slightly translucent which might work well but I'm finding it hard to imagine what it will look like, particularly the pale wood in the center of the back. I'm trying to keep everything neat so I can decide when i get to the finishing stage rather than being forced to paint black because the work I've done is messy!

[mike-p]

ok, taped it all on and thought i'd try the glue I had which seems pretty thin. Instead of spotting it all the way around between the pieces of tape I did a test section. Spotted it, let it dry, removed the tape, flooded it and scraped it back.

You can see the section i've done in the picture, I think my routing wasn't the best as the height of the groove doesn't seem to be perfectly uniform and you can see a slight gap under the binding on the right as the shoulder curve begins. Doesn't seem dreadful to me though so I think I'll press on.

I wish I hadn't been so conservative with the routing as the binding is fairly oversize and took a while to scrape down with a razor blade. I've got a cabinet scraper but not too confident about sharpening it.

I'm currently not worrying too much about marks and scratches on the wood from sanding and maybe oily fingermarks as I assume I will be doing a thorough sanding job before finishing, is this the right approach?

cheers all

[ken cierp]

I don't get it?
http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/in ... dings.html
From the instruction pages:

While visiting the C.F. Martin factory I observed the binding techs carefully double and triple checking the depths of all the binding and purfling channels. Even though at their disposal was the most advanced routing equipment, this quality check was unfailingly performed. Irregularities in the channels were leveled with sand paper and files to make the rebates as precise as possible. Make no mistake this procedure is mandatory if we hope to achieve professional results relative to binding and purfling installation.

If your channels are not what they are supposed to be now is the time to correct the problems as indicated by minor sanding or re-routing the channel. You are not going to hide mistakes or flaws moving on too fast to the next step or thinking finshing will make an improvement -- matter of fact the final finish amplifyies appearance flaws. $.02