Tips

[Dave Bagwill]

Thanks Carl - that looks good and solid. I may take a run at it. I'll check for those plans.

Just checked them out. My metal working skills and tooling are non-existent though, I might look around for someone willing to do the work.

[Carl Dickinson]

All the 80/20 parts shouldn't need any machining. The 4"aluminum angle can be cut and drilled with woodworking tools. The donut could be made of hardwood turned on a lathe or drill press (I used a block of some kind of plastic). If you can build a guitar you can easily build it I'm sure.

Carl

[Dave Bagwill]

That is encouraging, thanks. Going to the redwoods for a few days camping, but this looks like a great rainy-day project in a month or so.

[dave d]

Looks like a great plan; thanks for the tip!

[Kevin in California]

Dave, I have a moment and will chime in.
What I have found is that even using my tower binding channel cutting machine with a new bit, my channel still has inconsistencies that will affect how my binding fits.

I make sure to do two things now after my channels are cut before I attempt to glue the bindings in place.
First, I will closely inspect the channels, and use a file and those finger nail files and go around and make sure the channel is flat and square all the way around removing any little tears, etc. This also includes the channel for the purflings. You probably already do this!!!!
Then I'll take the bent bindings and on the inside bottom edge I will slightly take the square corner off so that the binding has a better chance of seating fully against the back of the channel.
What I've done on the last 3 or 4 guitars is done a dry fit first....taping tightly all the binding and purflings in place just as I would when I add glue, and inspect the fit, marking any place where there are gaps, then I remove it all and work on those areas again with the file blending in high and low areas. This usually takes so little, but really makes a difference to see how it fits before gluing it all in.

Hope your camping trip was fun!!!

Kevin

[Dave Bagwill]

Thanks Kevin, it was a good time. No internet, no phone, no politics - in other words a balm for the soul and I recommend it to all.

As for the binding - I do those things, plus use CA to get an instant bond, and have very little difficulty. I do have trouble with students' efforts occasionally and I think it's due to an accumulation of small things throughout the build, and in addition to your recommendations I need to be even pickier along the build process.

[John Parchem]

great tips! I still struggle and most of my improvement in skill has been fixing the binding post gluing.