FB Binding & Purfling

[Bob Matthews]

When I make a fret board (and I always bind them) I do it completely seperate from the neck - fretboard first.
I know the width I want the fretboard at the nut and at the 12th fret (12th fret width = saddle spacing) say 45mm and 55mm, I know the thickness of the binding I'm going to use, say 2mm. So I draw two lines on my fretboard from a centre line at 41mm at the nut and 51mm at the 12th fret, cut outside the lines and then hand plane on a shooting board until I have the perfect dimensions I need, this allows for the board to come back to the correct dimensions once the binding is attached and the frets only need just over 2mm nipped from the tang on each side.
If using purflings, I would rout the tapered board for the purflings before binding goes on and then cut the fret slots thro the purflings so as to keep as much fret tang as possible. Hope this makes sense. Good luck.

Bob

[Dave Bagwill]

Good description Bob. Is the binding on the fb a playable surface? In other words, is somone is comfortabld with a 1.75" fb at the nut, would you add the binding to that, or reduce the 1.75" and then add the binding?

[David L]

Thanks Bob, I never thought to cut the fret slots through the purfling.

David L