Binding Banding

[sbrown4292]

Does anybody have a sense of what's best for binding banding? I know some use twill tape, some use rubberbands. LMI has a 50'x7/8" rubber band, StewMac has large rubberbanda that are 1/4" wide. I can't decide if static is better than stretchy. Anybody?
Steve

[Winston_S]

Well, for what its worth as I've only built one guitar so far. I used simple painters tape and it worked quite well for me. Also quite easy to remove, say versus masking tape.

[Jim_H]

I just use the brown binding tape. Although my last guitar I had to supplement with clamps because of some ornery binding. I have a large roll of twill tape, but I've never tried to use it.

[tippie53]

I have been using the green 3M tape from Uline. There is a little stretch to it and it comes up fairly easy. I think anything that does the job for your technique will work. This is something you can dry fit to see what works best before you glue up.
I had seen a binding clamp made but it looks impractical for real use. It didn't give you access to the sides to see if you had a good tight fit on the sides. One hint is to think down and In as you tape up.

[Darryl Young]

I also used the green 3M painters tape. I got it at a car parts store that carries paining supplies. I think I got mine from O'Rielly but any NAPA store should have it as well (and probably a lot of other car parts stores).

Edit to add that I sprayed the top with shellac before binding so the tape came up easily.

[Jim_H]

I little tip that Rick Davis likes to share.

When removing tape of any kind from a top (spruce, cedar, redwood, etc...), if you heat the tape up with a heat gun a little, it will soften the adhesive and you are a lot less likely to pull up fibers!