plastic binding popping

[Gerry]

I'm using plastic binding that came with the Martin kit I bought. I glued them on with Duco cement and had some initial pops that I reglued. Now I'm finishing the french polish I have two new spots where the binding has popped away from the body. I've been working in front of a sunny window and am afraid that the sunlight heated the bindings and caused them to expand. I need to fix the pops but I'm also afraid that in warmer weather the entire plastic binding will come loose.
Has anyone run into this problem before? What might I have done wrong that lead to this problem? Any suggestions on a fix? At this point, I'm ready to order some wood bindings and replace the plastic.

Thanks for any suggestions,
Gerry

[tippie53]

how did you apply the glue and tape? In my early guitars I learned that you need to apply a good bit of duco and tape it well.
super glue will help you.
jh

[Gerry]

I simply squeezed the cement into the notch and then taped it down with masking tape. I was pretty generous with the cement and remember having to clean off a good bit as I went along. I think pressure from the tape was pretty good.
I was afraid to use CA because of problems with staining. It this isn't a concern I could easily flow some into the gap and tape the loose sections again. Or would I be better to remove all of the binding, seal the notch and then re-glue with CA?

[tippie53]

did you wipe the binding off first ?

Just wicking in ca and taping will work

[Gerry]

I only wiped it with a clean rag.
How much problem might I have lifting the binding and re-applying. Should I wipe it with a solvent before re-applying?

[tippie53]

that may work is the binding white or Ivroid ?
A wipe off with acetone and a rub with 220 sandpaper will do wonders

[Gerry]

Thanks, John. Black binding. I'll let you know how things go.

[Gerry]

The binding came off with no problem at all. In fact it come off much too easily, confirming the fact that it never would have stayed in place. The acetone made all of the difference in the world and I'm fairly confident that now the binding should stay in place.
The only problem I had was that the masking tape left some marks on the finish. I removed the glue residue by gently wiping with alcohol. Still there were cloudy marks from the tape in the finish which I had to sand out.
The good news is that now I am back on course.
Thanks again for the tip.

[David L]

Whenever I tape binding I use either blue painter's tape or even better the green stuff, it sticks pretty good plus you can stretch it for extra pressure. It leaves no residue and also won't damage any finish. I always use the top quality 3M brand and not the cheap generic brand, it is a little more costly but when building a guitar the price difference is negligible!

David L

[Gerry]

David,
I took your advice and used 3M blue tape for delicate surfaces. This tape did not leave any residue that I could see but it did slightly lighten the finish enough that I will need to do a bit of sanding and apply another coat or two of shellac.
Since you and I assume others have used this without a problem I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong. I did leave the tape on for about 24 hours. Was this too long? The shellac was only applied a couple of weeks ago. Should I have let it cure longer?
It really won't take long to touch up the finish and I don't consider it a big deal on the other hand, if possible, I'd like to avoid this in the future. So, if anyone has any ideas what I'm doing wrong I'd appreciate the help.

Gerry