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The bindings on both my builds so far have BWB purfling and I'd like to continue it somehow on the end cap on the neck. As far as I can tell, this is usually done by gluing layers of different colored veneer but I feel like veneer is overpriced. OTOH I see that balsa is cheap and is available at a local hobby shop at thickness as thin as veneer. Has anybody here ever used it for this purpose? Can it be dyed with ink or bleached somehow to appear lighter?

balsa is too soft maple is not that expensive

Rockler sells 3 square feet of plain maple veneer for ten bucks. You may object to paying $3 .33 for a square foot of something that's essentially a thick shaving, but it may help to consider the cost per piece you make.
I don't know the dimensions you make your heel caps, but assuming that 3/4"x1-1/2" is more than enough, 3 square feet would in theory give you 384 pieces, at less than 3 cents apiece.

I see no reason why balsa would not work. It would have limited exposure as a thin line on the side of the cap, and be under a finish, so no problem. Try some dye or stain or bleach on it to see if you can get the color you want

A second thought is that the heel cap is so small that a thin slice off a maple board would be easy to do. And the picture shows a table I recently made that uses white pine slices between the walnut wedges on the legs, as cockbeading on the drawers, and little lines in the pull. The pull has pieces at .010" if I recall. The finish is Bartley's wipe-on satin varnish

Ed

That's beautiful work Ed - I like to see what people are doing beyond guitars.

Re heel cap options - I bought some holly headplate pieces for white contrast strips under an ebony headplate and heel cap because I heard holly was very white and stayed white. I had to sand it thinner. A couple of images further down in this thread: http://www.kitguitarsforum.com/board/vi ... =48&t=8657

I have since ordered some holly binding, and found some variation in how white it is - some of it is slightly grey. I got mine from Timeless Instruments in Saskatchewan but there must be lots of US sources. Bruce W.

Stray

The holly would be a good choice if you are after white white. The only color it will turn is the color that the varnish gives it, so it may be too white to match the maple. We have 41 year old holly inlays in the floor of a sailboat we built and it is still pretty white, with just a hint of orange from the marine varnish. If you are after white white, then the plastic sheets are cheap and effective. ( I guess I don't have the plastic aversion that many have. I really like ivoroid and tortoise bindings, caps. and heads)

I meant to ask at the time, but what is your by-guess-or-by-gosh method of making the diamond volute on the back of the head? Nice work.

Ed

Ed - I will post comments on the volute in that thread so this one does not get hijacked - Bruce.

tippie53 wrote:balsa is too soft maple is not that expensive

Agree, but some balsa is harder then hell, you just have to sort through some if possible to find.

Bruce,