purfling

[David L]

On this next guitar (#2) white oak B&S and neck with walnut binding, I plan on using purfling on the sides as well as the top, back, fingerboard, and even the edges of the rosette(s). The sequence is going to be black fiber/ white fiber/ walnut binding. I plan on mitering all of the purfling so it all needs to be the same size (width).The widest fiber purfling that I can find is .020w/.020b (I will be glueing the side purfling to the binding myself prior to bending the bindings). Do you think that the .020w/.020b will be wide enough or should I try and find something wider? .040 hardly seem wide enough to see.

David L

[SKBarbour]

I think that is plenty wide enough (take my opinion for what it s worth , I'm only on my second). Its amazing how much those thin lines pop out once on the guitar. When I was thinking about purfling on mine I went ahead and ordered a couple different sizes just as reference.

[Tony_in_NYC]

David,

That will be thick enough. I use .06 b/w/b most of the time and those lines are very easy to see. You are simply eliminating one of the black lines.
I have .040 b/w/b as well and I used it on the back of the walnut/ cedar dread I am still building. Even that skinny stuff is visible. Not from across the room, but visible nonetheless.
It was suggested to me early on to use black purfling next to the back and sides because the black conceals any tiny gaps you may end up with.
I used w/b/w once. ONCE. It is very tough to get it perfect.
You are mitering the purfling around the tail graft/ end wedge/ end graft/ butt plug, right? It is a good look. Not that hard to pull off either. Do you have Cumpiano's book? He describes the process well. If not, I am more than happy to 'splain how I do it, which is using Coompy's method.
Our new member, Oval soundhole, linked me to a thread at the acoustic guitar forum where Bruce Sexauer installs the end wedge AFTER he purfles the rest of the guitar and he gets sweet miters. Anyway, even though you have been hitting me pretty hard lately, and Dave B too, that bastard, I will still help you if you need it.

Tony

[kencierp]

Good miter technique here:

http://www.hoffmanguitars.com/bindingBODY%202.htm

[deadedith]

You make-a me laugh; I deserved that, though factually it is not accurate..:-)

[Tony_in_NYC]

That is how I learned it from Cumpiano's book. I line up the purfling in the chisel so that the reflected image of the purfling lines up with the channel I want it to go in. I do this on the guitar itself, so you need to be careful not to push too hard when cutting the purfling lines. It also helps to thin the purfling to almost the depth of the channel it will sit in. If you do not, the top of the joint could be perfect, but the pieces could angle away from each other due to a less than perfect cut. As you level the purfling and binding, you could reveal a lousy joint. Not fun. So at the tail wedge, I will scrape the purfling before I install it to make it thinner so it is not as proud.
Once I get the miter nice and tight, I tack the joints together with CA so they can not move. Then I bind as usual.
Actually, on the Koa dread, I was having a hard time getting everything to be nice and tight, so I used the rope method of binding, but dry. Then, once I had everything nice and tight, I wicked in thin CA. I know, I know, CA is not the glue of choice for binding, but in this case, it worked really well. My bindings and purflings are all nice and tight and virtually gap free.

[johnnparchem]

I think the .020w/.020b will be visible and will look great as a side purfling. We really have the ability to see sharp lines. No need for anything thicker.

[David L]

Tony, thanks for the tip on black purfling, I may go to b/w/b instead of just b/w and yes I will acceptall the help you are willing to give, you are such a lovely, thoughtful, selfless, caring, beautiful person. That should make up some of the hard hits I've been giving you. Thanks for the link Ken, I will check it out this evening.

David L