Side purfling

[johnnparchem]

The purfling is only .08" wide, basically the same as the thickness of the binding. The height is variable depending on how many lines one wants. generally .04" to .12" Gluing it on first avoid having to space the binding to provide a channel for the purfling.

[Diane Kauffmds]

Can you split the purfling down the middle or something so it's not as tall relative to its width?

I've done that once, but last two guitars I did I just scraped the side purfling to the same depth as the binding which then bends without issue.

That makes sense now. Thanks.

[yellowesty]

On my recent build, I used cocobolo with a 0.020" maple strip (from LMI) as the binding. I used b/w/b wood purfling on the top, but on the side I used 0.060" black fiber as purfling. My fiber strip was originally 0.25" wide (and would never have bent properly), but, after ripping it (carefully) with a band saw to around 0.1" and soaking it in warm water, it bent very nicely. I build using a mold, so I taped the damp fiber to the inside of the mold while it dried. It then needed very little encouragement to fit nicely into the rabbet on the guitar body. I installed it with the ripped edge out; it was smoothed as the binding was scraped after installation. This likely would have worked with wood purfling, but that would have required heat rather than warm water for bending.