Purfling Question

[scamp]

John, You’ve asked for idea on videos. What about a video showing you gluing in the binding and purfling?

I put them in together with white glue and it is a pretty hectic/stressful several minutes. I’d love to see how you do it.

John already had a video showing him doing the binding and purfling for a wood binding and mother of pearl install.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v4sfz4apfgU

Take a look.

[MaineGeezer]

In my experience wood purfling that is wider than it is thick is nearly impossible to bend. Heat may help a little...maybe. If you want wood purfling of any width you need to build it up in narrow strips.

Now, some purfling that you might think is wood is in fact not, at least not entirely. For instance, StewMac's herringbone bends quite easily with the application of some heat, but because it's wider than it is thick it will tend to want to roll over.

[John Reid]

Thanks for the link to John's video. Thought I had all his videos in my bookmarks, but I guess I missed this one. I'll take a look. Thanks!!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Yes. Just wipe some shellac on open end grain of the spruce to seal it. All will be well.
When applying the CA it's preferred to use a micro tip, or whip tip on your glue tube or bottle. This will allow to very good control to put out a small amount of CA right where you want it. You want to put enough down to seep into the joint between your side, top and binding but not so much that it runs down inside the guitar. You get a feel for it.
Also any bit of CA can be easily scrape off flush using a razor blade.
With good tight fits you can tape the purfling and binding in together and do it in one shot. If preferred, tape the purfling in separate and spot glue it. Remove the tape and install the bindings and apply the CA to it all.
I put them all in together.
When I do abalone purfling I do use Teflon strips as John suggested in place of the purflings. Tape it up. Apply CA to glue the binging in place. Pull the strips out and install your pearl. The flood with CA. This all works really well.

[scamp]

In my experience wood purfling that is wider than it is thick is nearly impossible to bend. Heat may help a little...maybe. If you want wood purfling of any width you need to build it up in narrow strips.

Now, some purfling that you might think is wood is in fact not, at least not entirely. For instance, StewMac's herringbone bends quite easily with the application of some heat, but because it's wider than it is thick it will tend to want to roll over.

Thanks. I can see how the wide purfling would be problematic with tight bends. With regard to your comment about herringbone and how it tends to roll over when bending it, there is a video you might find interesting about making tight bends with herringbone purfling. It also relates to your comment about building up wide purfling using narrow strips to keep it from braking. Basically, to make tight herringbone curves you cut the herringbone purfling into three strips. Take a look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU7JYMZ9cGY

[scamp]

Yes. Just wipe some shellac on open end grain of the spruce to seal it. All will be well.
When applying the CA it's preferred to use a micro tip, or whip tip on your glue tube or bottle. This will allow to very good control to put out a small amount of CA right where you want it. You want to put enough down to seep into the joint between your side, top and binding but not so much that it runs down inside the guitar. You get a feel for it.
Also any bit of CA can be easily scrape off flush using a razor blade.
With good tight fits you can tape the purfling and binding in together and do it in one shot. If preferred, tape the purfling in separate and spot glue it. Remove the tape and install the bindings and apply the CA to it all.
I put them all in together.
When I do abalone purfling I do use Teflon strips as John suggested in place of the purflings. Tape it up. Apply CA to glue the binging in place. Pull the strips out and install your pearl. The flood with CA. This all works really well.

Great. Thanks. I already have some experience using small amounts of CA glue and micro tips to apply it. In my first build I had some chipping of the ebony fret board which I needed to repair. Used the CA glue with ebony powder to fix it. Worked great.

[scamp]

Scamp
Wood bindings are quite easy to work with as the thickness should be around 70 to 80 thousands and are pretty flexible. Yes you do need a fairly accurate match to your body when bending but even bending them by hand us bot that difficult to achieve.
Personally I have used mostly the fiber purflings when going for that look. These will require no prebending as you fit them into the routed channel.
For this you can use Titebond glue and have a fair amount of work time.
What I switched to doing after about 10 guitars is prefitting the binding and purflings in the channels. Tape them in place and wick in CA glue between the taped areas. Then you remove the tape and glue the rest.
The advantage here is you can make extra efforts for a precise fit, tape them in and then there is no rush in using the CA. THIS compared to spreading titebond and trying to get the binding, purfling and glue in place and taped up as you work your way around the guitar before the glue starts setting up can be frustrating and challenging....especially at first. The CA method is low stress. I'd suggest going that way.
If you use plastic you have to use plastic cement to get proper adhesion.
I hope this helps. If you want more details in the process just ask. There are others here that use CA also.

Hey Kevin

I’m getting close to binding my guitar and I plan on using CA glue like you recommend to reduce my stress etc. I do have one question. When you use CA glue for this application do you use an accelerator? I saw a video on line from Robert O’Brian that used CA glue for bindings. He suggested to use a few drops of accelerator on the joint before applying the CA glue. Interested in your opinion/ experience.

Thanks
Scamp

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Well what I do and has worked very well is tape the binding and purfling if your using it in place. I usually do this at least twice, checking the fit and making any adjustments needed so you can perfect the fit. One it's good, I tape them in secure leaving a bout 1/4" or so between the tape. Then I use a whip tip for better control on the tube of CA and wick in the CA in the no tape areas. Now you want to get it all the way between layers but you don't want flood it all at once as it can run down inside.
I don't use accelerator. Wick in from the top then turn on its side and wick in along the sides. Give it a few minutes, doesn't take long, then remove the tape and wick in all the remaining areas. When dry your done and can scrape flush.
I always dreaded a little the gluing on using titebond as you have work fairly quick and if you dont get the binding pulled in tight some place and you find it later!!!!. This
method you can take all the time you want to get the fit as good as possible....using clamps in the waist or on the ends, and you can get the joints good to before you glue it.
Works best on dark binding I suppose. Also seal the channel with shellac first so the CA doesn't go into the spruce top end grain. The CA can show as a dark line on maple binding butt joints so be aware of that.

You can always put wood glue there when taping and CA the rest.

Try it I think you'll like it.

[scamp]

Thanks Kevin

As always, your expertise and feedback is much appreciated.
I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Scamp