Bending Wood Bindings: an alternative approach

[JP Laplante]

Hi All, for years I've used plastic bindings for my guitars. However, when I started building archtops, it became quite clear that, because of the typical higher cost of these instruments, potential buyers were often expecting wood bindings. I must admit that it took me some time to get somewhat confortable with bending these fragile pieces. Still I was often frustrated at my attempts to get a really tight fit all around the guitar, especially in the case of cutaway instruments.

Then, one day, a customer insisted on getting ebony bindings for his instrument. That was the beginning of my experiments to come up with a better technique as ebony bindings are notoriously hard to bend and, as you sure appreciate, a pretty expensive way of generating scraps.

So what I'd like to do here is to present that technique and get your comments. As I mention in the video, even though I introduce that as "An alternative method", it's probably more a copy and paste of various tricks that others have suggested in the past. Anyway, I'd appreciate your thoughts and comments.

P.S. Boy am I not photogenic!

Edited: link fixed

[johnnparchem]

Well that is pretty cool. The wood sure looked pretty bendable when you bent it.

[Gary Gill]

Thanks for sharing.

[Diane Kauffmds]

Hi,

What is your concentration of household ammonia?

[JP Laplante]

This is the stuff that sells in Canada as "Household Ammonia". No idea of what the concentration is but it's not very strong. It smells but that's about it! No specific warnings about hazmats etc... So pretty safe.

[tippie53]

ammonia has been used for many years as an agent to help bend wood. Never thought of using it. Thanks again for posting

[Diane Kauffmds]

This is the stuff that sells in Canada as "Household Ammonia". No idea of what the concentration is but it's not very strong. It smells but that's about it! No specific warnings about hazmats etc... So pretty safe.

Thank you. I wanted to make sure that you didn't dilute it before using it.