A pair

[B. Howard]

Next I will glue on my head plate veneers. To do this I need to prep my nut blanks. My nut will sit on the flat portion of the shaft in a small trough formed by the end of the FB and the end of the veneer. The veneers are cut at 15 degrees on the end to facilitate this. I clamp my FB in place and position my trued and dimensioned nut blank at the end and then slide my veneer up tight to the nut. This is glued and a caul used over the veneer and clamped in place. After the veneer is clamped the nut and FB are removed.

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Meanwhile back at the ranch.........the boxes are closed. I need to bend my bindings. Normally I would do this when I did the sides but there was a chance one of these two was going to become a commission and the bindings upgraded. The time has come and it needs done so with no deposit I will continue to build on spec and that means Maple bindings on these guitars. As with lots of things when I make I make in quantity so I simply pull the bindings from stock and prepare to bend.First I tape together the four pieces for each guitar side by side with some thin masking tape.

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These are then wrapped up in a baking product, it is parchment paper on one side and aluminum foil on the other.

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[B. Howard]

Before I close up the wrapping I lightly sponge both sides of my bindings with water. Depending on the wood I may use more water but I always at least moisten the surfaces. The steam seems to help them bend quicker and keep the danger of scorching to a minimum. I also find that a few pieces of masking tape to hold the paper together helps a lot when wrapping them up.

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Once the wrap is closed we hit the pipe. I do not use a backing slat when I do this, the paper seems to be enough, as long as it is wrapped tightly. They are bent to the needed profiles.

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Once unwrapped my Maple bindings are pristine, no scorching or burn marks anywhere and I am a happy guy.

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[johnnparchem]

Thanks Brian,

This is a great blog, I have already decided to modify the my build sequence based on your blog. Routing for the inlay before the fret board radius and drilling the position markers before gluing the fret board on seem obvious now that I see it done. I use a solera when I make a classical guitar it is cool to see one use making a SS.

[CavalierKingCharles]

Looking great Brian,

I like that parchment foil combo, do you know if it contains any silicone.
I'm looking for silicone free parchment but I'm not having any luck.

SA

[B. Howard]

Thanks Brian,

This is a great blog, I have already decided to modify the my build sequence based on your blog. Routing for the inlay before the fret board radius and drilling the position markers before gluing the fret board on seem obvious now that I see it done. I use a solera when I make a classical guitar it is cool to see one use making a SS.

I see no reason a solera could not be used. While it is nontraditional, a guitar is a guitar basically. I use a cork shim to build on and some very simple cork lined cauls cut at certain radii. As for the inlay pockets, if you do use a router set up of some sort to radius your boards you run a good risk of tear out around the pockets unless you employ a strategy to minimize it. This is not a problem in my case using a well tuned plane.

[B. Howard]

Looking great Brian,

I like that parchment foil combo, do you know if it contains any silicone.
I'm looking for silicone free parchment but I'm not having any luck.

SA

As far as I know the answer is no. Yet it does say non-stick doesn't it? I have used it for a while now and have had no problems with glue or finish adhesion, at least when used the way I use it.

[CavalierKingCharles]

Looking great Brian,

I like that parchment foil combo, do you know if it contains any silicone.
I'm looking for silicone free parchment but I'm not having any luck.

SA

As far as I know the answer is no. Yet it does say non-stick doesn't it? I have used it for a while now and have had no problems with glue or finish adhesion, at least when used the way I use it.

Thanks Brian, I'm going to give it a try when I bend the binding.
I've seen your finish work and if it works for you I'm very confident.

SA

[B. Howard]

Now I trim off whatever is left of the top and back that overhangs the sides. This is handled by my trim router and a bearing piloted flush trim bit. The sides are then scraped with my largest card scraper to smooth them out and remove any small ripples left from bending.

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Next up is cutting of the binding and purfling channels. I do this with a set up that I made that is much the same as many I see for sale. I mount my trim router on a tower that rides on drawer slides and the body is held in a cradle.

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This operation is carried out as a series of cuts rather than one continuous cut around the perimeter. I work in a manner to minimize the potential for tear out and splitting of the plates. This means that some of the cuts are "climbing" cuts or that they are done with a feed direction that is counter to what one would normally use. Be careful here and hang on to the body as the router will want to yank it from your hands and throw it across the room on these cuts, but the grain will appreciate it.

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[B. Howard]

Next I will cut in my end grafts. I do this basically like it was an inlay as mine are not straight but an elliptical section. these are glued in and the ends can be easily trimmed back to the binding ledges I just cut.

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We are almost ready to start the binding process. First I inspect all the channels to see that they are of the proper dimensions. I also need to carefully sand away all the fuzzies left from cutting the channels with a router. Here is one of the spots I am looking for.

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This is fixed with a chisel and a sanding block. the fuzzies are carefully removed with some 180 grit paper both from the channel and from the top as needed. here is that same spot ready for binding.

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[B. Howard]

When I am checking the channels I am using samples of the actual material I plan to use. Notice I am leaving about .002" for glue.

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To make things easier I tape my 4 pieces of purfling together. This keeps them from getting twisted up when I start gluing them.

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Now I need to prepare for the operation. As with all other things, the time to get the clamps and cauls ready is before you spread the glue. So I start by getting my tape ready. I use packing tape because I can see through it to judge how tight my work is and it is strong enough for the job. so I start cutting pieces of tape and lining them up on the edge of my bench. I will need to reload at about the waist but if i put them all out they wind up being out of reach.

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