John Whiteside

Bending Wood Bindings

Bending wood bindings are always tricky. The key to a good fit is to have the bindings bent into the shape of the guitar. Since you already bent the guitar sides on the bending form, using it to bend the wood bindings makes it a relatively easy task.

click to enlarge

Here the bending form is used with the heating blankets to bend the wood strips into the shape of the sides. Before putting the maple strips between the heating blankets, mist them lightly with distilled water. The distilled water will prevent minreal stains on the light colored maple.

click to enlarge

As you can see, the maple strips have been wrapped in plastic wrap to protect them from the heating pads. When the heating pads are removed, the maple strips maintain the shape of the giuitar sides.

click to enlarge

Here is a better look at the new maple bindings.

click to enlarge

The binding channels on the guitar are cleaned, levelled and ready for the new bindings. Start gluing them in at one end. Use tape to temporarily keep them in place.

click to enlarge

When the bindings are completely glued in place, wrap the entire guitar with an inner tube to put pressure on the bindings and keep them in place as the glue dries.