Binding the Guitar

So it is about that time to start one of the most beautiful and enjoyable experiences of building a guitar. That is binding the guitar. Binding is used as both an aesthetic piece of the guitar and also to help strengthen the joints of the box. Lastly, it is used to make sure that no gaps between the guitar top/back and sides are visible. For this guitar I have decided to use Indian rosewood, similar to the back strip, and the butt strip. 

The first thing that we needed to do was to route out the binding ledge. This is done with a bushing on the router bit to make sure that the cut is perfect for the entire spot. The picture to the left shows an in-action photo of the binding ledge being cut for the top. We additionally have to cut a ledge for the purfling. This is usually strips of wood that will be added to the top or the back of the guitar that help to offset the binding from the top. For this guitar, I am using fine herringbone, which was used on the Martin guitar that I am following, and also on my original classical guitar that I built. You will see pictures below of the purfling. 

Once the ledges have been cut, it is ready to start fitting getting the binding set to be fit into the ledges. First we have to go back to the bending iron. This is done so that the rosewood does not break as we force it into the ledges. The one lucky thing is that rosewood is very easy to bend. Therefore, this was an easy task. When I was building my classical, I used ebony, which can be very brittle. We had a few cracks that were kind of a major problem later on in the build. But this did not happen during this build.

Once bent, it was time to begin forming the binding to the sides. This consisted of double checking to make sure the bends were in the correct place. Additionally, it was important that we were able to miter the edges of the binding to the butt strip and the back strip.

 To the left, you can see one of the many phase of fitting the binding. We used masking tape to keep the waist in place. This is a relatively time consuming process because you have to be very much a stickler to make sure everything is perfect.


Since the herringbone is a relatively thick strip, we had to make sure that it wouldn't crack when we placed it in the ledge. Therefore, we had to "bend" it by wetting it down and taping it into a form.

Once bent, I first began by gluing in the herringbone. After letting that set up, it was time to glue up the actual rosewood to the guitar. This is done one side at a time.


To the right, you can see the final product of the glue up. We made sure that the binding and and the purfling were a little proud of the top. This was done to make sure that we could clean everything up with out burning through the top of the guitar.

I next began working on the back. Again, I worked a great deal to make sure that the binding was perfectly fitting on the ledge. For the back, we added one piece of white laminate to offset the binding and the Koa.

Therefore, we glued in this piece first, once it fit perfectly. After letting that set up, we glued up the back binding.

To the right, you can see the final product again. It looks kind of strange with all the tape, but once it is cleaned up, it will look great.

Once everything was all set and the glue was all dried up. It was time to take down the binding on both the sides and the top and the back. This was done using scrapers, hand planes and sand paper. It is relatively quick work. But you have to be careful, because you can burn through the binding very quickly.

The below pictures are some that I snapped once everything was all finished.

The picture to the right and left and the first one below, show the top with a little bit of naptha on it. We just wanted to see how the guitar would look once finished. As you can tell, it looks pretty darn good. The one good thing that we had were no gaps, which tends to happen during the binding process.

 The picture to the left just has a detail picture of the meeting place of the bindings. You can see that the herringbone perfectly meets in the center.

On the right, you can see the back of the guitar, with a very nice miter into the back strip.

Lastly, below, we have the top in how it looks right now (before finishing)

 Next we will be working on the fingerboard and the neck. I will get back to you in the next few days. Enjoy!

Building the Box

 One thing that needed to be done was to glue up a bridge plate. This is a piece of rosewood that will be directly under the bridge. This helps to ad stability to the top and help to keep the load of approximately 120 lbs of force from the strings, without the top caving in. The picture to the right shows what Dan and I liked to call our "ghetto" glue up, because we had to add a few shims in place to keep the joint perfect.

So, the sides are all set, the back is all set and the top/neck is all set. It is now time to start putting the whole thing together. There are numerous ways in which to create the sound box of the guitar. One such way is to just clamp everything together with some glue and you have it. Though it is quick and easy, it is very stressful and also can become very difficult. One way that this glue up has been done in the past is by using something called a tantellone. This is basically a small piece of wood that acts as a shelf between the top and the side of the guitar. each piece of wood is glued individually so that the joint is very strong with no added pressure on the joint. We use something called hide glue. This glue is made from animal hide and needs to be heated up so that it is liquid. When the glue cools, it will begin to tack up. Typically this takes just a minute or two.

This is a way that many luthiers have glued the top to the sides. But it is very time consuming. Every tantellone needs to be held in place for about 45 seconds so that it doesn't drift and so that it is in the correct place. Using some good old fashioned wood glue, I glue up the butt-block (a piece of mahogany that is the point where the two sides meet). I then glue in one side to the neck block and then to the butt-block. I let this sit for a few minutes just to tack up. Using some additional clamps, I was able to keep the sides in the perfect position and then I begin the tatelloning phase.

 This process took around 90 minutes per side because there were so many tatellones to be placed. In the picture above, you can see how each piece has been placed. I fist put pieces on the braces, and then just surrounding the braces. Then each other tantellone was put on in kind of a random order. The picture to the right shows the second side being glued up and tacking up so that the tantelloning can begin on that side. I completed this entire process in one day and to be honest with you, it was a very long one. For both my uke and the classical guitar, I completed this as well, and honestly I do have to say I enjoy the process. It is a very soothing job as you don't really have to think while doing it (not many people like this type of thing).

So I continue this process, which took somewhere near 3 hours to complete and finally the top and the sides are all glued up. We let this sit over night so that the glue will completely harden - even though it did so while I was completing the tanelloning phase.

The next day, the excess wood from the top was then cut off and I was ready to get the back put on. What I did first, was just double check that all the excess glue was not visible and tried to clean up the top, back and sides as best as I could. Just so it wouldn't be visible through the soundhole.

The back is glued up by using the kerfing that I had already installed on the sides. I first needed to make sure the sides were completely perfect, by flattening them out and making sure the sides were identical in width. Once this was set, it was time to notch out the sides so that I could clip in the back in the perfect place. This was completed with a small saw and a 1/8 inch chisel. To the right, you can see a detailed view of the notch that was taken out. Since there are three braces, this had to be done six times. Once all were completed, we could now see if everything was all set and ready to be glued.

The picture to the left was taken right after final fit up. To make sure that everything was perfect, a few files were used to make sure the back would be flush to the sides.

One last double check of everything, and we were all set to glue up the back to the rest of the guitar.

However, there was one final thing to be done to the inside of the guitar. You have to make sure that you mark your guitar so that everyone knows who produced it. You can see in the picture to the right my signature that I put on the top of the guitar just prior to gluing up. Hopefully, no one will ever see this again as we hope the guitar will stay in tack for the long term. 

Finally, it was time to just do a mock glue up (meaning there was no glue used whatsoever). You can see the spool clamps that were used to put an even amount of pressure down on the back to make sure the back glued up correctly.

 Once we realized that it was all set, some glue was applied to the kerfing and then we clamped everything up. There was a little squeeze out, which is a very good thing. This means that there was some glue that was pressed out of the joint. This usually means that you have a good joint and glue was applied to all points of contact. This was then let to sit again overnight, so the glue could really tack up. The excess wood from the back was then removed and we had the sound box all set and ready to go.

Now it is on to doing one of the things that luthiers do to add some flash to the guitar. Binding is placed in all the locations where a joint is visible on the sound box. I first started by routing out a channel for the butt-strip. This is the joint where the two sides meet. For this guitar I am using a lot of Indian Rosewood appointments with some white laminate to offset it from the Koa wood.

To route the channel. a piece of plywood was double-stick taped to the butt of the guitar and a 1/4 in router bit cut the channel so that the remaining piece of the back strip could be used.

A small bead of glue was then applied in the channel and the strip of rosewood was then pressed in.

In the picture to the right, you can see the glued in strip with a little bit of squeeze out. This will all be flushed down to the sides once the glue is all dry. The next thing to do will be to work on the actual binding of the guitar and to start work on the fingerboard. This will come in the next week or so as I will not be able to make it into the mill until after the Easter holiday.  But for now, you can just picture the guitar with that rosewood applied to the edges of the entire sound box.

Bending the Sides

Now it is on to the sides of the guitar. The sides that I purchased are also Koa. And the best part about these sides are that they actually out of the same board as the top and back so they match perfectly.

The first thing that was done was to thickness them. They are at approximately 2.5 mm thick but will be a little thinner once we complete final sanding.

What we do next is to start the bending process. This is accomplished one side at a time. First, I had to determine the "show" side of the sides and then determine what would be the butt of the guitar (the point opposite of the neck). Then we get them prepared for bending. Bending is accomplished through the use of a very nice (albeit expensive) jig.

This is accomplished through the use of heat and steam. The sides are sprayed down with water and then placed in aluminum foil (I didn't catch any pictures of this process, but I don't think it was all that necessary). Then we set up the bending machine. The bending machine has two pieces of metal alloy that cover both sides of the guitar, and a heating blanket that can "cook" the wood to approximately 500 degrees Fahrenheit. It also has a few different clamps that can be seen in the picture to the right at the waist and at both of the ends of the guitar.

The funny thing about the sides that I purchased was that there was no extra wood with it. We had one shot to make this perfect as we didn't want make any mistakes and make the need for purchasing any other sides.

After about 20 minutes of cooking the wood and another 20 or so minutes of the sides sitting in the forms, the sides are all ready to come out.

When they came out of the foil, we saw a little greenish glow to them (pictured left). This is due to the oils in the wood that have been steamed out. Not to worry, this color will disappear after sanding a bit.

Additionally, there was some spring back when the sides came out, meaning that I will have to hand bend the sides the rest of the way using a bending iron - but we will get to that.

Just to get a look at how the sides will appear when finished, you can see a picture of the sides will a little Naptha on it (the back is also shown in the lower left hand corner). You can see that there is a lot of figure in the wood still and the back and sides will definitely match when all is said and done.

Finally, after both sides have been bent, I use some spring clamps and a piece of masking tape to hold them in place over night. This is done because the sides could be slightly wet still and we don't want to worry about any more spring back.

After the sides sit overnight as pictured left, they are ready for some final bending. and getting them ready for kerfing.

In the picture on the right, you can see the rounded bending iron. This metal piece heats the wood again so that we can bend the sides to the right dimensions. The sides are soaked again with water and then placed on the iron with some pressure around the area that needs to be bent. For this guitar, the waist had some spring back, so that was my first goal. Then, each the upper and lower bout is just given a once over so that they are perfect.

The sides are then placed in negative forms so that they will be in the exact right position. Clamps are then placed at the upper and lower bout, and also at the ends of the sides. Some sand paper is used to clean up the greenish color of the wood.

It is now time to get the kerfing set up. Kerfing is the wood that is glued between the back or top and the sides of the guitar. For this guitar, I am using spruce triangles, but there are many different types of kerfing that can be used.

The kerfing is slotted so that the wood can be wrapped around the inside of the guitar. Glue is applied to the kerfing and then is clamped down using spring clamps. As you can see a lot of spring clamps are used in this process in order to keep the the pressure consistent throughout.

When the glue is dried, the sides are strengthened so much that there is limited spring back when released from the forms.

After about an hour, the spring clamps are taken off the kerfing. The sides will sit overnight in the forms so that the glue can dry.

The next course of action will be to glue the sides to the top and neck by a process called tantalloning. This process will be showed in the next week or so. Enjoy!

Continuing on the Back

Now it is time to brace the back of the guitar. This is mainly done to strengthen the very thin wood. For the parlor guitar, I will be using three different braces. Many guitars have four. However, since this guitar is extremely small, it is only necessary to use three.

First, I built the braces and flattened them out. This wood was from the same stock as the neck and was spindle sanded down to make the scallops. Additionally, the base of the braces were flattened on the granite block (with a piece of sand paper).

The process of gluing up the braces is very similar to that of the top. However, since these braces will be visible through the sound hole, I decided put on some tape to limit the amount of excess glue that gets on the back.

Once everything was all set, Titebond was applied to the surface of the braces and then placed in the correct area of the back. It was then placed in the Go-deck and the rods were place about an half an inch apart. These braces were left in the deck for about an hour.

Next, it was time to make the center reinforcement strip. This strip is used in order to strengthen the glue joint between the two book-matched sides.

As before, some masking tape was used in order to limit them amount glue on the wood that will be visible.

Again, the Go-deck was used in order to put the correct amount of pressure on the braces. In the picture to the left, you can see a few different things. First, you can see that the braces have been shaved down in order to reduce the amount of wood that is on them. Additionally, each piece of the back strip, you can see has been numbered in order to make sure that I do not mess up the placement of the pieces.

Again after another hour or so, the back is pretty much all set and ready to go. The only thing that needs to be done is some final sanding. That will be accomplished prior to the glue up of the back to the sides. That will come a little later.

As you may notice, the back is much simpler when compared to the top. Next on the docket will be bending the sides.

Working on the Headstock

Next, I began working on the headstock. For this guitar, I choose to use a slotted headstock as it looks a bit different than most guitars and it is more of the classic style of a parlor guitar.

The first thing I did was determine the size of the bushings for the Gotoh tuners that I purchased. Additionally, I had to determine the depth of the cut that we had to make. This was done in order to make sure that there were no excess holes in the slots.

After doing all the math, it was time to make the cuts. It is definitely a kind of stressful time, as you have one shot to make it work. However, all that work, I successfully was able to make the cuts perfectly. On the picture to the left, you can see the pencil marks that I used to determine the placement of the drill press. Additionally, you can see one of the tuners that has been placed to make sure that they will fit perfectly (and they did!)

So it is at this time that we start to make the slots in the headstock. To do this, I first determine the height and length of the slots and then use the drill press again to cut out as much of the waste as possible.

Using the drill press is just a quick way to get out the waste. It could be done all by chisels, rasps, and files. But this made my life a heck of a lot easier.

Then I began the long process of getting rid of the rest of the excess wood. You can see in the picture to the left that I placed the headstock in the vice so that the lowest point of the drill cuts. I the used a 1/4" chisel to continue to cut the excess out. This was a relatively time consuming process but once it was complete, you can see some great looking slots for a slotted headstock.

There was one issue, I had decided that I did not want to have the slots be rounded over at the top and the bottom. Therefore, I had to continue to chisel out the slot in order to make it flat.

This was completed using a 3/8" chisel and some brute force. Basically, I would make small cuts in to the wood and then knock them out. It took some time but finally the four rounded humps were flat.

Lastly, I had to file the slots so that each side was completely flat. The picture to the left shows the finished product to this point.

There was one last thing that needed to be done was to make the ramps in the slots. The reason that you must have these are to let the strings be unimpeded when they are tight. This was accomplished through the use of yet another chisel and files.

By the time that this process was complete, a nice white line was able to be seen at the bottom of the slot which really made the slots pop (or at least in my eyes - see for yourself). Finally after a long process, the neck and the headstock are set to be glued up to the top of the guitar.

First, a small notch had to be cut out of the heel in the neck. This is to make it so the top and the neck were flush. Then, I had to make sure the top and the neck lined up perfectly. This is a rather stressful glue-up because if you mess this one up, the neck will have an angle which will cause issues with intonation.

To do this, center lines are drawn on each surface so that we can really line them up. Also, a piece of flat MDF has a line drawn on it so that we have a way to set everything up. Glue is then applied to both the neck and the inside of the top of the guitar.

Then the neck is placed on the top and lined up perfectly. After about five minutes of holding the neck and top in place, a large granite block is placed on the heel of the guitar to apply pressure. Then it is a waiting game. After a few hours the glue is all dried and I can finally see what I have accomplished.

Take a look at the picture on the right. You can see that the top and neck are completely straight and there is no angle. Though stressful, another perfect glue up.