Friday, June 5th, 2015:
Here's the Stew-Mac binding router jig. I have used melamine board for both the router base platform and the guitar carriage, because the melamine will help it to all slide smoothly on the base as I pass the guitar carriage under the router jig.
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We have decided to use wood bindings, instead of the plastic bindings supplied with the kits.
Yesterday I tried hand-bending (on an electric bending iron) various wood strips I had on hand (bloodwood, curly koa, ebony), and, while I could do it, I thought it might be a little too difficult and frustrating for Randall, a first-time builder. The bloodwood bindings, which he preferred, are prone to cracking more easily when you are hand-bending them.
I had not had a side bending form built, as the kits had come with the sides already bent, and so had not planned to make a side bending form just for the binding. However, today I changed my mind, and I was able to adapt the cut-off wood from building my mold, to become a side-bending form. I only needed to make it a little bit smaller. to account for the thickness of the various side-bending materials (spring steel slat, Kraft paper, aluminum foil, and the wood sides), and cut certain sections (the waist and ends) a bit deeper, to allow for springback of the wood. I also needed to add a couple of wood strips at the bottom, so that the form would be high enough in the side bender for the waist caul to reach the waist.
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I also made a waist caul for use with the bending macine, to fit this particular guitar's waist area.
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Here is the bending form I made today. I have glued 7/16" wood dowels into the perimeter of the form. I have placed the waist caul on top of the form, so you can see how it fits.
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Here is how the bending form will be placed into the side bending machine.
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Tomorrow (Saturday) I will try bending the binding for my guitar.
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