Making the binding and purfling of guitar (front)

20201219
Now to work on the front binding channel side.
I had to figure out how to hold the guitar this way.
So I added a wood tension and clamp down the guitar.
I also fixed the L wooden bracket with dowels.
Now I am ready for the front binding channel.
For this side I go by the hand binding route instead.
I find that it has more control.
Luckily for me I had my own binding cutter as well the LMI gramil.
I set mine as the top cutter and the gramil as the side cutter.
This time round I use my 2m chisel and shave down the sides as I scribed it.
This method works great but abeit slower.
My paring chisel with a square reference (not bevelled) works great in this case too.

Holding down the guitar using some wood spring tension

The butt L-bracket is reinforced with dowels.

Cutting the top part using my binding cutter.

Scraping the side part using LMI gramil

The cut line by the gramil

Chiseling the waste away

Test fitting the channel

Almost end in sight

20201226
Merry Xmas everyone.
Next I began to cut the purfling channels.
This is relatively easy as the cutter can easily scribe the spruce without any issue.
I only need to control the depth not to cut too deeply.
But even if cut all the way thru' it should not be an issue, as my linings are about 10mm wide more than enough to support the top.
To cut the purfling channels accurately, I use my router plane and set the depth and cut in 2 passes.

When the channel is ready, I began to glue the purfling after some test fitting.
For holding the purfling, tape is still the best medium as it can apply the force in a wide area (equals the width of the tape used) After some time the gluing is done.
I did a joint on the purfling, which looks very good.

Test fitting the binding

Close up of the binding channel

Scribing the purfling channel

Cutting the purfling channel using a router plane

Test fitting the purfling

Close up of the purfling channel

Close up of the purfling channel

Gluing the purfling using tape

Spreading the glue in the channel

All done.

Preparing the binding and cutting it to length

Check the fit

20210102
A Happy New Year to all!
I began gluing the front binding after checking all the fit.
I was contemplating whether to do both at the same time or one by one.
If doing one by one, the fitting at the butt end can be made to perfection.
But the rope pressure might damage the purfling.
If doing both at the same time, the fitting could be more tricky to handle.
In addition the rope tying sequence will be affected unless I started at the waist.
In the end I decide to go one by one.
Again by using just rope only I am able to see any gaps and close them before the glue dries.
If surrounded by tapes, I cant see anything...

The next day I did the other side repeating the same procedure.
The purfling was alright luckily.
Anyway the purlfing is a bit proud of the top surface so it can be sanded down easily.

Gluing the front binding.

Close up

Binding on the other side

Close up

20210109
Once the glue dried completely, I took off the ropes and began to scrape the binding flush with with sides and top.
There are some areas which I fill the gaps with saw dust and glue.
The effect came out very good.

After the rope removed

Scraping the sides

Waste from all the scraping..

End graft after sanding and scraping

Front view after sanding and scraping