Sen's Guitar Making Blog: Making the jigs for binding cutting

2020-10-31

Making the jigs for binding cutting

20200911
All along I am using the default trimmer router base for routing the binding channel.
It works well to certain extend, the only problem is that the binding channel reference is always to the top or back of guitar.
For the back where the curvature or doming is quite pronounced, the binding channel will be skewed.
So this time round I decide to make a jig that allows the binding channel to be routed with reference to the sides instead.
Most binding jig out there is based on this principle of referencing the sides instead of the top.

So I began to make the jig it actually quite a simple design, it acts like the router holder but with a longer guide so that it can reference the sides better.
Basically it acts like a marking gauge.
So I make the base and the guide rail separately and the way to secure them togehter is very similar to my circle cutter jig.

Making the guide

Checking the squareness

The binding jig

20201031
Next I need to make the holder for the guitar.
Normally, I just put it inside the solera with the side mould.
But in this case, because of the longer reference sides needed, the side mould cannot be used.
So I decide to modify one of my previous solera to be able to clamp down the body while exposing most of the sides for the binding cutting.
However, the solera has some warping so I added some wood members to correct the geometry accordingly.
Also I added a special way of clamping the body down.
As there is no neck attached, the clamping has to be a bit special.

I also drilled the dowels for rope tying for the binding.
I created a structure too to allow me to work on 1/2 the side of the guitar independently.
But this will make it more restrictive during the binding stage.