Binding End Splice: What Now?

sequoia

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OK. I'll admit this is probably a trivial question, but I did an end splice on my binding today that really didn't work out. When I showed it to some friends they all said that it wasn't a big deal. Well it is a big deal to me. Call me anal retentive, but I don't like it and I'm not sure what I'm gonna do.

If I had done it right the first time (perfect tight joint) I wouldn't be here, but now I'm playing catch up. My question: How do I bridge that white gap in the bwb? The black joints and the maple I can handle, but the white has me baffled... Anyway, I will probably figure it out. Amateur lesson #130: Do it right the first time and don't leave yourself with these sorts of problem gaps. Don't think: I'll deal with it later.

Also I admit the design makes no sense, but it was done with materials on hand.
 

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Some creative options are:
1- Put a mother of pearl or wood (etc) triangle in there.
2- Cut some sort of simple inlay shape and cover up the gap.
3- A 1" length of bwb that goes almost to the top of the binding and into the end graft.
 
Thanks Beau for your creative input being the master of the end splice. Suggestions 1 and 3 are probably way over my head and things could get ugly. Don't want to go there. I'm going for number 2 and just jam a splinter of white into the gap, fill the maple and black gaps and then use a sharpie to continue the black line. We shall see.
 
Nice ideas Beau. How about carefully drilling a hole where the gap is and inserting a MOP dot? You could do it top and bottom so it looks symmetrical. Couldn't get much simpler
Miguel
 
If there is little or no glue in the gap, I would first try a wedge of the b/w/b purfling in the gap, and super glue it in. If you still don't like what you see, try cutting out a larger section of the purfling and splicing in a new section of purfling. This won't be easy, and you will likely have a slight miter line, but to my mind that is better than the gap you now have. And if this turns out not to your satisfaction, add an inlay as suggested above. Otherwise you are left with routing off the binding and purfling and starting over.
 
Or, re rout the binding channel and do it over
 
A few years ago I was not satisfied with the binding job I did on a uke so I routed it off and put on new binding. I was much happier with the end result. I try to think of that to help me slow down when building.
 
I helped a friend do an inlay that would cover a gap like that. We inlayed the initials of the player into two square pieces (cut from flat binding), then placed the pieces inbetween the binding on the top and bottom. Because it was so small, I just pierced the binding, inlayed the initials, then cut the squares out. The problem with that is now you have 2 extra joints to match, one each side of the square, rather than just matching the bindings together.

He had the pic on his website, but it seems to be down right now.
 
how about filling the gap with some white paste filler and then once its dry, continue the black lines with a very fine point sharpie or other such pen?
 
When Larry Robinson was a rookie he routed a pickup cavity right through an Alembic bass. Rick Turner told him "put an inlay over the hole in the back and we'll charge more for the instrument." You've probably read that story, but its cogent here. You can freely use any of the suggestions made here. At Huss & Dalton the instrument specs are engraved in stone (or maybe rosewood). If I pulled the tape off a body and saw that gap I'd head right back to the routers and do it over. But you have freedom, might as well use it.
 
I enlarged the gap and put in some black purfling like it was supposed to be part of the design scheme. Like I planned it that way. Right. The problem with that whole bwb scheme is that it makes no sense from a design point of view. I got black and white lines going every where with no logical line. And the dead white lines against the ebony end splice. What is that all about? Basically I hate the whole look so I don't care and thus the black line. At least the gap is a clean gap now... I'm already mentally onto my next uke. Also known as the Perfect Uke and the design will make sense this time. Also no gap.
 
None of the previous suggestions made asthetic sense to me. You've come full circle to the conclusion I was going to make initially. These kind of mistakes can rarely be fixed to seem as they were intended. As you suggested, it's best to use this one as a lesson to learn to focus more on your future builds. Kudos to you for recognizing that.
Oh, and good luck on that perfect uke thing. ��
 
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