Tenor in curly koa

The figuring on that soundboard makes it look like an archtop almost.
Lovely
 
Beautiful looking uke! Could you explain why you use ivoroid bindings rather than wood. Is it about ease of fitting. appearance or durability.....?
 
greenscoe said:
Beautiful looking uke! Could you explain why you use ivoroid bindings rather than wood. Is it about ease of fitting. appearance or durability.....?
Click to expand...

The only people who think wood bindings are special are luthiers and players who hang out with them, either online or off. Most musicians want visual excitment and contrast. They have no hang up about plastic. Neither should we.

Beautiful uke, Pete!
 
Thanks for your input John.

I don't have hangups about plastic, it's simply that I have never used it. All my purfing and bindings to date have been homemade in wood. I was simply asking why Pete (and others) choose to use it: maybe if I knew of any advantages of using plastic I might consider trying it. Your response implies it is visually more attractive but as a hobby maker I am interested to know about the ease and method of fitting/finishing of plastic when compared to wood.
 
I am interested to know about the ease and method of fitting/finishing of plastic when compared to wood.
Click to expand...

IMO, plastic bindings are much easier to fit to the curves of a ukulele without gaps. Also, no pre-bending needed. I defy anyone to tell the difference between black plastic and ebony under finish. However, if someone comes up with faux tortoise shell in wood, I'll probably try it.
 
Plastic makes for a better 'shock absorber'... I'm not sniffy about using plastic which in the case of ivoroid is well expensive and quite challlenging to fit without gaps and having perfect joints - you have to work with the fact that the cement used to secure the binding to the wood eats the binding and shrinks it. Yoy have to 'burn in' your joints so in terms of technical difficulty fitting, it's at the same level of skill as fitting nardwood bindings. 'Easier' is not a helpful word when describing the comparison of th execution of skills.
 
I used to build and bind five guitar bodies per week at Huss & Dalton. Plastic was always a "gimme". Easier than wood, no bending involved. MUCH easier when a cutaway was involved. When applied using super glue it set so fast that when the back was finished the top binding was ready to be untaped. The company thought that wood binding would be a big selling feature, but as we introduced more models featuring plastic---ivoroid, turtleoid, creme, and black---it was common for entire batches to be finished in plastic bindings. There were no "spec" builds, everything was ordered as such. I enjoyed making nicely mitered wooden trim work. It took me years to get it down cold. For me, plastic will never replace curly koa or snakewood bindings for looks, but for everything thing else its a toss up.
 
I started out using wood binding and struggled a bit but got it down. Then I discovered nitro celluloid and it was so much easier. A relief in a way. I loved it! Wood bindings can be temperamental to work with. Ultimately I decided I liked the look of wood instead so I'm back to wood. Nothing against plastic or celluloid. It looks good and it is much quicker and easier to do. If I was making ukes where time is money I would use celluloid or plastic.... However, I think the statement, "Only luthiers or those that hang out with them like wood bindings" is a bit of an overstatement. Nothing beats wood if you ask me. The question is: Are you willing to deal with variablity and the extra work?

Medium figured Koa binding below. Sorry, but tortoiseshell is nice. Looks great... but just not the same to my eye.

DSCN7470.jpg
 
Beautiful work Pete!
 
greenscoe said:
Beautiful looking uke! Could you explain why you use ivoroid bindings rather than wood. Is it about ease of fitting. appearance or durability.....?
Click to expand...

I really quite like the look of ivoroid binding. I like wood binding too, especially light-coloured wood like maple. Ivoroid have nice lines that accentuate the curves of the instrument. It's plastic, but looks great, imo.
 
Pete,

Its a beaut...............Nice Koa...great choices one the whole package...
 
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