Any tips on making Rope Binding- angle of cut etc?

Beau Hannam Ukuleles

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I'm wanting to make my own rope bindings and have heard there are some tricky bits

Any tips on :
1- Correct angle to cut\ the lamination for less breakage around the bouts. Also, good thickness to cut them to.
2- Epoxy for glue up.
3- Wood considerations- only aesthetical?
4- Any inside edge backing needed?

Thanks in advance.

Beau
 
You can go and place pieces individually as Graham MacDonald has on some of his fiddles and not need a backing. But if you are doing it in a strip you will want a backing for sure.

I sent Micheal Gurian the specs on what I wanted and they made it up for me. It's got a backer on 2 opposing sides to make bending easier. Still will want to snap on you on tight corners, but if you use at least one fairly dark wood it's easy enough to fill the gaps with a bit of dark sanding dust and CA.

As for angles, I left that to the experts at Gurian Instruments.
 
It took me as long to make the rope bindings for my ebony resonator as it did the rest of the instrument.

I went with 45 degrees so that it could be flipped. I used HHG so I could easily repair breakage. I'm glad I did. Each side was lined with veneer. Without both sides veneered the strips are very delicate.

I've never seen a process that can take so much high quality timber and produce so little end product.
 
I go with 30 degrees. I use titebond 1, the red cap. It can take some heat but gives just a little on the bending iron. Bending is easy on the iron. I sand them down to 80 thousandths. It is delicate but I find it actually easier to use without veneer.
 
In addition to what Chuck stated, I've done it once, and what a PITA. I could've made it easier, but decided that if I'm going to throw an angle in there, may as well be two of them, meaning, you can see it from the side and the top. Radiusing the edges makes for good effect, IMO.

Aaron
 
I had a whole buch made for me in the 90s by Dotzauer in Germany. It cam single backed and I used it on my Weissenborn guitars. The way to go is to get together as a group and have Gurian make it up. His limited run makes it so that is the way to go. And Chuck is right, without heavily dubbing the corners you have a uke that has that Tunbridge Wells treen look.
 
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I've never seen a process that can take so much high quality timber and produce so little end product.

Ditto that statement!! I used 45deg angles too. Finer patterns are easier to bend than wide. I'd keep the sections to 1/4" max
 
As I use only locally grown timber, it would be difficult for me to buy ready made and stay in keeping with that concept. Therefore I make my own and don't have many problems. I don't use a lining and don't try and sand it before fitting, except for thickness sanding while it is still in sheet form.
ropebind1.jpgropebind2.jpgropebind5.jpg

A fuller explanation of the process here: http://ukulian.com/2012/07/11/shop-made/
 
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