Installing Binding (How much time?)

Dominator

Dominator

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Have been installing some binding this weekend and was wondering how long it takes the rest of you to do this part of the build.

I already had the top perfling and binding ledges routed. Went out yesterday, bent the binding, installed the perfling and binding on the top of a tenor, routed the back ledge and installed the binding for the back, scraped, sanded a little and cleaned everything up. That took me about 6 1/2 hours. Basically the entire day.

This morning I installed the perfling and top binding on another tenor and it took me 3 hours.

Is this even in the ballpark?
 
If you are building as a hobby, time doesn't matter, but as a luthier, it most certainly does matter. For a uke, if the bindings are wood and bent, it takes me about one hour to cut the channels and inlay the purflings and bindings, top and back. This task, like any other, is a matter of practice and the right methods for your style of building. If the bindings are rope style or something more envolved, more time is needed.
 
Hmm. It took me about 30 minutes to change the bearing and do test cuts to get the depth etc. right. I guess if I did it everyday I'd get more efficient.
 
Hey Dom- I agree with everything above. First, figure out how to do it right, then figure out how to do it faster (if you want/need to).

All of our routers are set for each operation, so I never have to change one.

I think that to rout top and back of a tenor for purfling and binding and glue them in place, it takes me less than an hour. That is with the binding already bent.
 
I just did a soprano before seeing this. Bindings only. No purflings.

I had to saw up and thickness sand some bindings. Then route the body. It's a bit tricky into the Spanish Heel design. Then bend and install. For all of this it was just over 1 hour. But these were some of the easiest ones I've done lately. When it comes to adding purflings to top, back and sides, then it certainly can stench the time out.

Good point for people to understand about adding the trim to an instrument. For a luthier, time is money.
 
Moderately experienced hobbyist here.....It takes me about 2hrs to cut the channels and install the bindings/purflings. That assumes pre-bent or plastic bindings. It breaks down to about one hour of routing and 1 hour of dry-fitting adjustments
 
Its hard to compare guitars to ukes, but I do 100 guitars to every uke at this point. No more than two days to prep, rout, bind, scrap and sand six guitars at Huss & Dalton---any combination of binding/purfling as long as there is no abalone involved. At home I usually make/bend enough binding for 4 ukes at a time. After that, maybe ten minutes to rout a uke, and twenty minutes to bind/purfle it. But that probably makes it sound like I crank out ukes like crazy, and that's hardly the case at all. My production is minute, but I'm set up to do it without wasting any time. Decent equipment plus loads of experience count for a lot in this game.
 
aaronckeim said:
Hey Dom- I agree with everything above. First, figure out how to do it right, then figure out how to do it faster (if you want/need to).

All of our routers are set for each operation, so I never have to change one.
...
Click to expand...
I'm not a builder but I know a guy who makes custom electric guitars and this (tooling) is a big key to actually making a living at it. He had been turning out very professional guitars for years and had reached the point that he had a flatbed CNC machine taking up his garage when he quit his day job and went full-time pro. He soon discovered that he had to rent a full-size shop because he couldn't make a living at it if he had to keep adjusting his tools. He now has probably a half-dozen router tables, a few drill presses, the CNC machine, and several sanders and polishers set up for a two-man operation (he also found that it paid him to hire an assistant to do a lot of the more basic tasks that ate up his time without enough return).

I've also been in Bill Conklin's (well-known custom bass builder) shop back before he expanded. Even though he was getting thousands for each bass he had to keep five or six in various stages of production at a time to make a living from it.

John
 
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I havn't done one with binding's for months..So inspired by Dom..I thought I'd have a go today...Took me ages to find the cutters and then set up the routing gear...Bent up some rosewood bindings and away I went...Just about took me all day to do it back and front ( about 6 hours total) but I got there in the end :)..Now it's all set up maybe I could do another in 2 hours :rolleyes:

 
I've just finished binding these four ukes. Each has purflings front and back, one with paua ab. They also have side puflings and mitered end grafts. It took me every bit of two days to bend the bindings, rout and clean up the channels, glue, scrape, sand and do one coat of pore filling. Another two coats of pore filling and they're ready for the spray booth.
4 Ukes.jpg
 
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Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:
I've just finished binding these four ukes. Each has purflings front and back, one with paua ab. They also have side puflings and mitered end grafts. It took me every bit of two days to bend the bindings, rout and clean up the channels, glue, scrape, sand and do one coat of pore filling. Another two coats of pore filling and they're ready for the spray booth.
View attachment 66584
Click to expand...


Very nice Chuck....thanks for the preview...
will be looking to see the completed MBUs in a few months...I see another Milo/Bearclaw Spruce one?..... :)
 
hawaii 50 said:
Wow!!! Chuck not sure I ever saw a Macassar(??) Ebony Moore Bettah before....I am jealous now...haha..:)
joking...so happy with my MB but Ebony going be nice...can't wait to see it...
Click to expand...

It's a nice combo when bound with curly koa. I was worried about the weight but it comes in at only 1/2 oz heavier than my koa tenors.
 
hawaii 50 said:
Thanks Chuck, with your finish...that Ebony with the Koa binding is going be nice!!!
Click to expand...

Back to binding, curly koa (or any wood for that matter) is so much easier to work with than ebony. Sometimes the ebony binding just doesn't want to give. Or it's got runout in it that you can't see that causes it to crack under the slightest pressure. I know David Hurd gave up on ebony bindings over his frustration with it. Some bends well and some is just a bitch. I cut 100 to 150 binding strips at a time from guitar fret boards. After cutting I sort them into two piles, pliable bindings for the body and stiff ones for fret boards. My stiff bundle is always bigger than my flexible one!
 
Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:
It's a nice combo when bound with curly koa. I was worried about the weight but it comes in at only 1/2 oz heavier than my koa tenors.
Click to expand...
Wow Glad to see you are trying new woods and doing what you like to do... do those ukes have names on them yet :) me thinks they are awesome...me wants....:)
 
mm stan said:
Wow Glad to see you are trying new woods and doing what you like to do... do those ukes have names on them yet :) me thinks they are awesome...me wants....:)
Click to expand...


yes they all called me,mine......me and my shadow... :)

but the binding so nice...Chuck uses some real nice Curly Koa for the binding...wow!
I know cutting the channel for the binding could be deadly....with some tearout after you have boxed the body...

I took a uke building class and the teacher did not let use binding...he did not want us to mess up the uke at the end....
I think this is a very tricky part of building a great looking uke...IMO
 
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