iLuthier

To repair plastic binding that has shrunk and detached itself away from the waist of an instrument, just use a light bulb or goose-neck lamp and aim it close over the area for a couple of minutes or so. When the binding becomes soft enough you can gently ease it back and then glue and tape it tightly to the body again.

NOTE: I should add that you need to be extra careful that you don’t ruin the finish of the instrument by keeping the light bulb concentrated in the same area for too long – otherwise you’ll have a much longer and much more involved repair job to undertake!

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NOTE: Click on the diagrams for a larger version.

LEFT: A diagram of the finished jig.

Here’s a handy tool idea for thicknessing bandings that can then be used for rosettes or for making your own natural wood bindings for guitars and hurdy-gurdies. With this jig you can adjust the depth of cut – or rather the depth of “scrape” – quickly and easily……and all you need to make it is a few pieces of scrap wood, some glue, some screws and an old Stanley number 152 or 153 spokeshave which you can easily buy from a dealer or on eBay for $10 or so.

The base is a block of hardwood (A) about 8″ or so long. You can use a longer piece if you like but it’s not necessary. The bridge piece (B) is basically “U” shaped and can be made from scrap blocks of 1″ maple or oak or whatever you have lying around. It is mounted to the base at a 75-80 degree angle and can be screwed or glued. There is a housing notched in the above diagram for the bridge but you don’t have to do it this way if you don’t want to. It will make the overall jig stronger though.

A round-headed wood screw holds both the blade and the spokeshave cap in place (C). The adjustable thumb nuts and the mounting screws from the spokeshave are secured as shown. Holes can just be drilled directly into the bridge block for the screws and the thread size should be 1.BA but it pays to check first.

One corner of the blade is then ground back slightly so as to allow the un-thicknessed piece of wood easier access. This means that you need to start your feed at an angle and then straighten it up as you pull the wood stringing all the way through. After sharpening the blade to a edge it is then burnished in the same way that you would burnish a normal scraper or scraper plane.

RIGHT: Showing the ground-back spokeshave blade from the front of the jig.

To use the jig just feed your raw banding material from the back and at an angle as mentioned. To avoid an uneven edge try to thickness your piece from both ends of it until it is the required thickness.

As many of you might realize it’s much easier make the banding to the right thickness than trying to make the groove to fit your existing material. This way you cut your groove first, then thickness the banding to fit it.

NOTE: The above diagrams have been sourced from the book “Making Woodworking Aids & Devices” by Robert Wearing.

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