If you recall from one of my earliest posts part of the KMG kit is a jig for your router base that allows you to rout binding channels plumb to the sides even though the top and/or bottom are radiussed. Now I have an opportunity to find out how well this works. Fitting the bindings is trial and error. You have to practice on scrap. Because the jig uses only a bit and does not use a bearing to fix the depth you are setting both the depth and the height. You can take initial estimates using the binding to get you close and then its fine tuning from there.I think tool quality plays a role here. My laminate trimmer is on the frugal (borderline crappy) side and has a cheap plastic bit height adjustment. Very difficult to fine tune and difficult to snug down so it doesn't move.It is plenty powerful enough but a tool with a superior adjustment mechanism would be a plus.
In hindsight the fit trial and error was a bit of a blessing as it also allowed me practice time. By the time I has the correct fit I could handle the trimmer/jig easily, holding and controlling the jig and just keeping a little pressure on the router base. I learned that you cannot hold the router in the traditional manner and "drag" it along the rim - you have to hold the jig and steer it along. Once I got the hang of it it worked like a charm. And I got a really good fit. I did the top...
... and then flipped it over to do the bottom. As I started setting up for the back I remembered the purfling. I had totally spaced on it. Oops, should I have trimmed for the purfling before the binding? Hope not because its too late now. I decided to continue with the back since the set up would be the same.By now I was quite the expert and the bottom went quickly.
Once completed I had to consider a back strip. This is decorative - it hides the line created when the two halves are jointed. Sometimes the joint is so clean and the grain is so attractive you want to celebrate it not hide it. But I thought in this case a back strip would be kind of nice and since I am a new builder I wanted to have the experience. There are a lot to choose from. I found a nice selection at Luthiers Mercantile and saw one that was rosewood with two basswood strips. I thought the bass wood would be a good tie in to the maple bindings and the rosewood would be a good match to the guitar body. So $4.50 later I had back strip. Now, how to install. I taped the strip in place and marked the location with a sharp pencil:
Now, how to create the channel? I could route it with my dremel but I would have had to make several passes with those tiny bits and the height adjustment looked too imprecise. I could rout it with my laminate trimmer but it was still set up with the binding jig and I didn't want to take that off ( lazy, I know). I could use my router but I didn't really have the correct bit and had no desire to go to Agent Orange to pick one up. So I put a new blade in my mat knife, stuck a metal straight edge down with double sided tape and started cutting. When I thhought I had gone down far enough I set the straight edge on the other layout line and repeated the process. When I had the channel well defined I went to town with a 1/4" chisel. It was just a hair narrower than the strip. That was perfect. I could chisel the meat out and use a sanding stick on the sides and bottom to fine tune. Here's the result of the first couple of passes with the chisel.
I can honestly say that it worked out great and I got a great fit for the strip. Of course I didn't take any pictures of the completed channel but here's the glue up. Same clamping caul that I used on the back reinforcement a couple of days ago.
After removing the clamps and a lot of sanding:
I swiped it with a little Naptha to see what a some wet will do for it. Should be really pretty with a finish.
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