I literally just finished shooting a bound guitar, that I painstakingly masked the binding on. Guess what? Still gotta scrape,really no getting around it. Great video Brad, thanks for posting.
I prefer scrapping the binding, as you did. Like you said, patients is needed and nice sharp blade help. And if you want, prior to painting over the binding, mark the blade on one end how far down the binding is . Then flip the blade and mark the depth. This way if you are unsure of yourself, you have guide marks to help. Tape would be the choice to cover the gap between the marks so you don't cut yourself. I hope you understand this. Thanks Brad for sharing the video. Guitar is awsome! Can't wait to see the finished product.
that is definitely the way that I would approach binding, paint over and use a razor or something to scrape it off... I've never done it yet so I'm very anxious about trying it on the kit I'm going to build... This video helped me see that I really does just take some patience and some precision...
So I learned this from another luthier, he uses a scraper, and what he does is put the scraper over the binding only far enough to so not to hit the guitar, then he tapes where his hand would be to create a wall that he can use as a guide for scraping. This way the scraper never goes beyond the binding, it’s pretty badass and makes the job cleaner and faster.
Of the 3 methods, this is by far the easiest of them! Great tutorial. The tape trick Wallace mentioned is a good trick. It does take a little time to work out, but is a little safer on the overall end result.
Dude the airbrushed panels are 🔥but the tear out with blue flames not so much. But it’s your design and it’s still smoking great job learned a lot and thanks my man!!!
I don't trust myself enough to blindly scrape away haha i think I would just tape it and then scrape it just so i can see exactly where the bindings at. cool video!
With adequate clear coating and level sanding it should essentially go away. There’s usually a very small seam there anyway, so I don’t find this makes any real difference.
since the sides are easy to tape perhaps it would be nice to do that and finish things of with the razor. Would save some time I bet. thanks for the video Brad!
Hey quick question, so I’m just going to throw on a coat of black primer as the end result is just going to be a satin matte finish, I assume I just do the coats of primer, let it dry, scrape the binding, then go for the clear coat?
Sand the primer lightly with 800 grit once dry. Black primer isn’t usually quite black, so you may want a black color coat as well, but it’s up to you.
I've done both but not the removal method. Razor blades are hard to use. I watched the Gibson scrape master do it with a special tool so I bought it at Stewmac. Seems about the same to me still difficult. But yeah scraping is the way they do it at Gibson, likely every other pro manufacturer too.
Hmm. It seems my black binding has some chips in it and is showing the wood color. I don't trust myself scraping for the first time ever. So I'm considering painting the whole guitar, taping beside the binding, then scraping the binding, and then filling the wood color with black paint of some sort with a small brush. Is this a good approach for my first time? I don't trust my hand scraping my first time without adding the tape before I start...
@@BradAngove I gave it a try but in the end what worked was a single sided razor blade stuck in a cork. That's a simple way to get a straight edge. Thanks for your videos!
I know this might sound like a stupid question but, do we scrape off the paint from the binding before of after we had put on a clear cote? Also great video and thanks for the information, thumbs up.
Hi there, another great video. Looks as this is the way to go, scraping, that is. But does the delay in putting the clear coat on after scraping cause problems between the the colour and clear coat adhesion?
This may a stupid question but if a guitar doesn’t have a binding strip, and is just a wooden shell. If I were to stain the guitar, could I take a blade and create a bound edge using the technique you’re using here, by exposing the under layers, then poly the whole thing?
I want to paint over some ugly binding on a b.c.rich, I'm hoping I can just sand off the finish and give it a few coats of black and then clear coat, wet sand, clear coat. Wet sand etc. Is there anything special I need to do to paint over abalone?
Thanks Brad! My first attempt at this was your first method. Since I had to make repairs to the guitar anyway and the old binding needed replaced, I painted the guitar prior to replacing the purfling and binding. However, once I did replace the purfling and binding, I had glue everywhere! I'm currently in the process of of scraping off the excess binding material and glue. I'm going to have to repaint the guitar. I think that I should try to tape the purfling to minimize the amount of paint that I will need to scrape off. I can't imagine that it will scrape off as easily as the binding. Any recommendations?
Take a look at the videos on my last two projects on this channel. I taped off the bindings on both and demonstrated a technique to help with scraping. The tape I used is probably a good option for purfling as well.
I'm building a guitar that I plan on adding binding to. Would it be practical to paint the guitar first and then route the channel? Or would the paint chip?
Use a q-tip or small brush to coat the binding in lacquer so it doesn’t get stained. Then the stain should just wipe off of it, and you can scrape whatever remains.
Im working on building a new kit. I can buy with a binding channel or have the binding installed for me. Which would be better? Paint and scrape it or paint it and then try and do my own binding? Ive never done binding before
Hey brad. I got this tip from a carpenter don't know if it is practical, but he says he would use wax to cover the binding then paint. And remove wax after.
Hey I had a question, is it possible to paint the neck and headstock of a guitar using spray paint? I thought Dave Ghrol had a guitar with a painted neck buts i assume it's been painted with a paintbrush, I wanted to tape up the fretboard with masking tape and paint the headstock and neck the same color as the body's Is this a thing I can do without sacrificing tone or comfort?
Sure. I released a video two weeks ago where I sprayed the neck. There no reason why it would affect tone, and comfort is subjective. I would avoid a full gloss to be able to play faster (for the neck), but you can just scuff if back with 1500 grit to achieve that after the fact if you want.
What’s up brad! Love your videos. I’m working on my first kit. It’s a EVH Wolfgang copy with binding. I don’t like the binding and would like to hide it under the finish. Will I be able it under paint color/clear coats? Thanks in advance
what if you paint the binding on a guitar? i mean, you have no binding on it and you draw it and paint it, black maybe, how do you mask the top from getting sprayed but also have it straight?
okay, i noticed that it looked like even you screwed it up a little bit, though it was pretty good for the most part(i am not trying to call you out, since you arent a professional luthier, and i make mistakes like this too, because i am not professional either). if i remember correctly, the way that professional guitar builders do this is by scraping the binding, but using a finger to guide the blade as a depth stop, just like how you would circum around a guitar to draw an evenly spaced line. i have never actually put binding on any of my guitars though. maybe another way would also be to make it so the binding protrudes from the wood a little bit, so when you scrape it, you make it flush with the finish.
Shes Looking Good Now Brad, I Think That Paint Job Is Just Awesome Thanks Again for THe Great Tips Etc Caunt Wait To See The Finished Result, Have You Got Any Thing Planned for The Neck And Head Stock ?? Cheers
I see how you went about this Brad, but what if the guitar was painted and finished in 2k clear? Would that hardness of the finish present a possible 'chip out' of finish when scraping the binding?
Thanks Brad...this is something that I may run into. So given what you said, would it be worth painting such as you have done, then scrape the binding, then 2k clear over everything, including the binding, and call it done?
I could have used this a month ago! The guitar I'm restoring is an old Les Paul copy with binding on the top and back. Worked fine by sanding and staining sides and back, but masking of bindings on the top left a little ridge where the paint built up - I did option 2, which was a pain in the ass. Suggestions for leveling that lip without removing the paint?
That looks great, Brad! At the risk of having to issue a trigger warning about spoiler alerts, are you going to clear over the binding, too? Then leave it or scrape it off? I cleared before scraping the binding on my Les Paul copy, but with the multiple coats from the 2x spray can, there's a bit of a ridge. How do I get around that? (I dip-painted it and it turned out fantastic.)
Brad, won't the plastic of the binding push off the clearcoat after a while, or at least wear off and look unsightly, especially in areas where there is a lot of skin contact such as where the arm of the player goes over the body? This is why I thought there shouldn't be clearcoat on the plastic. Wouldn't it be necessary to at least put some adhesion promoter on the plastic? That's what I used when I recoloured car interior parts, especially the polypropyline.
Adhesion promoter is an important part of painting plastic generally, but for just s binding like this the clear coat will bridge over it no problem, so that won’t be necessary.
Hi Brad. Great tutorial again. I have 2 questions: 1. If you're done scraping, I guess the binding could be damaged with scratches. How would you fix that? 2. If the binding is not on yet, would you paint the routed edge or tape it of? Tnx
You clear coat over the binding after and that sorts out the scratches. If the binding isn’t on there I would try to avoid painting the routed area, but generally you put the binding on there before paint because you have to do so much taping etc.
@@BradAngove I'm trying to remove the clear coat and paint off the guitar and put ebony wood stain on it, but I'm afraid the stain will seep into the binding even if I mask it off.
