Sign me up for the wood bindings also. The advantage of plastic I suppose is that if you bump the edge of your guitar your less likely to have damage. But I prefer to just be careful. All wood, no plastic in my book is a class act.

Ed

I happend to like the ivoroid binding ,
And yes for a fact a lightl bump to maple will leave a ding in it, when the Ivoroid plastic it just bounces off.
Just look at Martin, 80% of these guitar are Ivoroid bound and you never see a wood bind.
Its gives a antique look and IS less blinding than white Plastic.
Very classic!
Sure i like the Rosewood Koa and maple bindings alot, but don't dislike Ivoroid.

Ivoroid comes from elephantoids. ;)

Bottom line, it is a synthetic material made to look like ivory..off white, often with a bit of a "grain" appearance.
I love the stuff. I actually prefer it's look and durability to wood binding. A classy "retro" look to me. DEFINATELY prefer it to that toilet bowl white binding you see on some guitars.
To each their own.

I was unsure whether or not I prefered the binding when I got my 914, but I really do like to look, frames out the guitar very nicely and doesn't look cheap at all. I think the stark white binding on other lower end model does look cheap. too white! The ivoroid looks classy.

I've heard the reason they use it on the Presentations is because they can't do all the abalone trim with wood bindings. If they were to do wood bindings, there would only be abalone on the top ... which would be more than fine with me. However, I've never asked, but I would think changing the ivoroid to wood would be an upcharge ... as getting a blank fretboard is an upcharge.

I'm sure it would be to. Bending wood binding is a bit more of a process than just using synthetic material.

What about tortoise? Now I would take rosewood binding over just about anything, but if I had to go plastic, I prefer tortoise. It doesn't distract from the wood like ivoroid can. I love the look of a D-18V or Collings D1. Simple elegance.

My 714 Ltd has abalone trim on top with flamed wood binding. So I'm sure that they could use wood on the 900 series anyway, I don't know about the presentation series, never seen one up close. I'm generally opposed to the white binding but I've found it actually contrasts well with the tobacco finish on my 810. It looks pretty cool on black 600 series guitars also.

I can take or leave ivoroid. Wood would be my choice in most situations.

'Cat

Well, whatever! I like it. I have it on my 910ce ltd. I sure wouldn't like a white binding but maybe some brazilian cherry or boxwood binding like on a Petros would be C :cool: :cool: L

I am in the process of ordering a 814ce with maple binding. It really brings out the sunburst finish. I can tell you that they definitely add an upcharge for it. It took my 814 and made it the same price that I can get a 914 for. FYI.

I like the look of Ivoroid binding. My D45V has grained Ivoroid bindings with abalone all over the place and I think it looks great.

My 810 had Ebanoid tuners. Now Ebanoid... that's a different story altogether. Certainly NOT strong enough for tuner buttons.

Max