Gluing fretboard binding - keeping glue out of slots

[Quickstep192]

I’m considering my first bound fingerboard and have a bit of a silly question.

When gluing wood binding to the slotted board, how do you keep the glue from getting into the slots? Or maybe the question is, how do you get the glue out of the slots?

[phavriluk]

I just went through this last week. My conclusion, be sparing with glue, practice, care, patience, and practice.

Find/make a tool to get wet glue out.

S-M sells a sheet of Teflon (nothing sticks to it) to cut up and put in fret slots during refretting, maybe that will work for you (and I just ordered some).

Whatever technique is selected practice with dry runs until the process is comfortable.

[viento]

I have had very good experiences with the Teflon strips from Stewmac.

[Rudy4]

I remember reading about someone filling the slot ends with modeling clay before gluing binding in place. Clay was removed with a slot cleaner after glue up.

[Skarsaune]

+1 on the teflon strips from SM, and a fret slot cleaner tool.

[Bruce Sexauer]

With practice, one can learn to use the right amount of glue. No reason to use more than enough.

[phavriluk]

Bruce, true, but most builders aren't going to do enough of these chores so as to eventually do them 'just right'. Speaking as one of those folks, I think easily-managed problem-avoidance can make sense if it's priced right and saves effort and turns up a good result.

[Mark Hatcher]

Go down to your local hardware store and get a General stainless steel 6" pocket ruler and cut a notch in it:



It's is just the right thickness and has worked great for me for the last 24 years.

Please note the high tech finger protection tape

It also works great getting sawdust out.

Mark

[phavriluk]

I've got a bunch of six-inch machinists' scales hanging around. I can spare one for the lutherie toolbox. Wonderful idea!

[Alan Carruth]

I've been cutting strips of soft plastic from things like peanut can tops for years; long before StewMac started to sell the strips. If you get the right thickness it works like a charm. I prefer the plastic to be a little on the thick side, so that you have to pull it out thinner to get it into the slots. This keeps it from falling out when you don't want it to, but it can make it hard to get the plastic out later. Usually it works fine if you use a knife point to start one end, and then pull it up and out.

I use what is probably an unusual construction sequence. I cut the slots, put the plastic strips in, and then cut the board to width. The wood bindings are put on with Titebond, clamped with the same rubber rope (made from a truck inner tube) that I use for all the bindings. The fretboard is glued to the neck at full thickness, and is only radiused after the finished neck is assembled to the body, when I know it's not going to move around any more. Once it's radiused I do the inlays, and then I pull out the plastic strips. The result is nice, clean fret slots with no glue or dust in them for fretting. You do have to be careful to make the slots deep enough with this sequence, since it's hard to deepen them once the board is glued down.

[Bruce Sexauer]

I happened to have done this process today, so I took some pictures.

The amount of glue I put on the binding to be:



Wiped with the finger and biassing the extra glue toward the un-slotted edge of the fingerboard:



The expected amount of squeeze-out:



No visible glue in the fret slots:

[LHawes]

I've used thin CA, seems to work OK with no glue in the slots.

[phavriluk]

I didn't want to burn a six-inch scale, so I dug around the shop and found a Chinese knockoff of a #1 x-acto knife and its #11 blade (.020" thick) and carved that blade into a hook. Less than a dollar. Works fine. That tool now lives in my guitar toolbox.

[Fathand]

I've never had a problem overgluing the binding but sometimes need to remove glue when refretting previously epoxied frets. I make a similar tool as above but I use old or broken hacksaw blades, basically free.

[Alan Carruth]

The easiest glue to remove is the glue that isn't there.