Roped In

by C.F. Casey

Originally published in American Lutherie #100, 2009



Weissenborn-style steel guitars just look cool. That long, sinuous profile, with the side curving all the way to the headstock; the diagonals of the “rope”-style binding and rosette; the look of total absorption on the face of the player as he sits hunched over, staring down at his hands. (OK, so that last point isn’t strictly the guitar; but have you ever seen a steel player who didn’t look like he was totally lost in his own little world?)

When I decided to build my first Weissenborn-style instrument, I figured I might as well go all the way and give it the rope binding and rosette that Weissenborn used on his high-end models. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any information on making said binding and rosette. Neither the plans I got from Stew-Mac nor Rich Mermer’s article in AL#60 (“The Maalea Special,” also in BRBAL5) mentioned it. The only thing I was sure of was that with all those little short glue joints, bending was going to be very tricky.