Taming the Wild Wood Binding

by Tom Harper

Originally published in American Lutherie #114, 2013



Like many folks, I built my first guitar following the book Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology by William Cumpiano and Jonathan Natelson. Every task had me holding my breath and hoping for a good outcome. It pretty much worked; by the time I finished the book, I was the proud owner of what could be the world’s ugliest guitar, but it was still a guitar.

The book’s introduction to the binding and purfling process states, “Purflings should be restricted to veneer lines around the soundboard, back, and back stripe.” I followed the dictum, completing my first guitar blissfully unaware of the pitfalls awaiting me when I would attempt to add side purfling. I didn’t have long to wait. Guitar #2 was my first attempt to incorporate side purflings. I wish I could jump in the Wayback machine and review the disaster that unfolded. It never crossed my mind to try to bend them to shape before attempting to glue them in with the binding. What a mess. There were also gaps between the plates and the bindings that had to be filled. Gaps continued to be a problem for a number of my beginning instruments.