Fulks Run, Virginia: Where the river is clean and there's chicken on the grill!

From the Hollow Road Guitar Shop:

DragonBinding: Restraining the Beast

DragonHart is bound and trimmed with thin strips of wood bent and glued into ledges along the perimeter of the body. DragonHart has coco bolo bindings, the larger strips, and walnut/maple purfling, the smaller strips made from veneers. These are manufactured with custom tools. A special mold system helps to bend them. Another special holding system, the binding board, is used to lash them into place.
The upper left quarter binding for the top is lashed onto the binding board. Foam rubber helps to protect the back. Bindings protect and seal the edges of the instrument. Coco bolo is a very dense wood. The oils need to be disolved from the surface with alcohol before gluing and finishing. The fitting and lashing process is a workout and one of the highlights of building your own guitar.

DragonLinks

Some other links at the Hollow Road Guitar Shop, Chuck's Instrument Website:
Check out this "bee-sting" miter on the back side.
Ledges in a step are chiseled to receive the binding and purflings. Roughly 40 linear feet of ledge between 1 and 6 mm for the total perimeter of the body. Violin corners are carefully mitered. Purfling strips are mitered. A special cutting guide knowns as a purfling cutter helps to mark and cut the ledges. DragonHart's relief carving and top make even these tools difficult to use in a few places.
Jute twine, 3/8inch, lashes the three pieces into place in a single gluing. After the glue dries, the twine will leave fibers attached to the squeeze out and is easily removed.
The binding is ready for finish sanding.

Some other links on Chuck's Instrument Website:

Meet DragonHart

Back to Chuck's Home Page

On to the Finished Arch Top Page (Full Sized guitar from 2000).

Arch Top Under Construction Page (DragonHart will experience similar processes).

Classical and steel string guitars, mandolins, octave mandolin, rosettes and other fine woodworking from the 1980's.