Handcutting Guitar Binding and Purfling Channels
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- Опубліковано 20 лип 2024
- Cutting Binding and purfling channels by hand for guitar is uncommon, but not difficult. In this video I go through the process on my latest guitar. It is a longer video and it can be nice sometimes to just get to a specific point or section, so below is an index of the video. Thanks for watching, if you are interested in seeing more of my work or learning more about building guitars check out my website www.queencityguitars.com/work...
00:00 intro
02:15 Introduction to the gramils
08:40 Marking the shoulders and preparing to cut
11:00 Relief cuts being made
11:42 Quick process notes regarding the gramil and relief cutting
13:19 Beginning the channels with the gramils
17:55 Channel cutting with narration about process
22:19 Starting the purfling channels
27:22 Considerations regarding removing the final layer of waste wood from purfling channel
32:02 Note about prepping channels for glue up
34:00 Clips of cutting final shoulder of purfling channel
39:30 Up close and indepth look at gramils and gramil set up
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This was an extremely useful video. Thanks so much for taking the time to make it. Particularly nice to see your technique for setting the gramil depths in closeup. I prefer to make use of hand tools whenever possible, I just feel much more in control, and it’s always nice to be able to watch over someone’s shoulder when they have had some experience with the tool. This is clearly a point in the making of the guitar when I don’t want to be thinking “Ooops, shoulda...”. Much obliged :-)
I'm glad to hear the video is helpful, thanks for watching! Binding can be a real nail bitter of a time, such a long glue joint that needs to be just right. I definitely prefer to take it slow and steady with the gramils.
Best video on gramil use, very helpful.👍😎
Great, glad it was helpful!
I think between this and the Obrien videos, this shows the use of these tools quite well. I think this is also the safest bet for cutting these difficult channels for Beginner's. there are alot of more expensive speed up tools, but the risk factors go up with those tools for beginners. I have the other style purfling/binding cutter tool, it has 2 blades clamped in it, I am making a guess, with 2 you may be able to cut both binding and purfling channels at the same time. I was going to use it to make scribe nice clean edges and then come in with one of the Stewmac smaller routers to do the final clean ups, where usually you would use a regular chisel and fine files to finish up. Thanks for a great video.
Jalal Kazak, i enjoyed this video so much, and learned so much, your presentation is excellent and very helpful, i hope i can find those Gramils here in Montreal
Interesting video nice too see
Thanks for watching
Thankyou for your demonstration I like this technique rather than power tools this is how I would like to cut in my bindings .and purflings Can you tell me where I could
buy these gamils thankyou I like your approach to building a guitar
Thanks for this most detailed gramil video! Looks like walnut. Do the gramil blades cut effectively through rosewood back and sides?
I have yet to try it on a rosewood body, though I do purfling on my head stocks with the gramils and find they work fine for cutting the channels into the rosewood and ebony veneers I often use. Going slow and sharp blades is paramount, I think the sides would cut just fine, a back purfling channel would be more challenging, but perfectly doable. This guitar is black walnut, I build with a lot of domestic woods, though its currently a toss up whether the next guitar I build will be maple or rosewood.
Thanks for the reply. Please let us know how the harder back wood goes.
I'm getting one of these tools seems very precise.You think this would tear maple veneer or cut it smoothly?
A sharp gramil should have no trouble cutting maple veneer, however there are certainly cuts that are not well suited to a gramil. Are you wanting to cut a single sheet of maple veneer?
Thanks for this great video. One question: Is there a reason you cut the binding before the purfling? It just seems like the cutting would be more stable if you cut the purfling first--you'd have more material for the body of the gramil to ride on.
Thanks and that is a great question! I just do it that way, so I have never given any reasonable thought to why before now, haha. Thinking about it I can say that I do just that on most headstocks (at least most the last couple years) because they just get purfling with no binding, and doing it that way one has to chisel out the waste. Removing the binding channel wood first and then the purfling wood allows one to simply cut out the wood from the channel with very little if any chisel work. I am not positive, but my gut says it is faster to do in the order I do, and easier to get a clean shelf for the purfling(also less chance of screwing up the inner joint edge with a chisel. Also even with tall binding stacks I do not find it compromises the stability of the gramil enough to be a real issue.
This is a really useful and informative video. I'm embarking on my 7th guitar and I'm approaching the binding stage. As a builder I'm really not a fan of powertools, especially routers.
I had a question, and perhaps I missed this in the video. With a gramil, how do you avoid the "skinny" binding issue especially on the back near the neck/tail areas where the binding cut can be angled with the back curve?
Happy to hear you've found the video useful! I definitely have the same feeling around routing the channels, and getting more familiar with using the gramils has paid off in other areas of the building process.
By skinny binding I assume you mean having an inconsistent depth of the channels in plane with the sides, so that when you level off the binding it appears thinner in places when viewed from the back ( or front)? When you cut with the router you are making both cuts at the same time, and registering off of both the sides and back/top at the same time and so as that edge leaves square due to the back radius it gives an opportunity to cant along with the angle and not cutting deep enough into the sides at the top and everything happens so fast it cant be hard to compensate smoothly. the fix is to use a binding jig and/or to have a very small registration surface on the back/top
With the gramils each interior face is cut separate, with the depth being fully controlled by registration off the side so generally skinny binding is not an issue except possibly in the waist where you have to use the curved surface for registration. The radius of the back/top comes into play dealing with the angle of the bottom face of the channel. I don't get to carried away dealing with this. Ideally that inner corner of the channel would be perfectly square, in reality the clamping force of the glue up method I use does a pretty good job of pressing everything together and a bit of tape on the gramil where it registers against the guitar back edge can help to cant the gramil up enough to compensate. At the very end you an see the tape (44:53). Alternately you could make two of those wooded faces I have in the video and angle them to approximate the angles of the top and back.
Thanks for replying to me with all the tips. The video is great and once my 2nd gramil turns up here in Australia I will be following it very closely! Yes, that is exactly the skinny binding issue I'm talking about, as you said, with a router it all happens so fast. I actually have a stew mac jig but I've never used it, It terrifies me (as do routers generally). As a classical builder, the way I like to think about power tools in general is "what would Antonio De Torres have used?" I'm pretty sure he would/could not have used a router!
Do you have a link for these?
How did you flush cut the top and back?
That would be a good video topic... The short of it is that I get them most of the way there with a saw, since I leave a lot of extra material normally, then I take them down the rest of the way with a combo of chisels, scrapers and spokeshaves. Paying a lot of attention to the way the grain is running on the top so as not to catch and chip into the body.
can you post a link on where to buy a gramil?
The ones I am working with I bought through Luthiers Mercantile International, Inc or lmii.com I saw that Michael Bashkin also appears to sell his own version, though they are not listed on his site.
Darn you got to the critical cut and the camera was set too high ....i think I am grasping what you're saying.. however I sure wished tou had some close up shots... but you do seem to get into more detail than others.. like on the directions of cut to keep from cutout do to grain angles... informative for sure
This tool is unavailable as of 2024
I cant believe people would still cut binding channels in with a gramil!! I could have this job done faster than the time it takes you to set up your gramil and it would be far more accurate. Why persist with a less accurate more time consuming process, just so you can say you did???
I can’t believe there are still people who build guitars, you can just buy them at the store! a router can be quite accurate and a gramil can be quite accurate. I disagree that one is hands down more accurate than the other, but personally I find the gramil more accurate (having done it multiple ways), though it certainly takes longer. I suggest you don’t delve into violin making though, for your own sanity and peace of mind.
too much lip smacking . very annoying.
yes, i do this to annoy lower case people @charlesrichter3854