Binding

The first step in setting the binding is routing a channel. I used the Dremel with the router base and attachment (shown earlier in this blog to do this. I took it real slow to make sure I didn't chip out any pieces. As you can see that tool is smooth.
Same thing with the back.
Remember what I said about chip out... well I goofed. I was simply moving too fast and took a small chunk out.

Glueing the piece back in with crazy glue. I saw this trick on youtube. Once I put the french polish on you wont even see this small crack. Plus most of the wood was nibbled away by the router after the glue dried.

I also routed a channel for the purfling, but I didn't get any good photos of that. However, if you click and zoom in on the photo showing the purfling (down about 4 photos) you can see that channel as well.
Steaming the curly maple binding. I just boiled some water...

... and poured it on. Notice my floor is a mess. My ShopVac broke and I had to go get another one.

I tied the maple to the guitar to pre-bend them.

I chose black on white purfling for to go between the binding and guitar for contrast (white maple, black purfling, white perfling dark back).
On the front I chose to go (WBWBW) with purfling that is B/W/B. Since the top is light colored. This is the same stuff I used for the rosette. Below, I'm starting to tape it in place.
One quarter done.


Below is the final side complete. The bottom of this photo has the tape removed. Once the rest of the glue dries I will need to scrap all this binding flush with the top and sides.
This process took way more time than I had anticipated.