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i used this cutting knife for the binding channel and to score the outline of the block inlays, i used the file to file out the binding channel after i carved it out by hand with the razor blades, the file made it completly perfectly flush and smooth and ruff the same time for the super glue to adhere to it
use a strip of tape to outline the width of the binding you would like to use, i bought my binding plastic from Stewart Macdonald the biggest white bindings they had, than you can just scrape them down to the size you want with a razor, they sell all kinds of fancy tools for this stuff, but i was realistic about it and knew i can do this with common household stuff
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these are all the bits i used , for the blocks, first you wanna place the block inlay which i bought on ebay,trace it with a razor as close as you can, than put masking tape on you traced marks so you have it around the block, than score as deep as you can with a razor, and than with you dremel, i use a 1/8 straight cut router bit, walmart for $ 4 bucks, drill as deep as your inlay, glue will take up some space so the inlay will come out a little higher for you to grind flush if it is real mother of pearl like mine or you can sand it flush if it is plastic celluliod pearliod blocks, oh, and save the dust from the fretboard from when you drill so you can mix the dust with super glue and use it to patch up any errors or gaps in your work
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to be honest with you , you can see all this stuff done on You TUBE, just search block inlay or bindings,
with the bindings, you wanna measure where you bends will be at the heel of the neck, and boil water and put the semi bent bindings in the boiling water to heat the and bend them fully without breakage , than place the binding in the channel and start super glueing about every 3 inches and tape with masking tape, first cover the fret board and neck side with masking tape, a few layers, than use just a few strips every 3 inches and work your way around the neck, than when finished rap the neck with as much tape as you can, and TIGHT, i used a whole roll of tape, i have read online that it takes days for the bindings to stick on good or whatever, but i finished glueing at 10 pm and unrapped it the next morning at 9 am , they where stuck on better than flies on shit, anyway, than you must scrape them flush with the fretboard, the glue, by the way, was a hard decission to make, wasnt sure what to use cuz i heard good and bad stuff for every that was recommended, i guess some people are retarts or something and dont know how to use glue, but anyway, i use the superglue i have in the pics, im not gonna upload another pic of it cuz these pics are gettin annoying to upload, i wish there was a way i can just upload them like facebook or something, but, make sure you leave the bindings a little thicker and taller than the fretboard because you will need to scrape and sand the glue off them and make them the dots flush with binding and neck and so forth, and if you measure them exact before you glue them , your screwed.,
heres a pic of bending the binding in boiling water, SUPERGLUEING every 3 inches as you go , tape the hell out of it, than next morning unrapp
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here is how the side dots are made, i ordered them from stewart macdonald with the bindings, the side dots are CHEAP!! it cost $1 one freakin dollar for a black cylinder type thin stick that is the side dot, you drill a hole with your dremel, i used a 3/32 drill bit for the 3/32 black side dot material from STEWART MACDONALD, and looking at the receipt from them, i used the .090 x .565 white binding, which costed $9.05, the dots were $1.15 i first ordered the .060 bindings and thought they were to short and sent them back to STEW MAC, and ordered the .090, but i ended up scraping them so much that they ended up to be the same thing as the ones i sent back .060., so for a FENDER style neck, i definetly recommend the .060 binding material, and 3/32 side dot material, i definetly never imagined that i would accomplish this so perfect with the first time doing bindings blocks and dots, i have done blocks on my last neck which i sold but couldnt do bindings because it already had frets, but neve did all this , i really want to do this more and sell them, i am not working right now so i have the time to do it, not many people actually CARVE OUT the binding channel by hand with a razor, i heard it is the most acurate way but TEDIOUS, so that is the way i went, i like TEDIOUS, haha<script src='http://img200.imageshack.us/shareable/? ... 0.png&p=tl' type='text/javascript'></script><noscript>
</noscript>here are some shots of the side dots finished cut off, scraped and sanded flush, but before i did the polyurethane finish
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heres a problem i came across, alot of necks have 22 frets, some 21 frets, and so forth, well my neck had 22 frets and 9 fret dots, i only had 9 pearl blocks, but had to put a block on the first fret, so , i had a extra dot showing at the heel , so what i did was drill the hole on the last fret and filled it with the dust fret the fretboard and glue mixed to make it filled and when it dried i sanded it flush and staind it, looks like it wasnt even there, it looks better in person though
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