Official Luthiers Forum!

What's your favourite go to supplier ? black/maple/black, black/white/black. I know Gurian does a great job. Allied has a limited selection but good stuff. Anybody try any of the cheap Chinese stuff on Ebay?

Thanks!

I've been making my own, ebony and quarter sawn curly maple.
I really don't like black fiber

I use lmii for purling. Have used Stewmac also.

I bought a couple bundles from Gurian. The quality was almost good. Purchased a lot from stew mac, quality always excellent. Been tempted to try some from China.


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"It is easier to fool a man, than it is to convince him that he has been fooled"
Mark Twain

I got some bwb from Gurian that would delaminate when bent. Turned out it was second level quality but that was not obvious from the website codes.
They replaced it free of charge. The regular stuff was fine.

Be sure to check that if you order from them.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

It pays to have good quality (color, et cetera) purfling. I'm not sure I'd go the China avenue on that. You might try Allied / Blues Creek / StewMac / LMI (and probably a couple sponsors here) that will carry high quality materials.

Andy

At $100 FBM ebony isn't the most cost effective. I just layed up some for my latest. All dyed veneer. I didn't really the way it bent and i had one delamb . I may have starved it a bit on the glue. I didn't want to have a mess of squeeze out.

I can split a piece of ebony binding, thickness, and it has that glow under finish.
Not cheep but pretty

Hey Danny, I have been getting mine from an ebay dealer based in Ontario. Bezdez.
Seems to be pretty good and quite reasonable. I think 1.50 usd per 32" strip.
I bought a bunch last time I ordered and could mail you a few inches to check out.
Back next week.

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Or use wenge and holly or pear wood.

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

I bought some to try it, B/W/B, and can't tell it from SM stuff I have except it's a little thicker.
But I've only used it in rosettes and for top purfling, not side purfling so far.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

If I just want BWB, I'll buy it from LMI or StewMac. I've never had quality problems from either one. Fiber is fine with me if black is what I want.

Regarding delamination:

Last year, I went down the road of building some custom herringbone out of colors other than black and white. That process really made me re-think the way I go about getting the desired end result, which is nice, tight (but not too tight) fitting lines in rosettes and inside bindings. After building both herringbone and multiple lines, it wound up making more sense to me that I bend the lines on a hot pipe and glue them up in the first place in the shape they need to be on the guitar, rather than gluing them together straight, then trying to bend them to the ultimate desired shape without delaminating. This was particularly true when using real veneer instead of fiber. Fiber takes more of a beating without falling apart. Real wood is more fragile.

So, if you wind up making your own, I recommend hot bending them and gluing them up curved in forms, then inlaying the product of that endeavor, rather than gluing them up straight and trying to bend them later.

If you are looking for a Canadian source for B/W/B you might try A & M woods here in Ontario. I've bought purfling from them for years. Usually the fiber, and I've never had an issue with the quality.

http://forloversofwood.com/pricelistpurflings.aspx

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

I make some of mine but always have a good supply of LMI on hand.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

If you search for violin purfling on eBay, there are 2.5mm X 1.3mm X 970mm bwb purfs. Same stuff from AliExpress http://www.aliexpress.com/item/100pcs-v ... 264.MLAnZr
I bought some 2.5mm X 1.5mm X 800 bwb from A&M in Cambridge for $1.30 each, but it's a long drive, if that's all you need.
I'm going to try the ones from AliExpress, 100 for $27.59 Cnd including shipping, and some 1.3mm end mills for rosette channels. I'll let you know in 15-34 days if they are any good!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

It seems that unless you put together a large order with both those sponsors the shipping gets out of hand. I do like the service and quality from both.

So true Andy. Make it or break a great guitar.

Thanks Brother. I've used their stuff. BWB and B/pear/b are both excellent quality. The one thing I don't like is they are only .080 tall. If you laminate it to a binding prior to bending it's nice to have a little wiggle room.

How's you trip? Have you hurt yourself yet. haha Big dumpage in the Okanagan Mtns for you to come home to.

Thanks Don. That sounds a little tricky. Gluing up 3 x .100 in a form. I can see where the end result would be better. I'm thinking Fibre might be a better choice for the black....maybe.

Thanks Josh. Looks like they are still dealing in the Canadian Peso. There pricing looks good and a variety of heights.

I ordered some of the cheap Chinese stuff off eBay and am fairly pleased with the quality. The bwb violin purfling is pretty nice quality, but the sizes are a little unique so they take a little getting used to. I also got some wbw and bw which was really cheap and works pretty well for the price, the only thing again is that the size is just a hair off standard so it is a little harder to work with the standard .02 or .01 lines I use when making my own binding/purfling lay ups. For the penny pincher who doesn't mind a little adjustment to a build it isn't too bad.

Not the best pic, Dalbergia spruciana (Amazon?) rosewood quarter sawn curly maple and ebony binding glued up with Titebond III, stuck them in the bender and turned out pretty nice. I'm investigating how to get them down to .015/.020

I just noticed the long drive thing. Hahahha. Good one amigo.

Danny--

If you hot bend each line to the desired shape (roughly, not precisely) before trying to fit them in the mold, it all goes pretty smoothly. Since they are thin, the lines bend really fast. It feels like cheating. The lighter colors can singe and discolor a bit if you leave them touching the pipe for any more than a few seconds, so you have to be careful.

Another approach: John Bogdanovich glues wider sheets of colored veneer together in a guitar mold, then slices purfling strips on the bandsaw. Great instructions can be found in his book and his awesome videos.

I really like the freedom of being able to use colors other than black and white, and I LOVE not wrestling the straight purfling sandwiches into curved shapes.