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.... hopefully that's ok. The ziricote guitar in the "what are you working on thread" made me realize there is more attention to be paid to the sides when the wood has an interesting pattern.

Below is a pic of some Blackheart Sassafras sides for a Uke that I'm about to bend. I cut Binding from the top and bottom of the side material and will put just a thin black .020 piece of fiber veneer between the side and the binding all around. I'm thinking that in order to keep all this aligned I'll have to bend the sides and the binding together at the same time and taped so that the binding is hanging just past the edge of the side so that the waist on all three pieces aligns. Hopefully that makes sense. Is that the best approach for this type of "invisible" binding if you are trying to keep the grain aligned?



Thanks!
Brad



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That's a cool idea. Hopefully someone here has experience doing that. Are you bending with a hot pipe or a bending machine?

I haven't built an uke so I don't know, are the top and back radiused or are they flat so you don't have to profile the edges of the sides?

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That will be a very striking look! I bend (on a form) my bindings with the sides anyway, as it seems to give a better conforming binding,
Mike

I do use a bending machine. I have been doing a 30' on the top and 15' on the back for the uke (1 ) I've built so far. I may do this one with a flat top. I've heard arguments for a radius / no radius top from both sides.

Good point though, one be everything is tapered and radiused then the binding won't along anymore. But the body is the same width all through the lower bout so as long as the butt sides and binding are all aligned it should look OK.

I'll try bending it all together and see what happens.


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I'm not getting the goal of keeping the waist aligned, and the binding hanging over the edge of the side. On a joint like you have going on in the sides and the binding, I would think the alignment of the end graft area is more important.

I did a vid a while back on my YouTube where I show bending on a machine that starts on the end, not the center as I've seen so often. The vid is quick, and doesn't show the "cooking" process, but once bent, I don't trim the sides to fit the mold. If this is what you mean to do, and not touch the joints you show in the pics, then I misunderstood, and I agree with your process.