Official Luthiers Forum!

Well here is an interesting repair/restoration issue.

We had a gentleman bring in a Kalamazoo Gibson dread (70's ish he thought) last night and the tortoise binding was all falling apart (not off...apart) It looked like crystalized crumbling maple syrup.
We grabbed the standard roll of replacement binding to match up but it was waaaay to thin?
Does anyone know where I can get tortoise binding that is appr 1/8" thick (.125ish) and 1/4" (or greater) tall?

Thank you,

Ray

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Guitar Building = Continuous Improvement Process

1/8" thick and more than 1/4" tall?
Good luck… Celluloid binding usually comes in 1/16" thickness.
Check at the Martin guitarmaker shop and at AllParts. They're the only ones I know who don't overcharge for shipping hazardous materials.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Try Bill James at

http://www.axinc.net
He has 1/8" pickguard material, and I know he does .090" tortoise binding. He may be able to help.

Ray,

This is the only source for synthetic Tortoise bindings that I'm aware of in the .125 thickness x .250 height; http://www.axinc.net/p-171-tortoise-125.aspx . They will charge a $25 HM fee to ship it. Martin only carries the .062 thickness unless that has changed recently.

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

Sorry Haans, I guess you posted whilst I was looking up my bookmarks.

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

So use .060" and double it up.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Hey everyone thanks for the input!

The stuff Bill James has looks perfect for the job.

Man, that old binding gets pretty nasty after a few decades on a guitar

Ray

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Guitar Building = Continuous Improvement Process