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How does PRS get those crisp maple binding lines without dye wicking in?

I'm building a Tele that I'll be staining (not dying), and want to follow the line I've created all the way around the body.

Conor, I have not actually done it on a guitar but I have experimented on scrap maple and I'm convinced that I can do it by masking off the side and top leaving the "binding" exposed. Paint a couple of coats of compatible sealer (I use vinyl because I will be shooting lacquer) on the "binding". Do the staining, in my case it did not soak into the "binding" (I use DNA rather than water for my solvent). Scrape back, the pictures I've seen of PRS shows them using a piece of sandpaper wrapped around a block. Obviously you want to do a lot of experimenting on the same wood, my maple may react totally differently than yours.

Here is my experiment board, I was mostly working on the absorption into the flame



This has been discussed several times at the Finely Finished subforum at TDPRI including links to some PRS vids

Cool, thanks Freeman. I know Dan Erlewine talks about it briefly in his finishing book too. My application will be slightly different, I'm not really wanting binding so much as to separate my top from the back and sides. But the principal is the same I think.

Here's a common sense question (mine seems to be absent at the moment). How would you mark and mask the guitar to make sure your line is a consistent depth around the perimeter of the guitar body? My initial thought on the process would be to measure down from the top, and mark it with tape, then since its actually the top portion I want masked and to remain natural wood, run tape around the top meeting the first tape line I laid out, then remove the initial tape and color away. Any thoughts on how to simplify that or do it better?

Pin striping tape, which you can get at an auto parts store, is 1/4 inch, which it the height of typical binding.

Good idea! My line is more like 3/32", but I wonder if there is some tape out there that is the thickness I want.

PRS does it as part of the isolante coat. The guitar is completely prepped and the top masked off. The iso coat is sprayed. The top is then dyed and sanded back if necessary and all but the top masked off. Shaders, toners etc, are then applied to get the top as is wanted. This is all then just cleared over. The edge of the iso made the edge on the top and the joint between the maple and mahogany makes the side edge of the faux binding. This will get taped again if the back gets a shader or solid color.

This process can be approximated with CA. Tape off both edges of your faux and wipe it with a coat of medium CA. Use thin and it may wick under the tape and ruin the look. A quick wipe with a clean piece of paper towel. Keep it clean! dirt or whatever will become permanent.

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

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