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April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Does it serve a purpose or is it merely icing on the cake (more bling)?
Just curious what the masses think. |
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December 2003
Posts: 13996
Location: Upper Left USA | My preference is the unbound neck such as on the Viper and Balladeer. I think it's another Craftsmanship extra.
A must if you want the Abalone to run up the neck though! |
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January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | My personal preference is ebony binding like on the 1773-LX or tortie like on the Koala. If you're going to do the ivoroid thing you need to double bind it like this ...
Dave |
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July 2003
Posts: 3111
Location: Nashville TN. | for me binding vuts down of fret ebd abrasion on my hand |
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November 2004
Posts: 4413
| I'll have a pint of whatever he's drinking.
Personally I find binding cuts down on fret end abrasion of my hand.
It's often used on cheap guitars as plastic binding is cheaper and quicker than finishing fret ends by hand.
I have no preference provided the frets have been properly finished. |
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April 2006
Posts: 972
Location: PDX | Just bling. I'll have mine neat please. Although i have seen some binding done very tastfully.
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gh1 |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Not necessary but sure nice. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15677
Location: SoCal | I've got white binding on several guitars, ebony binding on one, and no binding on a number of guitars. As long as the neck is done well, it makes no difference to me. |
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December 2003
Posts: 1889
Location: Central Massachusetts | In addition to appearance, I always thought neck binding was meant to protect the fretboard from dings and wear. |
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April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | I guess one of the reasons I asked is because I am in the process of custom ordering an Octave 12 and (while I have decided on an ebony neck) was debating the merits of fretboard and top body binding.
Is it worth it to me to pay the extra and extend delivery time by about 4 weeks?
My electrics are probably about 50/50 when it comes to the fretboard binding and maybe 1/3 have top body binding also. I never really paid much attention to them (since they came that way) until I decided to have one custom built and now I am debating on whether or not I want (certainly don't need) the top and fretboard binding....or even just top binding w/o the fretboard or visa versa. |
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August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | On my Hamer Newport, not only is the neck bound, but the binding extends up to cover the fret ends. Talk about attention to detail! I'm not all that much into bling, but I've always thought that binding the top and the neck give the guitar a finished look. BTW, I think Tak did a great job on the binding of the EF75. |
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November 2005
Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | Purely icing, but would you want a cake without icing? |
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October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | Originally posted by cwk2:
Not necessary but sure nice. i'm with mauvais beal on this one. |
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April 2004
Posts: 795
Location: Texas | for me, all guitars should have an ebony fretboard with white binding and herringbone purfling. |
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October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | you're soooooooo particular, serge!! ;) |
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September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I like the tortoise-shell stuff...
But I'm not sure I want to contribute to their extinction! |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I prefer binding if I have a choice. |
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February 2002
Posts: 1817
Location: Minden, Nebraska | No binding is better than crappy binding, and it otherwise depends on the guitar and one's taste. Having occasionally played guitars without fretboard markers, having binding with markers was useful. |
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April 2006
Posts: 1138
Location: CT | Originally posted by schroeder:
I'll have a pint of whatever he's drinking.
Me too! LoL! Bindings just look nice (to some), but require a little extra manufacture effort, so you pay extra. I prefer it to the bare wood in most cases.
Les Pauls have the binding covering the fret ends too. I don't know if it's the 'extra mile' or a cop out. It's much easier to cover the fret ends and smooth out the plastic than to do a nice job filing the fret ends. It also makes re-fretting easier because you don't have to nip the tang under the crown to install them. every vintage les paul I look at has cracks in the binding at the fret ends, and I wonder if they would be there if it didn't cover the frets. Maybe because the plastic reacts differnt than the fret to climate change? Dunno. |
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Fretboard Binding
