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Working on my first build, a through-neck electric solid body. I'd like to contour the top, and I also want to have a binding strip. I can't imagine how I would rout the binding channel after contouring the top, so I'm thinking of routing the binding channel first. The binding is 0.25" tall, so I would rout maybe 5/8" down and the contour the top 3/8", leaving the 1/4" for the binding. I know I would have to contour exactly down to the 1/4" mark for the binding to look good, but that sounds easier than routing the channel after the top is contoured.

So again I ask, Am I crazy?

The back of an acoustic is contoured & bound. There are jigs like the StewMac true channel jig for accomplishing this.

You could also use a wide binding & bind the top like a Les Paul where the binding is parallel to the flat back side so the binding gets taller & shorter.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I think you'll be a lot happier if you research binding/routing jigs and fixtures a little further. You can build your own, as a great many luthiers have done. These things are designed specifically to deal with the problem of routing the binding ledges on arched surfaces, but they work equally well on flat surfaces. There are numerous designs--some simple and some quite complex.

Here's a complex example: http://home.comcast.net/~kathymatsushit ... trjig.html

Here's a simpler one. In the case, the guitar is moved on a fixture underneath the router. A donut shaped "shoe" affixed to the flat base of this one would allow it to ride around the edge of a contoured top:

http://www.luthierforum.com/index.php?/ ... uter-jigs/

Here are several in one thread. They are of varying complexity. One close up picture illustrates the donut shoe very clearly: http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luthier ... -jigs.html

And here's a very clear video which demonstrates the Stew Mac version. After seeing this in action, you can get lots of ideas how to fabricate one of your own: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaskY2eG_5Q

Patrick

You could use a purfling cutter to do this.

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