The Craftsman’s Path

After I had routed the channels for the binding and purfling, the next step was to mortise the location for the end trim at the tail stock of the guitar. Because this end trim piece fits in between the bindings that go around the perimeter of the top and back it must be installed first.

I started by securing the body to the bench and aligning the end trim piece along the centerline of the tail stock. I carefully scribed with a knife along the edges of the end trim to define the mortise to be cut. With the initial lines scribed, I removed the trim and deepened the lines with the knife. I pondered whether to just chisel this area of the sides out or to use a router.
In the end I opted for the router to rough out the mortise. I set the depth of a straight cutting bit to equal the depth of the binding channels and made a couple of passes staying clear of the knife lines. With the bulk of the material removed I cleaned things up with a sharp chisel. Gluing the end trim in is not something that you can use a clamp for. So, I just used some tape to hold it in while the glue dried. Once it was dried I spent some time with a file to get the ends of the trim piece perfectly flush with the edges of the binding channels so that when the binding was installed there would be perfect seams with no gaps.

With the end trim installed I moved on to the bindings and purfling. Since there is only binding around the back of the guitar I opted to start with it - hoping that if I made any mistakes they would be less noticable on the back! I first carefully checked the fit of the binding all along the channel an noted any areas that were not smooth or of uneven depth. These areas were kissed with a file until the curves looked good. I also ran the inside bottom edge of the binding along a picece of sandpaper to chamfer it a bit and to allow the binding to seat fully.

I laid out my materials and got ready for the installation. I used binding tape from Stewart MacDonald to hold the bindings in place. Since these bindings are acrylic I also used some Weld-on cement appropriate for the material. Starting at the neck block I aligned the edge of the binding with the center seam of the guitar and applied cement for about 6 inches. I applied the tape by first pressing it against the binding and then stretching it first along the back and then down along the side. Every six inches or so, it was time for more cement. When I reached the tail block I carefully made a trim cut on the binding aligning it with the center seam. Once this half of the back binding was dry I applied a second strip on the opposite side of the back being careful to match th end seams of the binding. I let the bindings dry at least a full 24 hours. To remove the tape I slightly heated it with a heat gun ( a hair dryer would also work) to loosen the adhesive and pulled the tape at a 45 degree angle to avoid lifting any slivers of wood. Things looked good so, I moved on to scraping the bindings down to meet the back and sides. Notice in the picture that I put some tape on the corner of the card scraper to avoid nicking the back and sides as I scraped. (By the way that white piece you see on the card scraper is one of those flat magnet strips that I have on the scraper to avoid burning my thumbs as I scrape).

The procedure for the top was similar however, it was a bit more tricky because the binding and the purfling strips must be installed at the same time. Again I carefully checked the channels to be sure that things fit well, chamfered the inside edges of the strips with sandpaper and went ahead with the installation. The main task here was to assure that both the binding and the purfling were fully seated in their channels when applying the tape. This operation was also done in halves and left to dry for at least 24 hours before scraping down even with the top and sides.

The end result is pretty good. There are no gaps between the binding or purfling and the body and the seams in the strips look very tight. There is one small area where the binding is scraped down a little thinner than elsewhere ( I think that this is a result of an area where I bobbled and routed a bit too deep during the channel routing) but, it is not real noticable unless you are looking for it. I the pictures you can see a closeup of the binding an purfling along the top and a full shot of the body as it stands now. Next time, I’ll start turning my attention to the work on the neck.

I was reading a recent post at Chuck Bender’s new blog about the differences that make one piece of furniture good and another one great. Two quotes in Chuck’s excellent post were particularly interesting to me:

“…there is nothing new under the sun…” and “…if a piece is meticulously crafted but is lacking in design, and detail, it will still be something less than a masterpiece.”

I agree wholeheartedly with the concept that in the design of furniture (and most other things, for that matter), much of what is done today is built on the shoulders of what has already come before. Most proportions and design elements of furniture are based on architectural elements of ancient times. Methods of joinery developed and perfected long ago are used to execute these designs and as a result, the designs themselves are somewhat influenced by these chosen methods of implementation.

This is not to say that there are not new takes on old ideas…some recent masters like Maloof and Krenov (whether you like their styles or not) are evidence that refinements on the ideas of past can lead to very different and new implementations. The results are modern masterpieces, in and of themselves. It’s interesting to contemplate just why the designs of these pieces, new or old, are desirable while others may not be.

I tend to believe that what make certain designs great are the basic elements and proportions on which they are built. Whether it is a modern piece, an antique, or a reproduction, certain elements and proportions are always there in a well-designed piece. I also contend that in design: “Simple is Elegant”. The most basic proportions and details can yield designs that are stunningly beautiful and extremely functional. Yet, an over-embellished piece may appear gaudy or contrived. All of the elements of the design need to work together in harmony in order for the suite of elements to sing.

The works of Stickley and Harvey Ellis or the Shakers are probably some of the best examples of an understated elegance (the first picture is a reproduction of an Ellis dresser design that I built, the second picture is a beautiful Shaker Rocker by Kerry Pierce). Have you ever seen a Shaker piece that did not have a simple balance and beauty to its design? I have not. Although often simple in design, Arts & Crafts pieces from the past usually have pleasing proportions and functional details that make them stand out. Likewise, a design that lets the beauty of the material itself speak is often much more appealing than one in which the embellishments overwhelm the material (and the design for that matter).

Again, building on what Chuck discussed: it’s not the details of how something was built but rather all of the elements taken as a whole that, in my mind, determine the merit of a design. Perfectly executed dovetails on a box with dubious proportions do not satisfy the requirements of good design – better to have a box with appealing proportions and simple rebates to join it at the corners. Taking this a step further, what if the box has good proportions, but the dovetails do not? My point here is that the concepts of detail, proportion and design can be examined iteratively from a more and more focused perspective.

At some point you probably do have to consider the craftsmanship with which a piece is built. However, I always remind myself that exquisite craftsmanship will not make up for poor design. Similarly, good design will not reach its full potential with substandard craftsmanship. I like to look at this as a kind of harmony between the object and its maker – much like the harmony between the design elements of the object. In my view, simple is elegant here as well. The methods by which a piece is constructed and/or finished should be simple and functional. Going beyond this certainly has the potential to compete with and/or overwhelm the elements of the overall design.

It will be interesting to follow Chuck’s blog on this and to also take this discussion further here. I’d be interested in your thoughts on design and what makes certain pieces great and others not so. Please leave me a comment here using the comments link that the end of the post or send me an e-mail at thecraftsmanspath@gmail.com.

After getting the body together, the next step in the process was to trim the overhanging material from the back and top to be flush with the top and then to rout the channels for the binding and purfling. The binding will be placed along the seams of both the back and top where they join the sides of the guitar in order to hide the end grain that would otherwise show. The purfling is a strip that is placed adjacent to the binding all along the perimeter of the top of the guitar for decorative purposes. In my case, the binding is Ivoroid and the purfling is a black and white Herringbone pattern.

I have to say that this was the most nerve-racking part of the build so far. After all of the work that has gone into building the box up to this point, the idea of taking a router to it was a bit daunting! As I will explain, this operation had the added complication of dealing with the arch of the top and back while routing to maintain the router in perfect position so that the channels were at the appropriate depth and width to receive the binding and purfling.

I didn’t take any pictures of the flush trimming operation, but I will walk through the binding/purfling operation because the same procedure and jig were used to first trim the top and back flush with the sides. Of course, this was done with a flush-trimming bit in the router.

What you realize very quickly when examining into how to perform this operation is that because of the arches in the top (1/5 degrees) and especially the back (5 degrees), the router base - even on a small laminate trimmer - will not allow the cutter to remain parallel with the sides while moving around the guitar. Similarly, because of the varying contour of the back and top the cutter may also have a tendency to move up and down during the cut leaving you with channels that vary in size.

There are varying ways to deal with the challenges posed by this situation. Everything from scoring and cutting the channels by hand with a specialized tool to creating an elaborate telescoping and/or vertically movable fixture for the router to mount on while moving around the guitar body. In the end, I opted for a compromise and created a simple jig for my Bosch Colt router. In the pictures you can see the jig clamped into position on the router base. The main section is designed to align with the bearing of a rabateing bit that cuts the correct depth channel. If If this section is held vertical and in contact with the side of the guitar while routing the channel will have a uniform depth. To help with this there is a small piece double-stick taped to the router base, effectively moving the base contact point very close to the edge of the guitar where the arch will not affect the width of the channel being routed. The last picture shows the router in position to rout the channel for the binding.

The operation started with trimming the back and top to be flush with the sides. There are some other issues to deal with here concerning grain direction. Because of the rotation of the bit and moving with and against the grain there was a danger of tearing out pieces of the back and top during the routing operation. As a result, I first made a series of clockwise climb cuts in select places and then followed up with a complete pass around the guitar in the standard counter-clockwise direction. The picture shows the path of the clockwise climb cuts in red and the following counter-clockwise pass in blue.

Routing the channels for the binding was next. Even though the back had more arch to deal with, I started there thinking that if I made a mistake, any fix would be less noticeable on the back. The four climb cuts came first and then the standard cut. This was done with a bearing on the rabateing bit which cut a channel that was bout .60″ deep to match the thickness of the bindings. Things went OK on this, with a couple of bobbles of the router that will require some hand cleanup. So, then it was on to the top following an analogous procedure. Again, things went OK but some hand cleanup will be required. Next, I switched bearings on the bit, reset the cutter depth and adjusted the jig to allow routing of the purfling channel along the top - same sequence of cuts with lots of trepidation! Again, a bit of hand cleanup will be required but, the stepped channels for the top binding and purfling are now in place.

In the pictures you can see the results of the operations along with the dry fit of the binding and purfling. The jig worked well. Probably the only thing I would change the next time is to use a slightly smaller piece for the contact point so it is affected even less by the contour of the back and top. Also, I found that keeping the body stationary while routing was a challenge. It turned out that keeping the router in position was not that hard with the help of the jig but, keeping the body from moving during the operation was an issue. The next time I think I will create a fixture that clamps and raises the body into a stable position for the operation.