Side binding f5

[mandomaker]

When triple-binding a F5-style peghead, it seems the thickness of the overlay material can cause problems if it is too thin. Mine was purchased from a well-respected vendor but seems too thin to leave room for all three layers. My different sets of plans differ on overlay thickness. What is the prevailing wisdom on how thick the ebony overlay should be and does it differ when the peghead is side bound? Thanks

[amowry]

I don't know what the prevailing wisdom is, but I do try to leave the overlay a little thick-- maybe 7/64" or so.

[Jim Hilburn]

I sometimes add a sheet of veneer to increase the thickness.

[Dale Ludewig]

I agree.

[Mark Franzke]

I also use veneer, but I use it as the stripes instead of laminating the black/white strips to the binding. I bind the peghead overlay and then laminate one or two pieces of black and/or maple under it and then sand it flush, leaving a perfectly straight line from the side. I do the fingerboard the same way.

[mandomaker]

Thanks. Those replies are very helpful. Beautiful work. I was considering adding a second veneer. The preparation for binding (getting the "ledges" right is harder than I would have imagined- and I never expected it to be easy!

[amowry]

I agree. I find it quite a bit easier to bind the overlay before it's glued to the headstock. That way there's no ledge to cut.

[mandomaker]

There was a posting about a year ago that showed a fellow who stacked several overlays, glued at the corners for a gang cut. #It really got interesting when he glued the bottom one (lightly) to something like a wide wooden doorstop ( or wedge) with the F-5 headstock angle. They came out with a little bevel which I thought was elegant, at least in theory. #Deering Banjos binds their pegheads with a piece of formed or cast plastic, so no miters are required. I thought they (the nonexistant miters) looked amazing!

[amowry]

I think you're talking about me-- I used to cut the overlays with the angled edges as you describe. I still cut several overlays in a stack, but I cut them with square edges now. It makes fitting the binding much easier. The trick is to have the binding be quite a bit thicker than its final dimension (I start with 0.13" binding), so when you cut the angles on the peghead edges you can cut/sand away some of the binding without getting it too thin. The final result looks identical whether the angle is on the overlay or just on the outside of the binding.

[mandomaker]

Yes, I wondered about those aspects when I read your original post. It seemed like a good and righteous was to do it in theory though.

[Bill Halsey]

The preparation for binding (getting the "ledges" right is harder than I would have imagined- and I never expected it to be easy!
I use the old factory method, i.e., pierce & inlay the top veneer and laminate it to a thicker one; cut it out and glue the stack to the headstock. Then bind it, sand it flat and follow the binding to saw out the final headstock shape. Note that the 1/16" precut binding material available nowadays is difficult to use in this method; the old factory stuff started out about 0.085" thick, which gives a bit more headroom for sawing at an angle.