F12 Binding Pulling Away From Nut

[Hal Loflin]

I have a 1975 F12 and the binding is pulling away at the nut. It is about 1/8 of an inch on both sides of the nut, the fretboard has remained intact just the binding has the gap. There also appears to be a little movement on the binding around the fret board (bottom side of the binding where it meets the wood) down both sides of the neck. There are no gaps just signs of the varnish not even with the binding. Both these issues have not effected the play abililty one bit but if I am heading for problems I would like to know what to do or is this common with raised fret board F12s?

Thanks

[sunburst]

Plastic binding shrinks. That makes it pull away from the nut as it gets shorter, and could be the cause of the movement you detect at the bottom side of the binding.
It's common to find shrunken bindings on older instruments and it's not a structural problem.

[Mando Medic]

You are heading for having to replace the binding. It's not uncommon to find plastics from that era unstable. I am seeing lots of instruments from the 60's and 70's that will need to have binding replaced. Time to get it to your Luthier. Kenc

[Hal Loflin]

Kenc/Sunburst:

Thanks for your info on the binding. Is this something that I need to address right away or, since it is not effecting the playability, can just watch and get done later?

Thanks, Hal

[sunburst]

No hurry. It is only a cosmetic problem.

In the interest of preserving originality I'd probably add some pieces of binding to repair it and leave the originals there.
It probably wouldn't make a huge difference in the value of the instrument either way, but these things tend to have a higher market value than intrinsic value because it says "Gibson" on there, so I try not to modify things any more than necessary.

One of the problems that shows up sometimes is the little "Gibson tabs" at the ends of the frets. As the binding shrinks , sometimes they aren't at the ends of the frets anymore. I've heated the binding and stretched it 'til they lined up again, but only on instruments that are valuable enough to be worth the extra work.

[Mando Medic]

I'd watch the area around the binding to be sure that the binding is shrinking and not pulling wood with it. Usually the binding will pull away from the wood as it shrinks and not pull wood with it, sometimes it pulls wood and cracks it. I too have pieced binding when it shrinks, and it works for awhile until it shrinks more. If it bothers your playing or is pulling wood and finish, then you need to replace it. Kenc

[Hal Loflin]

Thanks Guys....This information is very helpful!

Hal/Nashville