Ebony for Weissenborn Bindings

[Kim Strode]

I have been making enquires with Australian Luthiers Supplies to supply suitable lengths of ebony for Weissenborn bindings, but with no luck.

Can anyone suggest a source for buying ebony boards at least 1050mm long, which are suitable to make bindings?

Australian Luthier Supplies suggested using black plastic bindings, but I would prefer timber.

[kiwigeo]

All I can suggest is some large fretboard material....dont know of any instrument with a fretboard over 1m in length. Matthew might know of a source of long pieces of ebony.

[Kim]

Being ebony you could quite simply scarf joint some short bits together and, should you have any gaps, ebony dust a CA will make them disappear. In fact this would allow you to ensure a nice even match up as you would be more likely to find some issues or flaws in longer pieces that you would need to live with.

Cheers

Kim

[Richard]

Agreed with Kim -- when I bind with Ebony I simple use regular binding and with dust and CA. The joint is completely invisible.

[James Mc]

Hi Kim
There are a couple of guys in the US that sell on ebay who could help you. But cost of postage and exchange rate could make it expensive. Just had a quick look and with postage it would cost about $240 AUD for a chunk 40 x 115 x 1060mm

How many fretboards could you recover from this if it was a good sound board? May not be as expensive as I thought it would be.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Gabon-Ebony-Blank-1 ... 240%3A1318

[Allen]

I've used some Cocobolo that was almost black that might do the trick as well Kim. I got it from Barry Kerr. If you contact him, he might be able to help you out. I've got his email if you need it.

[hilo_kawika]

Using shorter pieces, beveling the ends and filling with superglue and dust as described above is a reasonable and straightforward approach.

But in the past, when I've had too much trouble with tight bends and ebony binding breaking, I've used strips of black dyed pearwood veneer. They're pretty easy to cut, and three thickness' gives you sufficient depth for the binding and the veneer can be bought in 4-6' lengths.

To put it in the channel, I lined up three thickness's and held them together with a little tape. Then, with about 30 other bits of tape lined up, put the laminate into the channel. Now saturate a short distance of the laminate with superglue and tape it in place. Repeat until you've gone all 'round the binding channel. The superglue both holds the laminates together and holds the laminate in the channel. When the laminate is sanded and finished, it's beautifully black and looks just like ebony.

aloha,

Dave Hurd