How secure is binding?

[MountGower]

G'day,

I hope I have not posted this in the wrong place or forum. I am not a luthier or even pretending to be, but this seems the best place to ask this question.

I have an LTD MH401NT. I will not bore you with what I really think of that huge chunk of wood they have neglected to remove at the top rear as per ....well just about anything.

So to remove this useless (unless cutting your own arm off with your own guitar is a legitimate use) section of wood and make the guitar feel like I might like it one day, I will need to sand through the binding. I am assuming that to take the stress out of this stuff before gluing it, is a given and not a rarity. Following on, my next assumption is that I can just sand through it with fine sand paper and it will not pop of at it's new ends. Am I correct?

Thanks in advance. I love this forum already. Just like I'm going to love this guitar once it's finished being built.

Dean

[kiwigeo]

Welcome to the forum.

Not quite clear on what your problem is. Your guitar is a solid body electric and the binding is not flush with the back of the body? Or are you talking about removing the entire horn on the bass side of the instrument?

[MountGower]

Thanks.

I'm pretty sure you are correct. If you overlay a stratocaster or pacifica in your mind, looking front on, it's the protrusion at the top rear which is unfortunately stopping the blood flow to the hand region. I don't want to sound like a first world victim, but if this turns out to be the worlds slowest amputation and I can't get to a phone before I pass out, anything could happen.

My hope was that I'd get some fine wet and dry and progressively remove material as time and enthusiasm permits until I can feel my hand again. I am a dumb arse for buying it but the neck profile was exactly what I wanted and i couldn't find it with a strat type body. The Ibanez RG hard tail is perfectly comfortable but has a fence paling for a neck. So I am stuck. I decided I can't make a fence paling in to a neck. but I can finish this thing off.

If the binding pops off though.......that's bad.

If it has been heated and formed in a jig and glued with the special sauce..............maybe not so bad?

I don't know my chances.

[MountGower]

Can I give some quick background. I have two old Yamaha guitars. A Pacifica604W and an RGX612A. They have sat in their boxes for 20 years while I spend nearly all day every Saturday sitting on a bike seat and riding to work as much as I could. I wouldn't say I crashed much, but I did so many KMs and the crashes end up adding up. I won't go on. I have a body going from bloody fit to bag of......stuff, and some of my worst injuries about a year ago. I just need to feel comfortable standing for as long as I need to.

I always planned to sand it, but am now seeing that it may go well past the binding. If it's secure, I can ignore it..... I hope.

The Pacifica and the RGX have a strat type roll on the top and feel great.

[kiwigeo]

Well you can sand through your bindings but the end result won't look pretty and you still have the issue of restoring the finish. If it was me I'd take it to a luthier or sell the guitar and buy one that feels more comfortable. If you do your planned surgery and end up with a guitar you still don't like then your chances of selling the instrument for a decent price are zilch and you will have turned a small problem into a bigger one. Sorry but that's about the best advice I can give you.

[Woodsy23]

The binding should be secure. Most likely it was glued into place. If it does come a bit loos where you do your surgery, it can always be easily fixed with CA glue superglue), particularly if you're not concerned about the appearance after the surgery.

[Mark McLean]

Yep - bindings falling off are not likely to be a problem, and can be pretty easily fixed. But the kind of surgery you are contemplating is likely to be ugly, and not disguisable.

You can reshape a solid body electric as much as you like. It is just a lump of wood with some electrical equipment bolted on. But you won’t be able to repair colour or finish easily. If you don’t care about the appearance and you just want a more comfortable shape then go for it - and a rasp or plane is going to get the job done more effectively than sandpaper.

If you want it to look good you need to take it to a professional. But it is usually not worthwhile to try to turn a guitar you don’t like into one that you might like. Better to get another guitar

[kiwigeo]

A question..do you play the guitar mainly while you're standing up or sitting down?

[MountGower]

Thanks for the replies everyone and sorry not to get back before this.

I appreciate how ridiculous this all sounds from the start. I have wasted too much time trying to find a perfectly comfortable and light hard tail to use as a work horse while I am relearning after so many years and now with a few injuries. At this point I am done with the researching and shopping and just want to get on with it.

It's also hit me that I can't walk in to a guitar shop and pick up one version of everything going on to order the model I can afford or buy the one I tried. Making your best guess seems about how it goes. As for it looking bad, that is bothering me less by the moment. Ibanez have a whole range that has raw wood the entire circumference , the RGD. It will be seen by less than 10 people in it's life and I prefer liking it to more shopping.

I feel much more confident that the binding won't come off now, but might have just think about the method.