Well if it hasn't been obvious I'll tell you a small secret ... I've been avoiding the binding task like I avoided the H1N1 flu!!! My previous binding experience on the StewMac F5 I built in 2006 was traumatic and I'm pretty sure damaged my psyche for life. It's simply NOT a pleasant experience in my mind ... the binding on an F5, particularly around the scroll and headstock is the first place I look to determine the craftsmanship with which the instrument was built. A sharp, clean scroll with tight even binding is a thing of beauty ... it's why F style mandolins (assuming of course they sound good!) are so much more expensive than A style mandolins ... the carving of the scroll, the difficulty of artistic binding are things that take incredible patience and skill to master and when done by a master are obvious marks of quality. At this point in my lutherie efforts I aspire to be an "average or better student" ... "journeyman skills" are several builds down the road but I am enjoying the journey!
So ... since I received the TrueChannel jig for Christmas I had procrastinated to the point where action had to be taken. My thought was to fashion a "dummy" mandolin body just to run thru the jig to see if there were any obvious trouble spots ... now a couple of important points here ...
1 - I used MDF for the dummy .. MDF has no grain ... basically it's "paper" ... and as such it routes very cleanly with essentially no danger of tearout. Not the case at all with spruce, maple or other typical woods one would use to make a mandolin. That being the case this testing will not reveal any trouble spots in that regard.
2 - The MDF is FLAT ... as in NOT CONTOURED like the body of an F style mandolin. But, in fairness that is one of the touted advantages of this jig ... "the contour isn't supposed to effect the routing because of the 'floating' nature of the jig ...". So ... if we believe the premise then we can at least "tell ourselves" that this won't hide any real trouble spots ... I'm TRYING to believe that ... really I am!!
3 - This test is on a dummy blank with NO NECK attached ... unlike the F4 I started in camp with Roger. I believe that future builds I do I will choose to route the binding ledge BEFORE attaching the neck ... that's the way I do it with guitars and it seems to me to give me much more movement freedom than having the neck attached ... but regardless, the F4 I'm building DOES have the neck attached and I'll deal with it when the time comes. That is one suggestion I need to make to Roger for future camps .. consider finding a way to cut the binding ledge in camp ... I understand the time constraints Roger and his team are working under to get a mandolin "in the white" finished in just under five days but the the difficulty of the binding ledge has lead to several anxious emails between us Class #1 campers discussing the task and how we wish it could have been done "under supervision".
So enough rambling ... this posting will only be the testing of the TrueChannel jig and not the actual cutting of the ledge on the F4 ... I will save that for another posting! Kinda like a "cliff hanger on TV" ain't it ???
This is the body blank I fashioned ... showing the direction of the cuts I would make on an actual "wood" body ... it took me quite a bit longer to fashion the dummy body and attach it to the jig than it did to do the actual routing!!!
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A shot showing how I fashioned the dummy to sit up on the carriage of the jig ...
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I decided a little baby powder would make the movement of the carriage around the board smoother ... it worked fine!!
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Almost slipped up here ... it is important to have clearance around the whole body on the jig ... since this "dummy" is considerably 'thinner' than a real mandolin body I discovered I needed to raise it up a bit (the jig provides leveling screws that make this easy) to clear the pilot bearing set screw...
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Time to rock and roll!!! When the "real moment" comes ... I'm gonna be sweating bullets!
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Drum roll .... and in about 3 minutes it was basically all over but the shouting ...
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Close up around the scroll area ....
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How far I could go on the scroll ...
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Easily around the heal cap treble side ...
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These next few pics show where I would CONSIDER stopping to avoid tearout ... I MIGHT risk the climb cut indicated by the arrows just to see if I'm having a lucky day ... on MDF as will be obvious ... it isn't an issue since there is no grain ...
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see why we should make mandos out of MDF ...
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This is a close as I could come with the pilot ...
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... and just a couple of shots of showing that the binding would lay in this channel very nicely ... just dry fit of course ...
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So ... that would be "the test" ... at this point and taking into account the things that I know are "different" from the real thing I have to say I am encouraged! ... It LOOKS like this jig works as advertised and although I fully expect some difficult benchwork ahead on this task I think this will be "better than the last one ..." (he said hopefully and with just a smidgen of trepidation ... )
I have at this point also inlaid the headstock ornamentation and will reveal that as soon as the glue dries and I have it sanded down to my satisfaction ...
We return you now to your regular programming ...
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