It’s the luthier’s scarlet letter: a bad binding job.
Those ugly gaps and uneven lines are more than a simple mistake; they’re a very visible, permanent scar. For a builder, it reflects a shortcoming—not enough experience, a bad method, or a simple slip. But the real devastation is the timing. It’s a failure at the finish line. After you’ve poured countless hours into a million perfect little steps to get to that point, a flawed binding job is utterly heartbreaking. It all traces back to a hidden, geometric problem: the non-square channel caused by a router tilting on an angled guitar back.
📚 Dan Erlewine’s Elegant Solution
This is precisely the kind of high-stakes problem Dan Erlewine excels at solving. He didn’t just accept this frustration; he engineered an elegant solution that de-risks one of lutherie’s most nerve-wracking tasks. Watch how he makes a complex problem simple.
💡 The Genius of Staying Square
The beauty of the TrueChannel Jig is that it solves a complex problem with an almost obvious mechanical principle. It “takes away the human mechanical variables,” transforming a high-wire act into a guided, repeatable process. As Dan shows, the jig simply rides along the top edge of the instrument, using it as a stable guide. This single point of contact forces the router bit to remain perfectly square to the sides, regardless of the back’s radius. The result? A perfect, 90-degree channel, every single time.
⚙️ A Closer Look: The Engineering of Precision
For a high-ticket item, understanding the mechanics is key. Let’s break down the two critical adjustments that make this jig so effective and versatile.
- Dialing in the Height.
Guitars have different body depths and binding comes in different heights. The jig accounts for this with a simple and robust height adjustment. The entire router mount slides up and down on the main vertical tower, allowing you to precisely position the router bit exactly where you need it on the guitar’s side. This ensures your binding channel is perfectly centered and consistent all the way around the body. - Controlling the Depth with Bearings.
While the jig keeps the cut square, the depth of the channel is controlled by the bearing on your router bit. This is why using a dedicated Binding Router Bit Set is so important. By swapping out the bearings, you can precisely set how deep the bit cuts into the wood, allowing you to create stepped channels for multi-layered bindings with absolute precision. The jig handles the X-axis (squareness), the bearings handle the Y-axis (depth).
🎸 Beyond Acoustics: A Tool for Your Entire Fleet
For a builder like me—an “intelligent hack” who is learning—the goal is to build smart systems. This jig isn’t just for one type of guitar; it’s a “one system to rule them all” for binding jobs. It works flawlessly on carve tops, flat tops, and just about anything that has binding. This versatility means you don’t need a drawer full of different ad-hoc solutions. You master one perfect, universal workflow, which is satisfying and unlocks the ability to confidently take on work for customers, not just personal projects.
💰 The Investment in Flawless Lines
Let’s be honest: taking a high-speed router to the edge of a nearly finished instrument is terrifying. This jig acts as a “confidence multiplier.” It doesn’t ask you to be a robot; it provides a safety net that lets you leverage the speed of a power tool without the risk of a project-ending mistake. It’s a strategic investment in a guaranteed, professional-level outcome.
You’re buying your way out of a skill gap, which is the smartest move a craftsman can make. The core of the system is the StewMac TrueChannel Binding Routing Jig. (Note: This is a pro tool and can sometimes be out of stock, but it’s the one to get). Of course, the jig is only half the equation. You’ll need the right bits to make the cut, and the StewMac Binding Router Bit Set is engineered to work perfectly with it.
✨ The Payoff: “Glad I Called That Guy”
When the binding is glued, scraped flush, and that first coat of finish makes the seam disappear into a single, perfect line, the feeling is incredible. It’s that “Billy Madison” moment where you look at the perfect result and think, “Glad I called that guy.”
You outsourced the risk to the right tool. From that moment, you feel the excitement that you CAN and WILL build more guitars and get this critical step right, every time. You’ve proven you can identify a high-stress “mini job” and apply a targeted solution to reduce its stress to zero. That’s the win.
What’s the one binding ‘trick’ or tool that saved a project for you? Share your wisdom below.
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