It's prolly not a good idea to practice binding on an otherwise stock 1969 Gretsch. But the binding was crumbling like stale cereal. The worst is on the side of the lower horn, but I kept all the chips and will try to do some archaeology on it once I am done with the binding. The strips were not quite wide enough, but I didn't want to pull them off and start over again, so I will be using the patch and repair method on the gaps, which consists of soaking the tip of a binding strip in Acetone until it melts into goo, scraping a bit off, and puttying in the holes. I have been eager to do this, but would have preferred much LESS of it. The other drag is that the Superglue bonded with the sticky part of the binding tape, so I ended up with hard crusty spots I will have to scrape off. They look terrible, but it's what worked.
This is one of those projects that will look scary right up until the end. The good news is that binding is 1000x easier than I expected. RObert has been hogging the fun! I did not have to heat it before bending, and while the first F hole took four separate pieces, the second took only ONE. I got better, in other words. I scraped and sanded it this morning before work and it is working out swimmingly. I really did glue my index and thumb together last night. It SUCKED.
The 1940s Gretsch is progressing much better. The binding was mostly intact (if a little melty in spots) and will benefit by new lacquer. Who even knows what was covering it in the interim between the OG lacquer and now. Based on pics I found in an auction and old Telecaster photos, I went with a light blonde, except where there were repairs in the wood, where I went thicker. Then I burst the edges with amber to give it a smoky, aged look. Don't worry about that for now. The wet sand is going to soften that quite a bit. Both of these Gretsches have incredible tonez.
This is a Vox Bobcat that was sanded down and primered. I had planned on orange, but decided to take it back to burst (like the first Gretsch). I have not been able to do a good burst yet, so I am determined to get it right. I sanded off the primer, put a light stain on the mahogany, and patched a few holes. There was a crater around the jack, which I fixed with a lining of spruce, and 2-part epoxy putty. It should last as long as the guitar now. I am having to improvise on the parts, but I have a good feeling about it. The body is very light and the neck is in great shape. I am not planning to keep this one, unless it's a dark horse winner. Never underestimate the Italians.
