Grizzly Ukulele Kit

Since the top was now a bit unstable I decided to install the binding now instead of routing the back and installing all of the binding at once. Before I went any further I decided to wipe down the body with naptha to clean off the wood. I figured once the binding was on the naptha might tend to dissolve either the plastic or the glue. I was rather surprised to see a good deal of color come off! Clearly this isn't raw wood.



Plastic binding can be bent using a hair dryer -- if you have one. It turned out I didn't so I went out and got the cheapest one I could find ($13) and clamped it to my workbench. I moved the binding in front of it and held it in shape when it was soft. And it's not a coincidence that there is a fire extinguisher nearby -- plastic binding is very flamable.



Using the body as a guide I eventually bent it enough to be held in place with little effort. The tape on the binding and the tail of the body is a reference mark I used to align the binding to make fitting it easier.



Once again consulting Stewart MacDonald I used Weld-On Cement to glue on the binding and held it in place with special binding tape. Regular masking tape may have worked, but I figured I'd be using this on several projects so I might as well get the good stuff. I used a relatively thin layer of glue to avoid sqeezing it out onto the body and possibly affecting the finish.



After a couple of days of drying I very carefully removed the tape and was quite pleased with my first attempt at binding! I did manage to cut the binding a bit short (see the gap near the neck joint) but that'll be covered up by the fretboard so I'm not going to fix it. It appears that I used enough glue because it feels nice and solid.