Binding or no binding on Tele body?

[alexreinhold]

Guys, quick one...

I'm about to order a tele body with a swamp ash top on a mahogany core. I'm planning on doing a black stain finish.

My plan is to get no binding at all. Any cons? I mean, if I have to get binding, it'd be black.

 

[teleme01]

interesting topic,  binding wont make it sound any better,  so the deal is cosmetic,  do you build pretty guitars,  good sounding guitars,  both?  I have a shovel theory whereas a tool isnt meant to look pretty,  its to do a sound job,  but then again i am not selling guitars,  ugly guitars probably dont sell as well as pretty ones. 

 

[Seamas]

Guitar is to be painted black or stained black?

 

[alexreinhold]

Guitar is to be painted black or stained black?

.

Stained. But fairly opaque.

 

[DuckBaloo]

Finshing yourself or having Warmoth finish? I assume the former, binding will require scrapping between finishing and clear coating.

 

[alexreinhold]

The plan is to make it look as natural as possible. If that's possible without binding, I'm clearly favoring no binding

 

[mayfly]

I love binding on telecasters, but in this case I'd have to say...

.... no binding!

 

[BroccoliRob]

tbh i think dark binding on a dark body looks li'l silly. binding should contrast. but hey, dawg, Be the junk in the trunk you want to see in the world

 

[Rick]

A black guitar should get white binding, not black … but if it floats your boat do it.  So … it’s either none, white or pearloid.

 

[alexreinhold]

No binding it is. Just wanted to make sure there is no visual glitch/weirdness when choosing a different top wood and no binding.

I should have been a bit clearer. I never had the intention to do binding - it was more of a technical question rather than a call for aesthetic advice. Thanks everyone! This thread is hereby closed and resolved

 

[Wolff05]

Take into account comfort also. Binding creates a sharper edge radius. If you're going without contours, binding might be uncomfortable, especially on your forearm.