DOES BINDING CHANGE NECK FEEL?

[migetkotla]

I would appreciate anyone sharing their experiences with the difference between a neck with binding and the same neck without binding?  I am thinking of ordering a black ebony neck and have no place at the moment for light binding....no white or cream etc....but black binding would fit....even if not seen.  I am using a  black binding design on the body of the guitar and don't want to change colors when going up the neck......so I'm thinking of using black binding on both the guitar body and the neck.  Because the neck will be flame maple with black ebony fretboard, the black binding will not likely be "seen" - will it be felt in any way?  When I slide my fingers up the sides of the neck will it diminish any contact with frets that might extend out a little?  Even if it did just that and provided for smoother barr chord transitions/movement/feel it would be worthwhile.

Thanks for any info you can share!

 

[Cagey]

It depends on how well the frets are done to begin with. If they're ground flush and dressed/polished properly, then I don't notice any difference in feel. But, I do have a theory that since the frets get their tangs undercut to miss the binding when installed, there's less likelihood of "fret sprout" becoming a problem later down the road. Not that Ebony ever shrinks much, but... still. Something to think about.

 

[bagman67]

Try moving to Las Vegas, Cagey  - feel the tangs a-bloomin'.  Two necks with ebony fingerboards have gone sprouty on me since I moved here from Santa Clara six months ago.  I'm gonna try running a humidifier in the room where i keep my gear, and see if I can avoid too much repair work.  But we'll see.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, that's gotta be some seriously dry air you got there. Then the non-stop A/C probably pulls out what few molecules of moisture do have in the air.

Humidity is the way to go, though. Don't fall for the oil thing. Oil doesn't moisturize; it just gums thing up and softens the wood. Can make re-fretting a mess should it ever become necessary. It doesn't take much - if you keep the things cased, there are case humidifiers that work. Usually they're only used for acoustics, but your situation is a little more demanding.

If it was me, I'd clear the sprouts and humidify, both. The fretboard is going to expand/contract over time; better to have frets that end up slightly inside the 'board's dimensions when it's expanded than extend outside when it's contracted. You should only have to do it once. There's not any good way to do that at build time, but once the thing has a home and you know how it's going to behave you can compensate.

 

[stratamania]

I have heard from one builder who binds ebony with ebony as a means of addressing this type of issue. I don't have any further details on it however.

My 80s Hamer has an ebony board and I have never had an issue with it. But then again I don't live in areas of extreme humidity changes. When I gigged with it regularly I always used to leave it in the case for a while after moving it to let it acclimatise more gradually.