How to Question on Binding?

[Jigsisme]

Newbie here, just curious if anyone has some info concerning binding on solid body guitars? I want to puchase a used guitar but it has binding (abalone) around the whole body, neck, and headstock and I think its aweful! Is there a way to take it off and replace it with a black binding? If so what is the product I could use as "binding", where do you get it and how do you do it?

Greatly appreciated,
WILL


BTW...I'm working on my 1st Warmoth project and will be posting pics/bio when its finished.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

Oh, you'd have to destroy all of that nice abalone with a router, I think.

 

[newmexstrings]

Sounds like a Schecter. Not real abalone...plastic dreck. Regardless, pick another guitar to buy, not an easy procedure.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

You don't want to turn abalone shell into dust either, tends to be carcinogenic when ya breathe it.  I would also suggest looking at a different guitar than try that.
Patrick

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

You don't want to turn abalone shell into dust either, tends to be carcinogenic when ya breathe it.  I would also suggest looking at a different guitar than try that.
Patrick

Yeech, I didn't know that.  Although I like the look of it, that just there puts me off abalone until a cure for cancer is found.  :-\

 

[ByteFrenzy]

That's only if you turn it into dust and then inhale it. You should always wear a mask when doing that kind of work. I am not aware of any material that would be GOOD for your health if you inhale its dust.

And don't worry too much about the carcinogenic properties of Abalone. That really is only if you inhale the dust. If you are inclined to lick the Abalone binding of your guitar, I expect that you will get some problems but cancer is not one of them.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

That's only if you turn it into dust and then inhale it. You should always wear a mask when doing that kind of work. I am not aware of any material that would be GOOD for your health if you inhale its dust.

And don't worry too much about the carcinogenic properties of Abalone. That really is only if you inhale the dust. If you are inclined to lick the Abalone binding of your guitar, I expect that you will get some problems but cancer is not one of them.

Sill, I wanted to work with abalone on my bass projects. I may just leave it alone. I would wear a mask if I were to work with abalone, but I might resort to the extremes:

To tell the truth, cancer scares the **** out of me.

 

[ByteFrenzy]

To tell the truth, cancer scares the **** out of me.

It should...

And it's one thing to develop cancer because it runs in the family, or due to increased UV as a result of what is happening to our atmosphere, or a thousand reasons you don't really have too much control over. But getting it because at one point in your career you were careless while sanding/painting a musical instrument is kind of dumb. Same goes for smoking.

Obviously, since smoke from brush fires also means particles getting into your lungs, that is going to increase your risk of cancer as well. I'm pretty sure that over the coming years you'll find the areas that had fires and those that didn't reflecting in cancer rates.

 

[Jigsisme]

It was just a thought...Appreciated.

WILL