Twill Tape - Luthier Tips du Jour Mailbag
In this episode, luthier Robbie O’Brien shows how to use twill tape to wrap the guitar when installing bindings.
Video Transcription
[on-screen text reads: Luthier Tips du Jour Mailbag]
Mailbag question: Why do people wrap their guitar when binding it, and how do you do it?
Robert O'Brien: Today's Tips du Jour Mailbag question comes to us from Florida. "Robert, I've seen some people wrap the guitar when binding it. What is the reason for this and how do you do it? Bill in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida."
Why we wrap a guitar when binding
Very good question, Bill, and beats me. I have no idea. No, seriously. The reason why we do that is any little minute gaps between the binding, the purfling, and the top and the back, if you wrap that guitar, you can help pull that up and get a little tighter seam on the binding and the purflings.
Now, the material I use, some people use small rope or twine or something like that. I use a material called twill tape, and it's the material that you see in the collars of some shirts, like rugby shirts or sport shirts, and I use the heavy-duty, one-inch-wide variety, and I need about 30 meters or somewhere about 95 to 100 linear feet. That's enough to do a guitar. A lot of times, I get a question about, "Where do you find this stuff?"
Twill tape
Well, one of my students of several years ago said, "Hey, you are not going to believe this, but there's actually a website called twilltape.com." So, go out there and get the one-inch-wide, heavy-duty variety because it comes in all sizes and shapes, but the one-inch-wide, heavy-duty variety is what I use here in my shop, and once again, about 95 to 100 linear feet or somewhere around 30 meters is what you need.
How I wrap my guitars
Now, how do you wrap it? Well, that takes a little bit of practice. You can see it done a lot of times, but until you actually roll up your sleeves and wrap that guitar, it's a little tough to get the sequence down. I highly recommend that you practice wrapping before you actually have to do it. Now, I've got a guitar over at my bench right now. What are the chances of that? I know you find that amazing that I've got a guitar on my bench right now just waiting to be wrapped right after I bind it, and I'll show you how to do it. Let's go over to the bench and get it done.
Okay, so this is my twill tape. I've got it ready to go. Here's my guitar. I just bound it. So, I start by just wrapping a piece across the waist like this and then pull it tight, really tight. Put a piece of it over that and that locks it in with your thumb. Come around, go underneath it as far back to this lower bout as you can without wanting to slide off, usually right about in there [Robert wraps the twill tape around the guitar from the waist to the lower left bout on the other side of the guitar]. Pull it up tight. Lock it in with your thumb again.
And then I'm just going around, coming a little bit closer on this side, a little bit on that side, and you want to be in the same location on both sides of the upper or the bouts here, so that you're getting this crisscross effect going on, and right about now, people have sweat rolling down their head, veins popping out of their forehead, and it really doesn't need to be that way guys. Watch when I put the pressure on. Now, I put the pressure on, and then I lock my thumb on. Then I can relax. Then I come in, do it again [Robert is wrapping the twill tape over the lower bout and the waist on the other side of the guitar]. Now, I put the hurt on it and then relax, and right about now is the time you've figured out you've wrapped your shop apron up in there and you're stuck. So, don't let that happen to you. Happened to a friend of mine once.
Now, when you get like this, you got to start working the upper bout. So, I come under it again and come out at the waist, spin it around. I like to work left-handed. If you don't want to work left-handed, you turn it around and work it this way with your right hand. So, now, come in, pull it tight on that upper bout, lock it in with your thumb, come back over towards the waist [Robert wraps the twill tape around the waist to the upper bout on the opposite side]. This side is working towards the waist. This side is working away from the waist. Pull it up tight. You also don't need to get a blister on your thumb and forefinger here because you're sliding it like this. Just relax it. Pull it along. Had a friend once that that also happened to.
And occasionally, you can see a little bit of squeeze out coming, and you know you're getting things pulled up tight. When you get over here, now, we've got the ends to do. So, I just put it on my gut like that and come over, pull it towards me. I'm going to work right-handed again now. Give it a good tug like that. Come down here at the lower bout [Robert wraps the twill tape from the upper bout to the lower bout on the opposite side]. Give it a good tug. Lock it in with your thumb if you want. You can relax.
Now, down here where you have your seam of your joint coming together, I like to leave that open. So, skip over that. That way, you can see what's going on. If you need to, you can put a clamp in there. So, up here, I'm traveling that way. Down here, I'm traveling that way with my wrap, and you can really put the hurt on it. Of course, you could bypass this altogether if you don't think you need it. If you felt like it came together good with your tape, you're usually okay, and look at that. I usually just put a piece of tape right there. Set it aside for your cure time. Life's good.
Now, you want to see that in slow motion? Here we go.
[Robert replays the video of him wrapping the guitar body. Fast banjo music plays.]
So, Bill in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, thank you very much for your question, and I hope that you've learned how to hog-tie your guitar. Happy building.
[on-screen text reads: More Luthier Tips and online courses available at www.obrienguitars.com. Private and small group guitar building and finishing instruction available.]
