Paint prep: Binding

[ACNick]

Good morning, gentlemen. I have a few questions I hope you can help me answer.

I am starting the process of preparing an alder body to receive paint. I ordered a few cans of primer, color, and clear coat from ReRanch and printed their guide for applying the paint. While I wait for the cans I ordered to arrive, I figure it would be wise to start the prep work so I can go to the paint booth as soon as the paint is delivered.

In the step-by-step guide they recommend using a grain filler; I applied a coat of slightly watered down wood filler to level out a few small dents and imperfections in the body, then sanded it flat back to bare wood (the filler is still visible where it covered any small dents). Would this count as grain filling as well? The body feels very flat/smooth, especially considering I haven't moved to 220 grit sandpaper yet (I've only sanded it with 120 so far).

But the main question of this post is regarding the sand and sealer step. My bass has a plastic binding, and I don't know how to prepare the plastic for the painting stage. Do I mask the binding before applying the sand and sealer, then peel the masking off after everything has been applied to the wood (sand sealer/primer/paint)? Or is the binding also covered by the sand and sealer, then masked for the primer/paint stages? I know that I need to unmask the binding before spraying the final clear coats, but all the steps before that are unclear to me.

Excuse my long-winded post. In summary: What is the proper way to prepare a body with binding for paint?

[T-Bird]

Hi.

After the painting, You scrape (/sand) the binding clean and apply the clear-coats.

You can mask the binding if You wish, but that will be a bit tedious and can lead to clear wood showing if the masking wasn't absolutely perfect.

Regards
Sam

[ACNick]

Hi Sam. I hadn't thought about the possibility of an imperfect tape line over the binding, that is certainly something to consider. I'm still a bit confused about how to treat the binding during the grain filling, sealing, and primer phase. Any opinions or experience to share? Thanks.

[T-Bird]

Hi Nick.

One question I forgot to ask, wooden or plastic binding?

IMLE that makes a world of difference.
IMLE, because my binding experience is quite low, basically repairs and refins from years (ok, decades) ago. The methods or the materials used haven't changed that much though.

If wood, You usually have to mask the binding from the beginning because of the grain orientation and especially if the individual srips are dyed.
If You don't, You'll probably end up with spotty/blotchy binding.

Plastic is easy, unless You're using something that has the same solvent or softening chemical as the binding (or the adhesive you used for the binding).
That should be avoided at any cost, obviously.
Just leave the binding a hair higher than the wood to allow for the paint build-up and leave it bare for the prep and the paint stages.
If You don't leave the binding a hair higher and there's considerable paint build-up, all is not lost, you'll just have to bevel the binding a bit in order to avoid ruining the finish.

Regards
Sam