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Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
All wood shrinks why exposed to low humidity over a long time. I live in Denver and all of my basses with unbound necks need to have the fret ends filed off even though I run humidifiers.
I think,in this case it’s the 70’s high gloss maple bound necks...I guess it’s very labor intensive?
I felt so strongly about it that I never even considered checking to see which basses have binding or not. I guess that puts me at odds with JTE in post #34.
It is definitely going to make a refret more time consuming, finicky, and therefore more expensive. I don’t know if modern materials have helped the situation or not, but I’ve seen many vintage instruments where the binding has either shrunk, distorted in some way or discoloured.
My ancient and venerable '73 J has a bound neck, or whats left of it after 35 years of playing it. the binding is age yellowed and is good on the top. the bottom of the neck is about worn down up to about the 8th fret. But that's ok too. after all those years of Rotosound R66 strings gnawing away at it, the frets are about gone as well. It's still my favorite 4
I think they bound and pearloid blocked them to make the bass look more 'deluxe' but later quit to be more cost effective. What gets me is how fender has (more or less) stuck with that bent piece of tin bridge all these years. I guess that if it works, it works.
Whatever...
Price doesn’t matter really. It even makes a difference within the same make. An SG or LP with binding is considerably more comfortable to play than one without. Play some side by side and tell me which is more comfortable.
No binding, no blocks of any kind unless it's white pearl on maple. Subtle beauty is fine with me. Black/maple neck is too "look at me" for my tastes.
Nice! Why does binding seem to be much more common with maple necks and block inlays than rosewood and dots?
My Squier VM Jazz has bound & blocked neck, of course, with a generous coat of poly over it. It is a gloriously smooth and buttery neck for sure and I love playing it.
But for my next build, I won’t be doing a binding, only block inlays (white pearl on roasted maple). A binding is an expensive aesthetic option that I can live without. It makes fretwork more expensive, too. At Warmoth, Stainless frets are approximately $15 more than nickel frets without binding, but $65 more with binding.
But for my next build, I won’t be doing a binding, only block inlays (white pearl on roasted maple). A binding is an expensive aesthetic option that I can live without. It makes fretwork more expensive, too. At Warmoth, Stainless frets are approximately $15 more than nickel frets without binding, but $65 more with binding.
Binding makes maintaining your frets more involved.
It's another issue to deal with when a refret is needed.
It's another issue to deal with when a refret is needed.
Hot/cold through the seasons or even the same day/night and outdoor gigs in windy drizzle filed air make for binding to be another thing that can go wrong on a heavily gigged bass.
It looks nice when its tasteful.
I like the feel of the frets when Im not playing a fretless, which is what I do now. It's a benefit of frets. I can feel where I am when singing and looking ahead.
Most people cant tell the difference between a bent bridge and a baddass. Same with body wood and many other thongs, but that is another topic...
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I don't prefer binding, but I like it on the instruments I have that have it - Ric 4001, Ric 4003, Gibson Les Paul Triumph. It doesn't show up in the pictures I have though, need to take some more pics at an angle! Gotta post at least one though - '76 Autumnglo 4001
I especially like this one because usually Rics with black trim also have black binding but as far as I know these came like this. The binding on the body doesn't bother me either because I wear it kind of low.
I especially like this one because usually Rics with black trim also have black binding but as far as I know these came like this. The binding on the body doesn't bother me either because I wear it kind of low.
