Resolving Problems With Electric Guitar Bindings

With guitar companies all ready to hop on the bandwagon and snazzy up their instruments in any way possible to catch your eye, you may have noticed a new trend that has been spreading around like wildfire; binding.

Binding is a nonspecific “ring” around your guitar’s body, neck, and headstock, or any of the three individually or combined.

These bindings range in color, size, and even shape, and guitar companies use different materials to create different desired effects (i.e. sparkly, shiny, dull, bright, et cetera).

In this article, we will talk a bit more about guitar binding, and some of the general problems that people tend to face with these bindings.

Guitar Tricks offers an immense wealth of information and resources for guitarists of all levels. If you want to see fast results in your guitar playing, check them out today!

Understanding the Various Types Used in the Market

First off, if you want to take a good look at different binding types, the best place to do so is on the internet. Try looking at guitars made by manufacturers such as ESP, ESP/LTD, Schecter, Ibanez, Gibson, and any other popular brand that tends to gear their instruments toward rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and other extreme music styles.

If you have a guitar and it has a color around the edges that is different than the overall paint scheme of the body or headstock, or even the neck wood (usually this is rosewood, but can be ebony wood or maple wood, although maple wood tends not to have a binding as it is one piece and hard at that) then your guitar has binding.

The Guitar is Only As Strong As Its Weakest Point

The biggest problem that guitarists who buy instruments with a binding face are the binding peels. Peeling off is a large issue, seeing as you pay for your guitar to look a certain way and you want your guitar to stay looking that way.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t just peel when pulled at or chipped away; it can peel due to weather, as most companies use less than satisfactory means of applying the binding, and it won’t always withstand the elements. Another issue is that binding makes your guitar more susceptible to damage.

While this doesn’t mean that binding weighs your guitar down and causes it to fall all over the place, it does mean that if you bang your guitar, even lightly, there is a chance that you will chip off a portion of the binding.

Yet another pitfall of buying a guitar with gaudy, sparkly, over-the-top binding. Keep this in mind if you like these types of guitars, as this should be part of the determining factor in whether or not you make the purchase.

Get a Decent Quality Guitar From a Reputable Brand for Peace of Mind

In the end, other than the stated issues, there aren’t too many problems with binding on a guitar. As we said, it all comes down to your personal taste. It also depends on how much research you do into the company that produces the guitar.

A few cases of binding issues aren’t too bad, but the more there are, the more chances it means you will wind up with the issues as well, so be sure to do your research before making any final decision. Good luck with your purchase!

Hands Down The Best Program Ever to Be Created

For the most effective step-by-step guitar method, we highly recommend Gibon’s Learn & Master Guitar course. This award winning DVD program is currently on a 3-day sale and you get to save $100 off the usual price today!

Click here to learn more details and purchase the course before this promotion ends…