Fretboard binding - how does yours look?

[LH575]

So how is the finish of your binding on the fretboard?

 

On my H555, the binding looks good from a foot away, but as you look closer, you can see some tool marks.  Also, on the headstock end of each fret, there is a little divot in the binding, about the width of a fret.  Looks like it was from a file.  It's on pretty much every fret though.  Wierd.

 

How does eveyone else's look?

 

But the guitar play like a dream.....

[wingnut1]

Mine are cut really nice.  I have some of the divots you are talking about on my Gibson Les Paul standard.

[DrFrankStein]

Both of mine are super clean except for right at the nut, there are some tool marks, but I can't feel them when I play.

[LH575]

Thanks for the replies, fellas.  I hate that this otherwise perfect guitar has this flaw.  I can live with it, but I emailed Heritage to see what they can do.  We'll see.  I think that a bit of filing can fix it.

 

Got to my site, lightcolorcontrast.com and click on "Guitar" at the top of the page for a few pics.

 

Thanks again!

 

LH575

[grayta]

I got curious and checked my whole 535-it's about as good as good can get when done by hand.  A couple of spots I can feel a slight inconsistency, one small bit of over-spray in one spot (I mean like 1/32 over where it should have been) and a couple of VERY small dots of blue in two places (one chipped off with my thumb nail, the other I'll take care of).  Same as I'd expect from the Gibby Custom Shop.

 

Sorry to hear yours wasn't what you expected.

[soybean]

Did you buy your H new? Maybe the frets were dressed sloppily after the fact. Or even re-fretted?

[Thundersteel]

ALL of the Heritages I've owned have fretboard filing marks. However, NONE of the G*****ns I own have them. Hmmmmm....

 

But, similar what LH575 said, my Heritage still plays and sounds very good!

[Gitfiddler]

OK, since you asked...my Sweet 16 has a slight dip or divit in the first fret at the binding.  It is obvious whoever made the guitar got a little too aggessive with the file in that one area.  There is absolutely no impact on the playability or intonation.  (Sounds like an Ebay ad, doesn't it?!) 

 

I consider that one of her 'beauty marks'.... Like a mole on the face of a gorgeous woman.

 

The guitar is otherwise perfect.

[Dick Seacup]

There isn't any binding on my 137D ;D so I checked the Millennium DC...there are clear file marks next to the nibs, nothing in the fretboard itself, however.  I'm pretty certain that a little judicious Dremel action could polish file marks out, but it's a cosmetic, not functional, issue, so I'm not about to bother.  Beyuoned the file marks, I also noticed that there are maybe five spots on the multi-ply binding on the body front where the sunburst finish wasn't completely removed prior to clear coating.  That's more of a bummer to me than the file marks.  But, even so, I'm not that bummed out at all...this guitar plays like nothing else I've owned.  This is the first guitar where I haven't felt like I was using a death grip to cleanly fret chords. 

[drewzee87t]

Same on my millenium 2k, got the file marks on the fretboard, I don't even care about some irregularities at the frets on the binding, that's called hand crafted, but failing to sand out some filing to at least a 200 grit, that's just meeting timelines or whatever. I am going to be asking for these things to be fixed. My 95 LPC from that other company has perfect smooth even polished fretboard, but I can find flaws with file marks in the actual frets. Both play pretty well. I would like to hear from people who have body binding that is cracking or looking like it wants to separate.

[doggy1972]

My H170 hasnt got fretboard binding but, the body binding around the inner section of the horns is a little rough.Looks like pieces have been glued in. Almost as if the binding was cut to the wrong size and filled. Then the stain was applied over the pieces that were too big or, the wrong size.However this is still visable. I think if you look closely at most new guitars you can find finish flaws. For me its not a problem but, I agree that if you are paying high prices for hand crafted guitars you ought to expect a flawless finish and attention to detail. Things like badly mounted pickups and high frets are inexcusable though. As are those horrid plastic nuts that they have started putting on a lot of even higher priced guitars. That is one of my big hates and I think that having spent the effort on making a beautiful work of art, these companies spoil it by putting a useless badly cut nut on to it. How much does this stuff cost? Unfortunately a lot of the guitar buying public expect guitars to play out of the box. As a consequence, a lot of people give up playimg early on due to badly set up instruments.

Rant over.