Now that the binding is attached to the Tele body, I needed to scrape it flush with the surface of the body (so you can’t feel it). Then some final sanding of the whole body. After the sanding was done, I found another small mod to make.

To smooth out the binding, I used a card scraper. This is a piece of thin steel with a straight/smooth edge and a burr added to one edge. The burr is a small sharp hook that scrapes off incredible thin pieces of material and leaves a nice smooth finish.

NGL, this was a royal pain and very tedious! I broke a small piece off near the neck pocket that will need to be glued back on.

Next step is sanding. I use 220 to sand everything nice and smooth. Then wipe it with water to raise the grain and sand it again after it dries. Then some light sanding with 320.

The binding and sanding came out great! I left a few “apprentice marks” in there that will add to the character.

I got the neck on and noticed an adjustment I wanted to make. The fretboard was a bit high off the body for my taste, so I decided to make the neck pocket deeper by 3/32″. This means I get to use my favorite tools again!

I marked off the new neck pocket depth with a marking gauge. Then I got to work with my router plane.

Next stop, pinkville!