Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm going to be using a tower type binding jig.

How to prevent cutting into the neck with the bit?
I'm not so confident to "just stop short" of the neck wood, and the heel area is mostly pre-shaped.
I was thinking to HHG small blocks at the heel area as stops for the bit bearing.
Any better suggestions??

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

That's what I do. I make sure to leave at least .125 (I use a .120 wide ledge) in the heel area, or put sacrificial blocks in the heel area. Otherwise, I wind up stopping too far from the neck, and generally not doing a smooth job in that area. You can use spruce so it is very easy to carve away after you are done,
Mike

Another way might be to clamp something to the top of the neck which would act as a stop for the edge of your router base. The size of the base may or may not work for this.

Although I'm always a bit nervous when cutting binding ledges, I've not yet (on my 11th classical) had a problem with this part of the process. I just move real slow when I get close to the neck and make sure I have plenty of light on the situation (do my routing on a table in the out of doors).