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A number of years ago I bought some Teak for another project (not guitar related) I was working on. I was going through my wood pile and ran across a couple of nice pieces of it that I had tucked away.

I was wondering if it would be usable for binding material. I don't think I have heard of anyone using it for guitars and it got me thinking about it as a tone wood.

Does anyone know if it is considered a usable tone wood for guitars? I probably have enough to make a nice set of sides.

My main interest right now is for binding on my current build. My original plan for this was to have white plastic bindings but the more I think about it the less I want to use plastic. I have bound a few guitars (Gibson's and Martins) with plastic and would like to try wood.

The guitar is a parlor with IR sides and back with a spruce top. I was thinking of doing the bindings in curly Koa with red perfling until I spotted the Teak in th back of my wood pile. I am still thinking of the red perfling possibly with black (b/r/b)

Any thoughts on how it would work and look? I am also open to suggestions.

Thanks
Bob

Pics of the woods in question would help. Teak comes in many shades. As does EIR.

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Here is a shot of it next to my headstock veneer which matches my sides pretty well.

This is one of 2 boards I have, both are about the same grain pattern and color. There are a couple of knots in this one but the other is clear.
As I stated in the post above I think it may look nice with red perfling but I am not sure if Teak is good to use on a guitar.

For bindings you can use just about anything that is reasonably tough and will bend - ivory, tortoise shell, ebony, so why not teak? It is a bit on the oily side, so take that into consideration when you select the glue.
Teak may not be a first choice for back and side sets, but many woods are used today that were considered "second rate" a few years ago.
Often it is because they are hard to work (sawing , bending), don't look as nice, or may not yield as good a result as the more usual choices.

I'm not sure why you don't see it used as a back and side wood other than the fact that it is very oily but so are some of the commonly use guitar woods used today. I think it would look great as a binding and a nice compliment to EIR.

Does anyone know how well it would bend? I would be bending it by hand since I do not have a bending machine at this point. I do have access to a bending iron but have no experience with bending yet. I don't want to make this too complex but I am not sure what I was thinking when I ordered the white plastic binding.

This is the idea I am thinking of with the red perfling that I drew up on the computer.

Others may have different experiences but I've never found aliphatic to be good to glue teak with;
I've always used epoxy.

Have never tried bending it.

Bob I have bent teak for bindings with no trouble at all. Bent fairly easy. Glued with Titebond in 2002. Still as sound as the day I glued them.

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that is a very attractive wood combination Bob, if the gluing and finishing issues can be overcome