Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Spiral/comb binding machines.

Does anyone use these spiral or comb binding machines for their sheet music?

Personally I like to group sheets rather than keep them all loose, so i was thinking of getting a spiral binder and wondered if anyone had any tips for using them or a type to buy?

I have a binder and three hole punch. Works fine and I can swap pages in and out,

I use a 3 ring binder for loose sheets and I have taken books to the copy store to be spiral bound. I dislike immensely the bindings that won't let you keep a page open!

Me too.
I was thinking of getting one of the larger spiral binders so I could "convert" a couple of my books. Just don't want to spend the money only to find it not fit for purpose.

If you don't have a whole lot of books to convert it might be easiest to just go to a copy center and have them bind it for you. I believe it only costs a few dollars, and they have better equipment than you would probably want or need to invest in. I have had that done to some of my books in the past and it certainly makes life easier.

The standard, wire spiral-binding can put some pretty good scratches on your music desk--- beware (if you care about it). A plastic-covered spiral-binding wire exists. Also, a straight plastic wire, but that is often too wimpy.

I am not fond of the plastic comb-binding (it is hard to turn the pages, and it tends to chew up the paper at the bound edge), but it may be the lesser of two evils. Ring-binders can have a metal fastener on the spine, which can do the same job of scratching the music rack. Not all have it.

Personally, I find that for the shorter pieces (up to 8 pages or so), it is easier to scan the pages from books I've bought, and print them out, duplex back-to-back, taping two pages together: one turn gives you four pages. It's flat as flat on the music desk, easier to find than rummaging through music books, and you can mark it up all you want. My second choice would be the three-ring binder with a smooth plastic spine, not too big.

It pays to be sure the title and page number is on every page.

A copy center does a pretty good job of this, for a modest cost. Be sure they understand exactly what the job is, and check to see that the pages are in proper order back-to-back, before you accept the finished job.

I did in the past, using the plastic rings

But the rings keep breaking and it's much more convenient to spread out the piece over the music desk to avoid turning pages while playing. So now I keep each piece on one-side printed pages in plastic maps.

The easy way to avoid scratches from three ring binders is to put some music, preferably a piece just a few pages long, on the music desk underneath the binder. Another solution is to purchase one of these:
http://www.pianocouture.com/Music_Desk_Studio_Pad_p/st-md-bg1.htm

A good scanner, photoscore software, IPad, Airturn BT105.....

If I don't have the music originally in a music book i usually have it in a .pdf on the computer.
If it is in a book I just scan the pages and then print them out with my laser printer, use a three hole punch then put them into a binder after putting adhesive reinforcements on the holes on the sheets.
I find the binder is a much better method than the spiral binding since the pages last much longer before getting torn up.
But if they eventually get torn up, no problem since I just print them out again since they're always on my hard drive.

Well, I just typed 'binding machines' in Google, and this forum came up so, I thought, why not ask these people?

I was wondering if any of you use Fellowes Star machine for binding pages, 'cause i wanted to buy that one to bind my thesis and I wanted to ask for some experiences, good or bad, whatever.

Thanks.

I have used Kinkos here in the States (Now FedEx/Kinkos) for years, it is an all-service copy shop.

$5 per book for coil binding, which is black plastic spiral. I HATE comb binding, next to worthless.

lol!
Welcome to the forum GarlandJ.

Good luck with your thesis!
Back in the dark ages when I got my degree, the university took care of all the binding. As a candidate I only had to pay the fee, after writing it of course.