Strongly disagree with the recommended way to bind sheet music. The best binding IMO is to do spiral binding. It's pretty common practice actually to take existing music books, cut off the original binding, and replace it with a spiral binding.
Oh, man I hate wire binding with a thunderous passion!
It may look OK when new, but after having travelled a dozen times in your backpack it decomposes in the worst way. Pages start making a creaky sound when turning, they get stuck in the uneven wires, and inevitably start to separate, often from the middle of the page, which is extremely annoying and difficult to fix. When you try to re-fold the wires correctly with your fingers, it becomes worse. The only advantage with respect to spiral winding is that the actual binding act is faster to perform (but it requires a heavy equipment).
Spiral binding, on the other hand, is extremely elegant. It is the most robust shape ever, no matter how you compress it between hardcover books it always performs its job. The only way to separate the pages is by tearing the paper. You can bind them yourself with a simple multi-hole punch, and I actually find it a pleasing thing to do.
By the way, I don't understand your first comment. Spiral bound paper always lies open flat directly. On the other hand, for wire binding it may not (because the papers reach the fold of the wire).
Not the original commenter, but for me, there are four big advantages of loose pages:
1) Much easier to study and annotate
2) They open flat easily, so no clamps required on the music stand
3) Lighter to carry around (Nobody plays a whole book at the same time)
4) You can set up multiple pages in a row if the stand is wide enough.
1) I's easier to rest my hand on the stand and annotate if there is enough thickness to support the paper, especially if the stand is a hollow wireframe. If it's a lone sheet of paper, I tend to just lay it flat against my cello and annotate there (and I must be careful not to mark the wood underneath the paper).
2) Correct. But so do good bindings, to a lesser extent. Many bindings aren't easy to lay flat, though.
3) That depends. If you play the piano, a whole collection of studies sure will be heavy. But a melodic instrument playing a focused piece you will go through? No heavier than separate sheets: you'll use them all anyway.
4) That issue is mitigated by most good editions, where the bottom right corner of the right page is a pause long enough to let you turn. I've seen many poor editions that could be laid out properly, but weren't.
> Only concertos sometimes occupy a whole book. Even then, they also contain the piano accompaniment scores.
Aren't the piano score separate, so you can give them to the pianist? All concerto scores I have a separate, thin, staple bound score for me, and a thicker one for the pianist. (I don't know how they manage to turn their page with the audience hardly noticing.)
Some has a separate, loose solo score, but not all of them. (But I’m mostly talking about carrying scores for practicing and lessons. For performance, the soloist has to memorize the score anyway.)
Ideally, there should be a page turner sitting next to the pianist.
The YouTube channel from SeaLemon (https://www.youtube.com/user/SeaLemonDIY) also has quite a few good bookbinding videos. I've used them to help me through a few projects, and they're quite practical.
If we want to staple bind small books, checkout 360 degree rotating staplers. They are cheap and easy to use and you won't need a long reach stapler. I do "statement" sized (5.5" x 8.5") books this way.
How small are we talking? I recently tried to make a 48-page statement-sized booklet. My conventional stapler couldn't handle 24 pages of printer paper. Could these 360° staplers handle that size? I could either use needle and thread or just leave it unbound, but I'd prefer stapling.
24 sheets is pushing the limit of ordinary 1/4” (6mm) staples. Some staplers might perform better there, but there’s not much headroom. Paper thickness can also have an effect.
Works great for it's functions. I decided to craft my own saddle binding script (a mere 179 lines of code) in python by using the output of this program as a guide. The java program here works well enough for one book at a time. I needed fine control over margins and being able to print two books at a time from the same round of printing.
I make pocket sized books no larger than 72 pages. To achieve a professional result using an inkjet printer it requires about 17 minutes of work and waiting time to produce 2 of them. The paper stacks are cut in half, folded, stapled, crushed in a press, and then trimmed with a sharp paper cutter. It is possible to achieve a remarkable level of quality with these methods.
If working in batches of more books at a time the books printed per hour is increasing but the limit seems largest on the printer which can only print about 2 sides a minute.
I thought there could be no way that an inkjet could possibly compete with a laser printer for cost per page but I was pleasantly surprised when I found ink tank printers. The quality is fantastic at least.
I have a dear friend that bookbinds erotic (and/or taboo, fandom material) since it's more likely to get pulled from the web by censors, harrassors, and other parties. (https://twitter.com/ArmoredHeavy/status/1102422965222887424) It's been honestly inspiring to see the sheer amount of wonderful literature that survives on in the hands of indie bookmakers from both your link, my friend and others.
Bookbinding is a very accessible hobby. There is almost no specialty equipment that is mandatory, except decent PVA/Eva glue. Just sharp blades, rulers. Everything else can be scavenged. I’ve made many hardcover notebooks. I am fond of A5 and A6 form factors, or passport-sized notebooks.
Btw does anyone know where I could find high quality trapper-keeper style hardware in smaller factors (like a5)
For music scores, an alternative to buying a wide-format laser printer (which would print 11x17) is to instead print to Legal size (8.5 x 14) and then go to Kinko's and blow it up to 11x17. It sounds a little funny because the dimensions aren't quite right, but we did this in a film scoring class when preparing conductor scores for a full orchestra, and it worked out well.
The bookbinding in this website is far more advanced than what I typically need.
I usually print out technical documents (and sometimes even code). I bind them with either:
* Staples -- For when I don't care. Staples are the lowest quality by far and are only used if I'm disposing of the document very soon.
* 2-hole + prong fastener -- 2-hole binding is extremely cheap. Prong fasteners are not as cheap as staples, but still come in packs of ~100+ and solidly bind documents.
* Comb-binder -- The comb binding machine is on the order of ~$100+, but combs themselves are only a ~dime each. Not as cheap as staples or 2-hole prongs, but combs have the best quality (lays flat, strong binding, turns smoothly, etc. etc.)
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What's listed here is book-binding as an art. Stitched binding + glue will offer strong and beautiful books. Which is certainly useful for one-off projects, for weddings or something special like that.
Back when I was printing medieval manuscripts for personal use, I just made a jig with a hole every 1.5 inches, then used it to drill holes in the edge of a stack of pages. Zip tie each hole, clip the end off, and put a strip of packing tape over the spine and you're golden.
I'm a huge fan: invented in the first half of 20th century, the system basically blends the benefits of a ring binder (easy adding and removing of pages) and spiral binder (notebook can be opened flat, and you can write on both sides of page easily). Also, it's IMO just kinda crazy and counterintuitive how paper has enough strength to be able to stay bound hinged on unclosed holes... (!)
Related question, on the demand side. I'm looking to have a pdf of a world war two unit book printed and hardcover bound, to recreate it as a gift. I'd like high quality but the online services in this space seem low-quality. Is there a web service for transforming pdfs into high quality books?
I've done some coptic stitch binding. It's a bit time consuming, but pretty easy to do. The hardest part was finding (and still is) software to do the imposition for laying out the signatures.
For anyone looking to take bookbinding to an art-form level, I'd suggest looking at Keith Smith's books, Non-Adhesive Bindings Vol I-III. Especially Vol III, which goes into exposed spine sewing.
My dad used to bind all our textbooks and also some of the expensive story books. And it was diy, because it saved money, we got to recycle paper lying around the house, like old calendars, and also the textbooks would last all through the school year. We had a roll of good quality binding tapes for the expensive ones. I still have some of the books in our old house which are nearly 30 years old now, and his grandchildren are going to have them. If this is not interesting and useful I don't know what else is :)
Thanks! I am asking since I am not sure it this is aligned with some of my childhood memory. Back in my days as a pupil in China, I don't have to bind the book but still need to buy two things for each new textbook:
1. A plastic separate "binder" like thing, which can be attached to the glued together side of the book. Since the textbook are glued together in factory, this additional binder makes the book more solid.
2. A plastic protect wrap to cover the book back/front covers. I used to hand-make these wraps from a very large paper as well, since it looks more "personalized" and cheaper.
It's simply fun. I bound a couple books for a bookbinding merit badge back in ancient times. One was a blank book, which I used for notes.
I used thread and sewed it together. It was an easy project. It's like making a metal toolbox in high school metal shop. Sure, you can just go buy one, but it's nice to have one made by hand.
Some of them bookbind taboo material that's outside the scope of "acceptable" works and tend to get pulled by censors and harassors. A bookbinder who I know has a much more eloquent essay on the topic linked on this page: https://armoredsuperheavy.tumblr.com/post/618861265189732352...
Textbooks are expensive and the hardware/software solutions just aren't as low latency, tangible or as cheap as pen and paper. Also, not staring at a screen (especially before bed) is a plus.
