How to turn a book into spiral bound?

[Elow]

I just got my jacob collier book of transcriptions and it doesnt lay flat on my stand. I want to turn it into a sprial bound book like my book of solos but i dont know how. Ive thought about just chopping off the spine and feeding all the pages through my schools super scanner and just using forscore for everything but i like having a physical copy

[JCBone]

Are copy shops still a thing? That would probably be the best option. I think you need a special hole puncher in order to do it yourself. I your school has a copy shop they could probably do it for free or a small fee.

[harrisonreed]

You cut off the spine, and then use a comb binder to put the binding on. Your school probably has one. In the US they usually don't bind anything larger than plain letter size though

You can pay like 5 bucks at staples or some other copy service and they can do it for you.

[Burgerbob]

Just make sure you have enough margin for the spiral bounding!

[olivegreenink]

Hey, hey! Another random printing and or shipping question I can answer...since part of what I do for a living is manage a print production team

Everyone so far is spot on. Have a Kinkos (FedEx office)/UPS Store/Staples/School Copy Shop use a “chop cutter” to precisely trim off the spine. Depending on a few factors (such as the volume of glue), the amount that needs to be trimmed will vary.
As mentioned, you want to be sure enough “binding edge” remains so that you have room for your new holes to not punch any printing.

I would add though that you might want to consider 44-hole/coil binding for an even truer lay-flat version. Plus with coil bound, you can have it sit as only one page wide (not open like a book, but like a single stack of paper) and have that turned to any page. Comb binding (sometimes called GBC binding) doesn’t allow that.

Also, most comb/GBC and coil punching machines have a bit of wiggle room so the can center the 11” binding on a slightly oversized sheet. But even if it cannot perfectly center it along the spine all commercial grade punchers can punch sheets essentially of any length...but the holes will simply start within an inch or less of one of the top or bottom edge.

Cheers

[AndrewMeronek]

Chopping off paper to make a new binding is IMHO something that requires measurement, at the least. If there isn't enough room, contact the publisher and/or Jacob and ask if they offer it in a different binding. Considering that putting musical material on a music stand is "standard", I can't imagine that such is not an offered option.

[olivegreenink]

Chopping off paper to make a new binding is IMHO something that requires measurement, at the least. If there isn't enough room, contact the publisher and/or Jacob and ask if they offer it in a different binding. Considering that putting musical material on a music stand is "standard", I can't imagine that such is not an offered option.

Agreed. As mentioned above, most commercial print shops have a piece of equipment called a chop cutter (or guillotine). Ours in the office is accurate down to 1/100”. Most mid-sized or larger print shops will have something similar.

Cheers

[Cotboneman]

I had my son's Arban book converted to a spiral binding from the original binding at a nearby Fedex retail outlet. It was only a few bucks and worked great.

[Bonearzt]

Instead of chopping off the spine, can the book be cut in half from the inside?

Seems like most method books are printed on 11x14 and folded in half, so open to the center and cut along the fold so as to no lose any paper!

[timothy42b]

I had my son's Arban book converted to a spiral binding from the original binding at a nearby Fedex retail outlet. It was only a few bucks and worked great.

I did my Arban myself. We have a punch machine at work and I bought my own comb binding of course.

The book is bulky and it gets worse with binding, so I separated it into a couple sections when I had it apart. It was old enough that the glue just came apart. But getting the pages punched exactly right was fiddly.

Other things I've taken to Staples and they've done a better job. One book I carefully scanned and brought them a thumb drive, had them print it on heavy paper and bind it.

That said, if I ever look at an Arban now it's on my Kindle with Mobilesheets. I have a couple of versions on there, and the pages turn with a touch. (someday I'll buy a bluetooth page turner and use my foot) Just the convenience of not digging through a stack of music looking for what I want is well worth it.

[BigBadandBass]

My colleges music office and print shop have done spiral binding for me for a few bucks, maybe your high schools library or local college have some place similar