Guitar glue

[Cesar Vega]

I know there are some instruments makers around here, so I hope someone can shed some light.

I own a very old cheap guitar which bridge unglued from the top.
My brother has another guitar, also cheap and old, which also, unglued, not from the bridge but from the joint of the guitar top with side.

Why don't they use some sort of micro dovetails for joining? :)
Kidding....

Now, seriously, which is the proper glue to put this back together?
Gorilla glue? Titebond IV? :)

Thank you very much for your input.

[John Coloccia]

For the bridge, titebond us fine. Be sure to clean the area on the top very well of all glue. The easiest way to do it on the bridge is to tape a piece of sandpaper to the top and rub the bridge back and forth on it. That will not only clean the glue but it will shape the bridge to the top. It's likely that the top is shrunk and a bit flatter than it originally was. Thus is assuming the bridge is made of wood, of course. I have special clamps for this. You'll have to come up with a clever arrangment. There plenty of websites and videos online that cover bridge gluing.

For the top to the sides, if it's old hide glue, you can just inject some hot water and clamp it shut. That may be enough. If not, on a cheap guitar you may just want go use some epoxy. I've fixed my own cheapies with 5 minute epoxy with success. I wouldn't do that on my Taylor or Martins, but as a quick repair I found that works acceptably well.

[James Phillips]

Any yellow wood glue will work. Most instrument makers recommend titebond. If you want to go old school use hide glue.

[george wilson]

It is really best to use hide glue for the simple reason that you may need to remove the bridge for various reasons. Also,hide glue doesn't creep like some glues can. It also dries to a hardness that transmits sound better than glues which may not get so hard.

[Thomas Delpizzo]

Titebond hands down. I suggest you check out Project Guitar for almost all of you guitar building questions.

[Josiah Bartlett]

I would use hide glue too- that's what originally was probably used, and other glues don't stick to spots where hide glue was applied. New hide glue will reactivate the old stuff. Don't be afraid, hide glue isn't as awful to work with as most people think. Other glues can interfere with the tone of the guitar, as well, and the bridge is one of the most important spots on the guitar for tone.

[george wilson]

Hide glue isn't awful to work with at all. Squeeze out is easily cleaned up with wet acid brushes followed by damp,then dry paper towels very nicely.

[Cesar Vega]

Thank you so much for all your responses.

Now, respecting hide glue, I understand that's the glue normally used in musical instruments, but I think I've heard that's something you prepared, just like the flakes to make shellac, you get some glue gel to make hide glue?

I've just find that titebond, the brand, makes a glue it calls "Hide glue", I guess this again it is like the shellac, either you buy it already prepared, or you prepared your own.

Since, I'm not into the musical instrument makers industry, I wonder if an already prepared hide glue might work as well as the original way.

[John Coloccia]

Thank you so much for all your responses.

Now, respecting hide glue, I understand that's the glue normally used in musical instruments, but I think I've heard that's something you prepared, just like the flakes to make shellac, you get some glue gel to make hide glue?

I've just find that titebond, the brand, makes a glue it calls "Hide glue", I guess this again it is like the shellac, either you buy it already prepared, or you prepared your own.

Since, I'm not into the musical instrument makers industry, I wonder if an already prepared hide glue might work as well as the original way.

My opinion is don't use "liquid hide glue", and if you do, don't use Titebond's. Use Old Brown if anything. There's no way to know how old the Titebond is and this kind of glue MUST be fresh or it simply won't work. Hot hide glue would be best if you decide to use hide glue.

[Jon van der Linden]

Don't use "liquid" hide glue. It's not the same. Hide glue is easy to make, it comes in a dried form and is simply mixed with water and gently heated so that it dissolves. Traditionally this was done in a cast iron double boiler. Now days there are electric double boilers with variable temperature control etc. It's important not to overheat the glue.

Like anything simple there are levels of complexity that aren't important at this point. There are different strengths of hide glue for different applications (stronger is not always better), and of course it is possible to vary the amount of water to glue. Just pointing out that you can take this a lot farther than it might first seem.

George is an excellent luthier, I'd follow his advice.

[James Phillips]

Most modern guitars are made with yellow glue (I am better than 95% sure on this). They dry very hard and can be released with heat. If you do use hide glue just for fun and tradition use the real stuff

[Cesar Vega]

Well, I'll try to find hide glue locally.... if I can't find it, I'd had to go with the yellow glue.

Thank you very much to everybody for your comments! :)

[John Coloccia]

By the way, if you want to make a cheap hot hide glue pot, this works about as well as anything else:

http://www.spurlocktools.com/id57_hot_hide_glue.htm

I haven't tried it but my own "real" glue pot died some time ago. I'm thinking of getting back to hide glue for some steps, and I'm going to give this a try. It's really not rocket science. You just need a candy thermometer to hit the proper temperature, and you're good. For $20, it's tough to go wrong. I just can't see spending another $100 on a stupid hot water heater though some supply shops would have you think you need special equipment for this.

I also have a Corning hot plate that came into my possession when a company I worked for shut down. I'll try that first. For the longest time, it lived on my desk at work as the world's most precise coffee warmer :) It should do very nicely.

[Chuck Wintle]

I know there are some instruments makers around here, so I hope someone can shed some light.

I own a very old cheap guitar which bridge unglued from the top.
My brother has another guitar, also cheap and old, which also, unglued, not from the bridge but from the joint of the guitar top with side.

Why don't they use some sort of micro dovetails for joining? :)
Kidding....

Now, seriously, which is the proper glue to put this back together?
Gorilla glue? Titebond IV? :)

Thank you very much for your input.
I think hide glue is the preferred glue for musical instruments. If you make a mistake the hide glue joint can be undone.
and this is my 1000th post on this forum!

[John Coloccia]

Well, just for giggles I tried the Corning hot plate. I'm pleased to report that if you have an extra $250 to spend, it works beautifully. LOL. Who's got the coolest glue pot, eh?