Which glue?

Haych

What’s the best glue to use for bonding body blanks and neck joints together, and other such things?

I think the likes of Gibson use Franklin Titebond 50 but that doesn’t seem to be available to buy anywhere. 

The last project I did, I used a generic PVA wood glue, probably evo stick if I recall right - it seems to have done a good job but just wondered if there’s an industry standard that would outperform PVA. 

TIA

GluedtoMusic

Titebond Original for wood to wood (body blanks etc.) it is readily available in the UK.

randella

GluedtoMusic said:

Titebond Original for wood to wood (body blanks etc.) it is readily available in the UK.

For general woodwork, pretty much any PVA glue is stronger than the wood if the join is made correctly.

For extra reassurance you can get Titebond Original off the internet for about a tenner which I've used on my body blank and sticks like nobody's business, so it's well worth it. 

It's about the colour and consistency of Heinz salad cream too, so if you get bored of gluing body blanks together I imagine there are some practical jokes in there somewhere.

Haych

Thanks both, indeed I have seen the Titebond original, which I imagine is pretty much the same as any other PVA wood glue.  Thanks for the reassurance that it'll do the job....... watch this space

randella

It's good stuff, very high quality.  I'm certainly going to buy some more when I get around to gluing together the two lovely bits of maple I've got planed up and ready to make a neck.

Eeek!  I don't know why I'm putting it off, the worst that's going to happen is I ruin a bit of wood.  Anyway, it certainly won't be the fault of the glue.

Let us know how you get on!

axisus

I use Gorilla glue these days. Works well and easy to pick up as they sell it in Tescos

Haych

Funny enough but I have a big bottle of Gorilla wood glue at home.  Bought it from Travis Perkins for gluing my gates together.  The big bottle was about half the price of the smaller bottle.  Go figure?

octatonic

randella said:

GluedtoMusic said:

Titebond Original for wood to wood (body blanks etc.) it is readily available in the UK.

For general woodwork, pretty much any PVA glue is stronger than the wood if the join is made correctly.

Google 'PVA creep'.
PVA is nasty, horrible (well, maybe just unsuitable) stuff and I don't use it for anything on an instrument.
I use it for molds, or anything I know is going to be impermanent.

Titebond original is the stuff to use.

Roland

Haych said:

Funny enough but I have a big bottle of Gorilla wood glue at home.  Bought it from Travis Perkins for gluing my gates together.  The big bottle was about half the price of the smaller bottle.  Go figure?

Gorilla is a brand name which covers a range of different glues. Prices aren’t going to track cost.

ICBM

randella said:

For general woodwork, pretty much any PVA glue is stronger than the wood if the join is made correctly.

Only under certain conditions.

By 'correctly', you need to use a traditional woodwork joint where the fit of the pieces provides the strength and the glue simply locks them into place, making all the forces on the glue layer pure shear and not peel forces. The same is true of traditional glues well, which is why woodworking joints were developed.

octatonic said:

Google 'PVA creep'.

I learnt this the hard way in my early days as a repairer. I believed the 'stronger than the wood' claim, and indeed it does appear to be true initially, but if you leave the joint under constant peel load - like a typical headstock repair - it won't be long before it comes apart again.

Haych said:

Thanks both, indeed I have seen the Titebond original, which I imagine is pretty much the same as any other PVA wood glue.

No, it very much isn't. Titebond is an aliphatic resin not PVA, and doesn't suffer from this.

Haych

ICBM said:

randella said:

For general woodwork, pretty much any PVA glue is stronger than the wood if the join is made correctly.

Only under certain conditions.

By 'correctly', you need to use a traditional woodwork joint where the fit of the pieces provides the strength and the glue simply locks them into place, making all the forces on the glue layer pure shear and not peel forces. The same is true of traditional glues well, which is why woodworking joints were developed.

octatonic said:

Google 'PVA creep'.

I learnt this the hard way in my early days as a repairer. I believed the 'stronger than the wood' claim, and indeed it does appear to be true initially, but if you leave the joint under constant peel load - like a typical headstock repair - it won't be long before it comes apart again.

Haych said:

Thanks both, indeed I have seen the Titebond original, which I imagine is pretty much the same as any other PVA wood glue.

No, it very much isn't. Titebond is an aliphatic resin not PVA, and doesn't suffer from this.

There you go then, I was obviously quite wrong in my assumption.

Still, every day is a school day and I'm happy to be educated on such things

timdecker

I use Titebond Original for just about everything. Except the following:

I like to use Gorilla glue to glue fretboards onto the neck.

I like super glue for any type of fret work or inlay work.

If I'm doing any type of restoration, I try to match the same type of glue that was used originally. This is typically hide glue.

Danielsguitars

use titebond original for all the joints and fretboards, it's tried and tested and works, i use it mainly for things I'll never take apart 

I use hot hide glue only for neck joints and fretboards, it's not something most will use and it takes time to get used to it, main reason is zero creep and i can take it apart much easier if i want to 

Acetone and binding shavings is good for sticking plastic bindings, it's cheaper for me than using uhu hart or ruderer l530 when building a few 

Super glue for frets is good 

MLten80

titebond red all the way
 the green one is a little rubbery imo 

Kalimna

Titebond original, unless you are familiar with using hot hide glue (and not the pre-mixed stuff in a bottle).
I haven't come across anyone on the guitar-building forum I frequent that uses polyurethane glue (e.g. 'Gorilla') as it has zero gap-filling strength, is a bugger to clean up or undo.
Superglue for frets and inlays, though epoxy resin (e.g. Z-Poxy) also good for inlays, especially gap filling with a glue-sawdust mix.
I have not yet installed a plastic binding, so can't comment there.

Adam

Roland

Kalimna said:

I have not yet installed a plastic binding, so can't comment there.

I tried using cyano-acrylic for plastic binding, but found that it seeped into the wood, causing patches it the finish. I also ran the risk of sticking my fingers to the guitar whilst trying to squeeze the binding into palace, and hold it in position. Getting masking tape off was a trial because in places the superglue would stick it firmly to the guitar body. Following advice from WezV I started using methyl chlorine glue. The stuff that’s used it Airfix kits. Much more effective. Easy to reposition, and doesn’t stick your fingers or holding tape. If the binding hasn’t stuck well enough at any point then I use a drop of cyano-acrylic, applied on a pin or knife blade, for point repairs.