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You HHG guitar builders - do use HHG for most joints? In particular, neck & tail block?

I normally build banduras where there are a lot of joints where I can't use HHG because of speed and applicability (e.g. laminating sides from 3 strips). I use HHG for things like braces and a few other things though.

I'm building my first guitar now (getting ready for the OLF gathering this month) and was about to grab for the titebond for the tail block and got to thinking....

So what do you do?

p.s. I'll probably use TB for the top and back just because I'm too slow.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Andy my friend I do much as you do - HHG for braces, bridge plate, bridge but for things where I need more positioning time I use Titebond.

But...... HHG for the blocks would not be all that difficult if one was set up properly. And that initial tack that HHG provides would be more welcome than Titebond's slipping and sliding even after being clamped at times.

See you in a couple weeks my friend!

For most of my joints I use glucosamine.

You said it was a funny question, right?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Most docs agree that stuff don't work too well in joints. Especially if you want them to stay tight.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Why not binding? I used it to bind my last bandura and loved the way it worked. Binding is super tight with just one little error on my part but other than that it went great.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Andy, would you mind telling us how you were able to do your binding with HHG please?

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Aoibeann

Sure - it was rather simple actually. I was thinking about this last night and possibly one of the reasons I'm able to do it is because the shape of a bandura is a little simpler than a git. On the other hand, I only partly pre-bend my bindings. I doubt that would work with a git. I used hide glue because last time I used CA and it I had many sections that didn't stick. I've always liked the way HHG joints tighten up and figured that the speedy grab and tightening would be perfect for binding.

So, on my last bandi (you can see it as my avatar), I used a home made walnut binding about .060 in thickness. I don't have a bending iron so I started by using a tea kettle to gently bend the two sharp bends to roughly get the binding into shape. Glue was warm in a little squeeze bottle sitting in the glue pot. For clamping, I used the stew-mac binding tape. I pre cut about 40 or so little strips of tape and stuck them all around the work bench. IIRC I also put a spit coat of shellac on the top prior to routing to minimize tear out and so that the tape wouldn't pull out too many fibers upon removal.

I then simply worked in about 6 to 8" lengths squeezing some glue in the binding channel and taping the bindings on. Tape was about one strip per inch or so. When I got toward the end of the glue I squirted on I grabbed the bottle and squirted another 6 to 8" over lapping a little bit. I don't recall feeling too rushed during the job. As far as I can tell, there are no spots where the glue gelled and didn't adhere. There was a bunch of squeeze out but that was a breeze to clean out once the glue had gelled in about 15min.

That was it!

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

You make it sound so easy. And here I was thinking you had to have an extra set of arms to be able to accomplish this. Thanks Andy for walking me through your process. I appreciate you taking the time to write it down for us.

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Aoibeann