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Answering your question of how long to wait to start finish repairs. If you have no big rush, wait a couple of days to let moisture from the glue escape before you seal it up.

I was thinking about doing this and for the very reason you suggest. I can see the value in doing that. It would really help guarantee complete glue coverage.

I used a hobby heat gun, which can get the surfaces pretty hot if I'm not careful. I also used an infrared thermometer to check the temp of the surfaces and they were about 150F-160F degrees.

That's a good suggestion and one of the reasons I chose HHG over CA. I wanted to have the option of dissolving the glue joint and starting over, should the need arise.

I got lucky this time. The neck alignment seems to be pretty perfect and the joint seems to be solid. Of course, the proof will be when I string it up. I need a new nut, otherwise it would already be strung.

Nope. Other than wanting to play it, I'm in no big hurry and would rather wait and let the moisture out.

I'll probably follow Michael N.'s suggestion and get it strung to make sure it plays okay before I work on the final finish, just in case I need to fix the joint.

Thanks.

True, but heating it to 145 will allow the glue to retain more heat which will delay the point it starts to gel by a little bit.

Hi Todd,

My homemade glue pot doesn't keep a constant temperature.

It's got a thermostat that clicks on when the temp drops to a certain point, then clicks off when the high temp point is reached.

In my case, it's adjusted so the temp clicks on when the glue temp drops to 130F and off when it reaches ~140F.

I did notice that the amount of water in the boiler seems to affect how high the glue temp will 'float' after shut off. With more water in the boiler, the glue temp will continue to drift up to 145F-150F after it shuts off at ~140F.

With less water the temp remains more constant because the water heats up quicker. Of course, it cools down quicker, too, which means that the boiler turns on and off more often.

So, my question (this time) is whether the glue temperature fluctuating (cycling) between 130F and 140F-150F is undesirable, or whether this is a non-issue?

Dan

I thought you said 125 to 130 was good. Well, sounds like we agree.

Do you all think it's okay that the temperature of the glue cycles between 130F and 145F as the glue pot heats and cools?

I doubt it will be any problem. Most forms of electric Glue pots will exhibit temperature fluctuations. My own does and I've been using that particular one for over 10 years.

I really need to get fish glue... on my pre war guitar repairs sometimes I have to really play around with clamps and stuff to get the repair to look right. Unfortunately a dry run does not always help because the joint reacts differently with glue than without, and a wet run can take significantly more time as pieces slip due to wet glue, etc.

Especially with sides that broke in multiple places it is so much harder to line everything up since the side is always under tension, and while a dry run would produce perfect result a wet run can instead turn into a disaster as the middle piece decides to slip right out!!

Other than that I do like hide glue, I have the glue in a bottle and simply fill a beaker with water, microwave it for 2 minutes, and place the glue inside the beaker. The water keeps it hot fairly long. Much quicker than stoves.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

This is a cheap way of obtaining a glue pot:



You can do away with the top insert and just place a small squeeze bottle in the baby bottle warmer.

Just thought I'd provide an update.

I made a new bone nut about a week ago, strung up the guitar and have been playing it every day.

So far, so good. The repair is holding up fine and the strings are staying in tune.

Next step is to take everything off and repair the finish.

Dan