What glue to fix loose tonebar?

[dwest]

Just out of curiosity ... for the benefit of those of us who are merely onlookers to the wonders of guitar lutherie ... What form does the real hide glue normally come in? Some kind of stick or blob?

Mine comes in a pint paint can, powdered, by Behlen.

[Nanohedron]

Granules, flakes, or flat sheets. Below is the granular form:

[Rob Sharer]

Liquid hide glue is crap, and is it's own thing. When someone, i.e. me, says hide glue, it's best to assume they're talking about the real article, not the phony mess in a bottle. No one uses that anyway....right?

Right.

But you can find it in stores and unless one is explicit someone might think that is what one is talking about. In fact in your average hardware store here in the USA the liquid stuff is what you will find and not 'the real stuff'.

Here's the Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_glue

Liquid hide glue receives only a passing mention. As I said, it's an aberration, hardly an occasion for drive-by cyber-pedantry.


Rob

[buddhu]

Titebond do a liquid hide glue. I've tried it, as have some of my friends, and IMO it is entirely unsuitable for luthiery applications. Regular Titebond is much better.

If you go hide glue you want the hot pot stuff, not that bogus cr@p.

[highwood]

cyber-pedantry

I would normally let it go but this not being pedantic

Hide glue was suggested - unfortunately unless one knows about it (in which case the question might not of been asked) or you go to a Luthier or good woodworking supply you could quite easily end up with

an aberration

well maybe it is a little pedantic - but if I was looking for glue it would be nice to get the stuff I was being advised to get

back to your regular programming

[Rob Sharer]

Note that the OP has the real thing at his disposal.

Hide glue means hide glue.



Rob

[s1m0n]

Here's what I have: Antique Restorer's Veneer Hide Glue (or the Instruction sheet), but I think for this I'll also get a pound of their pearl hide glue formula. Their tech sheet says that hide glue has a 3 to 5 minute open time, but annoyingly does not say which of the two hide glues they have this refers to.

[s1m0n]

I believe that liquid hide glue is treated with formaldehyde, antibiotics, and a few other things. When it's brand new (and fresh from the factory) it's probably OK, but the shelf life is only a matter of months. After that, the formaldehyde begins breaking down the glue, and making the glue progressively weaker over time.

In contrast, solid hide glue keeps indefinitely as long as you keep moisture out of the container. When you mix it up, you end up with a mixture containing 1) water and 2) glue. It's much easier to predict its behaviour when there's only 2 moving parts.