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A couple years ago somehow I ended up with quite a few strips of what I believe is ABS binding that would like to use. I believe I used it for a repair but I don’t remember what glue I used. I tried to see if it would dissolve in acetone or lacquer thinner and it did not soften. I know some like ca glue but I’m not a big fan of ca on wood but I might consider the thicker gel version. What would you recommend? I’m unsure if a nitro based contact cements work with abs.

If it didn't soften or dissolve in acetone it's not ABS plastic

Yeah after reading up a bit that’s what I figured. I guess I will go with ca glue I know it will stick.

I've seen the statement that pure ABS can be dissolved in acetone several times here and on other fora, but every test I've done on black plastic binding sold as ABS demonstrates that either the stuff is not ABS (but instead some alloy of ABS, PVC or vinyl) or ABS as produced these days is not that affected by acetone. I would suggest taking a sample of the binding and a sample of cellulose nitrate binding and checking both for solubility in acetone... if your ABS sample is not far behind the cellulose nitrate, and you get a paste that can be used as a filler in joints, you'll know that you can glue it with acetone-based glues like Duco. If the ABS sample takes a few hours to soften to paste, you'll lose the volatile acetone before getting an effective glue joint.

Acetone WILL take the gloss off plastics sold as ABS and PVC/CPVC, but to glue those materials or their alloys (Bolteron is likely what the OP has and is an ABS/PVC alloy), something with more bite is needed, such as some methylene chloride as used in IPS #16 Weld-On.

Acetone does work well for cellulose nitrate. Mixed with some nitrocellulose and xylene, acetone-based glues like Humbrol Balsa Cement and Duco are very effective at adhering cellulose nitrate and fiber/wood purflings to wood. The biggest issue with these glues is very short open time and the mess they can make of existing lacquer finishes on repairs, with the later not too much of an issue with new construction.

For gluing bindings and purfs, we had pretty much moved to CA (BSI Thin for new work and BSI CA Gold+ for binding repair work. Yes - gluing surfaces and adjacent need to be sealed with shellac, but that is a common step before milling rosette and binding channels in any case, so the increase in work is mostly in resealing those channels after milling. Along with GluBoost (a CA accelerator that avoids the entrainment of water vapor in the glue during rapid cure), CA saw lots of use for non-structural jobs in the shop where I worked.

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

Try some tests using Weld-On #4784

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

I ended using Loctite gel super glue. I know most pre tape and wick the super thin ca or whatever but I just didn’t feel like it. What I did was cut the binding to length then did prep as usual by cleaning the channel up and lightly scuffing the back of the binding with 220 grit.

For gluing I placed a good size dot about every 5/8” then came back and quickly spread it with a binding scrap the entire length placed the binding and taped it down tight. Tape was already staged on the sides so it’s went quickly. Oh yeah top, back & sides already had a couple coats of 1 lbs shellac. Overall I was pleased will probably do it again next time. The gel glue gives you a little time to work and it seems slightly more ductile.