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I'm getting ready to laminate a neck blank and was wondering what glues people here use to do this. In class we used the LMI white glue but after about a year I noticed that the laminations moved slightly. I've also used Titebond on non-guitar related laminations and had those shift slightly.

Is there any way to prevent shifting of the laminates down the road? Are some glues better for this then the LMI white glue or Titebond?

TIA,

Roy

Are you sure they "shifted" or did they expand and contract at different rates? I try to let my glued up blanks set around quite a while before I use them.

I use LMI white, titebond, etc. I have seen what you are talking about, but since the amount of it I feel changes from one humidity climate to the other I always assumed that was the culprit, not glue creep.

I know some folks talk about using hide glue, but I don't see how.... that stuff goes cold so fast I cannot see how you could get a good glue up using HHG (especially since a lot of my necks are 7 laminations)... but maybe...   

Epoxy might be another option worth checking out.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

i tend to agree with brock.

Hmm, maybe it is the wood expanding and contracting. How long do you let your neck blanks sit before using them?

You could use staples or tacks with their heads cut off You'd never see them once they were sandwiched inside the neck.

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CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

I let mine sit at least 6 months, and usually something on the order of a year or so.

Re, Jason's idea of using a registration pin, I do this with a small wood dowel in the corner of each end. That way I don't have to worry a ton about hitting those things with an edge tool.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

All my wood is dry and acclimated to my shop for some time (anywhere
from 2 months to 10 years!) and I've never had any problems. I doubt it
is the glue. Possibly the wood needed a little more seasoning. You can
also glue up the neck blanks so that the grain runs into each other..kinda
hard to explain, but that helps warping too... although with a 5-7 piece
blank it is rigid as heck.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Thanks everyone for the help. I've decided to glue up a few neck blanks for future use instead of just one as needed.

I've been wondering about this too. It occured to me that if the fretboard has to come off for repairs at some point in the future and you've laminated the neck using the same glue as you use to glue on the fretboard. Aren't all the glue joints in the neck going to soften when the fretboard is heated up for removal? I haven't done any repairs yet, so I'm not sure if this is likely to be a problem.

I have removed a few fingerboards on laminated necks. I had no problems. I am using a heat blanket to get them off.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

if one were an inept ham hands who did not monitor work under heat what you propose could be a problem, but as one should only be heating deeply enough to get the glue holding the fretboard to release the glue lines going through the neck should not be affected.

Cool, thanks Brock & Crazyman, thought it might be something like that.

Since it takes quite a bit of glue depending on how many laminations you use, I use tightbone. Never had any problems with them.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

John--where do you get "tightbone" glue?   

Is that a hybrid between tightbond and hide?

Whatever, it sounds like tuff stuff!


(I'm sorry........)

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Yeah that's it, I use the bleached "tightbone" glue cause I I don't want any smelly lines down my neck.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

TightBone??

John just how hot is it out there in Cool??

Ron... it's not the LMI glue, I've had nothing but sucess with and use it to lam up my necks, works great and is easy to use. I like the way to LMI glue spreads better than Tightbond and I have not noticed any strength difference (although I've done no real testing either). As long as your clamping is good and tight and your getting squeeze out you should be good...

Cheers

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

I recently did a test of EZ-Lam epoxy to assure myself that I would have no finishing problems with lacquer.   Looks like a good way to go to me.

But, did I correctly gather an impression that the neck is another area where you want to plan on rebuilding or repairing as time goes by?

most acoustics need a neck reset, or two or ? during their lives.

aside from fret and fretboard work which is the result of fair wear and tear, other sorts of neck repair are generally the result of some form of abuse or accident.