Official Luthiers Forum!

You can purchase those cheap foam brushes for 20-30 cents and they come in anywhere from 1/2" to 3 inc wide. I read that you guys use bottles and glue brushes. I'm glueing everything except guitar parts with the bottle and glue brushes are too slow. I even had my wife help glue so the glue wouldn't gel up on me. Does anyone know of any reason not to use these brushes?
I'm trying to use hide glue, but man, the learning curve is steep! Clinton

Clinton,
I don't use a brush at all. When gluing my top braces, I just pour the glue from the bottle to the top in the location of where the brace will go(I already have these marked on the top). I don't care if I dump a lot, because I want lots of squeeze out, as it makes it easier to clean up. Wait about 5 minutes after you clamped with your go-bar sticks, then I just use a dull scraper edge, or a dull razor blade to slice under the glue along the bottom of the brace, then along the side of the brace and peel the glue away. It usually comes off in one piece leaving nothing behind. If you try to clean the squeeze-out too soon, you just smear it all over and makes it harder to clean up. Good luck!
Tracy

What Tracy said and i agree it's a bit hard at first but practicing dry runs with the right bottle at hand should help you get the feel of it.

Not sure about the foam brushes, but I read somewhere once that HHG has a bad chemical reaction with the metal ferrules on regular bristel brushes. HHG is easy to use, once you get used to it, and for some applications doesn't need any clamping. I use a food warming tray I picked up at a thrift store to heat up the wood pieces like braces, and bridges for longer 'open time'. For tops & backs arrange some gooseneck lamps with 150 or 200 watt bulbs around the body, and use a heatgun or hairdryer to keep the HHG from gelling too soon.

CrowDuck

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Chris Nielsen
Soquel, CA.