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I'd love to thin Titbond a bit so as to allow it to be injected under a wayward x-brace with a syringe (see Epiphone question).

Does anyone know what bad things happen?

Thanks!

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Peter Havriluk

Pretty sure Franklin's web site addresses thinning. If I remember they say you can thin it 10% but you should check.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Thanks, Jim. I'll look.

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Peter Havriluk

Doesn't take much to thin it. I've never noticed any troubles.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I think I've thinned it on every headstock repair I've ever done. And I know I've thinned it more than 10%, but then I leave it in the clamps for a couple extra days, just in case. Never had a problem.

I thin it all of the time and it's not a problem.

I thin it for very tight cracks such as top cracks. I thin it and then with a clean hand, Titebond will carry dirt from your hand into the crack and then there is a dark line that will never come out where the crack was so wash your hands first. I pump the crack from the underside and tub in Titebond thinned 50% with a few drops of water. It's approx. 50% so the viscosity is much thinner.

When I feel and see little tiny beads of Titebond on the underside of the crack, inside the box I put aside the thinned Titebond and lay down a bead of full strength Titebond and begin with my finger to rub that into the crack as I continue to pump the crack with my other hand from inside the box. The capillary action of pumping the crack helps the glue migrate into the crack.

When I have more Titebond showing on the inside I know I have glue in the crack. The purpose of thinning is not just to get it into a tight crack but to act as a carrier for the full thickness glue when that is applied since the thin glue and the thick glue attract each other.

Works great, been doing it this way for over a decade and never had a crack I glued this way reopen.

Rick Turner RIP posted here back in the day that he uses thinned Titebond (he's who gave me the the idea) to get into tight cracks and he also suggested compressed air to push glue into the far reaches of places hard to get to.

I know what Titebond says on their site and there is likely some strength loss but in this method the thinned stuff is largely displaced with full strength glue and if not it's a mixture and again no problems.

Thanks, folks. My results seem to follow these comments. I think it worked out as well as my early skill development allowed. I sympathize (and seem to resemble) the sorcerer's apprentice. Meanwhile the brace, such as it is, is glued back in place. And as soon as I install the new saddle I bought last night to replace the one that went walkabout, I'll string this thing up.

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Peter Havriluk

Went walkabout Did it find a Coke bottle?

How did you clean up the old glue? I've always wondered how people do this because everyone says the new glue won't stick to the old glue unless it's hhg. Also, it seems like with sanding you would inadvertently remove some of the wood which would not make for the best glue joint.

Pat

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Pat

Oh, I just saw Josh's post. He spells it out pretty nice!

Pat

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Pat