Official Luthiers Forum!

I tested nylon twill weave tape against cotton-poly bias tape for strength as side reinforcements. I glued the tapes to standard sized samples of side wood, and found out how much force it took to break the samples. The nylon tape was much stronger as a material than the cotton-poly, but it dodn't glue well with either Titebond or HHG. The nylon tapes tended to come unstuck from the samples rather than breaking, and the samples with the nylon tapes broke at lower force than the ones with cotton-poly.

There is a place that makes linen twill tape, but iirc, you have to order 75 feet at a ime, and it only comes in white.

Alex buddy the primary function in life for a side tape, or brace for that matter, is to stop a crack in the side from running along the side. So we want the tape or brace to be resistant to cracking/breaking especially in the direction that the side grain is running. Make sense?

I've been using Mrs. Wright's polyester twill tape for a couple of years now. I glue it with 5 minute epoxy. The epoxy sticks pretty well to polyester. The extra thickness does not seem to create any problem with the linings.

Works well for me !!

Mark

I just ordered some silk ribbon to see what it's like and if it will work. It is thinner than cotton or linen without being fragile.

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Aoibeann

Mark, were the guitars that experienced the "controlled contact with terrain" done up with Mrs. Wright's & epoxy?

Pete

I'm not sure, Pete. I think they may have been a different type of tape glued with Titebond. At this point, I don't really remember what I was doing then !!

I'm also not sure how "controlled" their contact with terrain was. I think if it had been controlled, there might have been no contact at all !!

Mark

CFIT it was then.
....learn something every day

M