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I'm working on a parlor guitar, my first to build on my own after taking Harry Fleishman's class. I'm using reverse kerfed linings, and I've got the front and back linings glued (titebond original) to the sides and profile sanded. I should have inspected closer before I profile sanded, because I got some noticable gaps right at the waist on the back side, especially bad since it's right in the area easily visible from the soundhole. It looks fine on the surface the back will be glued, so I didn't notice until I took it out of the building form after I profile sanded it.

All that to ask: What's the easiest way to remove linings?

I'm afraid a heat gun is going to scorch the sides too much , though maybe with careful use it would release the glue without scorching the sides.

I also tried heating up a thin paint scraper that I have ground down thin, I used it before to remove a back from a guitar. It's a little more problematic, because while it's great for separating one long glue joint, with the reverse kerfing it's lots of little glue joints. And I'm afraid it's too easy to accidentally dive into the grain of the sides.

Should I chisel the lining out?

As a side note, I think the narrow waist of the 0-size shape is problematic for this type of lining, because I noticed at the waist the kerfing was curved as far as it would go, if that makes sense... Perhaps I'll try it again but I might widen or chamfer the kerf so the lining will flex into a tighter curve better. Or maybe I'll try a solid or regular kerfed lining.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Not necessary, but here's a pic:

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Jon

Someone once told me that to soften titebond and similar glues, you use vinegar and heat. I don’t know anymore than that and because of that I’m not sure I want to recommend it. But apparently using your heated scraper and working vinegar into the joints as you go will work.

I would be tempted to try the heat gun and see how that worked. But hopefully some people with more experience can chime in.

Josh

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Josh House

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Jon,

Couldn't you just cut out the waist section and insert another piece rather than the full lining. That means taht you would have less to remove!

Shane

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Canada

Use a heat gun and a sharp chisel. If you splice a piece in you are always going to see the splice line and ask yourself "why did I do that?"

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

[QUOTE=Tim McKnight] Use a heat gun and a sharp chisel. If you splice a piece in you are always going to see the splice line when you peer in the soundhole and ask yourself "why did I do that?"[/QUOTE]

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

Jon, if your worried about scorching it with a heat gun, try a blow dryer. It will take longer but I have successfully removed a neck block using a blow dryer and a thin blade (don't ask ). Once you have it coming loose, you can also try working dental floss back and forth in the gap instead of the blade as you heat. Good luck. Don A38627.8811342593

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

pack it full of epoxy and move on

BTW if you're worried about scorching, place your side bending thermometer against where you're heating to monitor temp. And remember to smile, this is the fun stuff! Terry Stowell38627.922025463

If you have a pipe that you bend on, you could run the side along that to heat up the glue, than run your knife between the side and lining. Is this bad advise, should you heat up the item that you want to remove or would heating up the side be fine as well. The side is thinner than the lining so my thinking is you wouldn't need as much heat. Or you could use an clothes iron, but I don't know what you would do in the waist.

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I think I might give it a go with the heat gun and just be careful about not letting it rest on one spot and scorching. I've got time, I want to redo it and get it right.   I might need to put some heftier rubberbands on my clothespins, too, to get a little better clamping force.

I just checked around, and it looks like heat and vinegar has been recommended elsewhere for loosening Titebond joints, so that looks promising.

Thanks, everyone.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

I've got a bending pipe, I hadn't thought of that.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Tim is sooooo right. Don't splice that reversed lining. You can splice regular kerfed lining because you will never see it, but not the reversed.

Jon- I have ran in to the same problem as you mention with the kerf not being wide enough and the lining not being able to make a tight enough bend. I have a Ziricote Cutaway Ive been working on that has given me a problem. I'm going to remove the kerfing and try the old standard triangle stuff.

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I think in the waste you might want to come up with a different clamping mechanism. You might try some small but tight pony clamps.

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

I guess it's a tough area because at the waist the lining has to flex in two directions as the waist is the high spot on the spherical profile along the side, and the widest parts of the upper and lower bouts are the low ends. So not only does it have to snake around in the shape of a guitar, it has to flex up and down along with the curve profile. Anyway, yeah, I'll probably try some different clamps at the waist to hold it where it needs to be.

At a cutaway, it seems like regular kerfing might have the same problem with not being able to flex into a tight curve. At least with some cutaway shapes, where you'll have a tight inside curve with a tight outside curve.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

I would heat up the area and then immediately apply some clamps to pull the lining up tight to the sides. No need to remove and replace the strip.

Will titebond reconstitute/rebond itself with heat like hide glue will with heat and water?

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Hey, sorry to bump an old thread, but I wanted to give an update with a trick I figured out on removing linings. I kind of figured it out by accident.

I used my heat gun, and moved it back and forth over about a four inch section at a time, never letting it focus on one spot. I took a small flat-head screwdriver and inserted it into the kerf, and started applying just a little bit of pressure rotating the screwdriver. One by one, each little section popped off cleanly, it didn't take a ton of heat because as soon as the glue was soft enough it popped right off. It worked out really slick, and didn't take very long.

The orange blur you see is the heat gun.


Anyway, hope that helps someone else that runs into that problem.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR