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Got some HHG recently, Behlen in the can, as I had a repair to tackle and Dan Erlewine said it was the thing to use for a broken headstock, as well as for general instrument use.

My wife's godson has an Alvarez classical guitar with the peg head and nylon strings which he snapped off the headstock. I said sure I'll fix it, with my fingers crossed behind my back as I had never been presented with such. But surely it can't be that hard.


The victim finally arrived, with a nice clean break, and a thick finish that was torn up around the break. Piece of cake. Got the HHG going and practiced on some scrap wood to see if this stuff is actually worth a doodle. All you experts were right, this stuff is really easy to use, and doesn't leave a mess like Titebond. So I picked a really hot day, 95 degrees (normal Georgia weather), let the guitar acclimate in my shop for a few hours. Practice my glue run with clamps and all to be sure I got it right the first time. Easy! Got it glued!

Now you'all just waiting with baited breath for the fun part. Not yet! Glue job went perfect. Used superglue to patch up the damaged finish. They were thrilled. Awesome repair!.

Now the next week I was busy working all week , 12 hrs a day, as my buddy was in school. I had left the glue pot (my wife's spare crock pot, LOL) with water in it and the cap off the glue.

OMG. That would make a skunk proud!
Had tears in my eyes getting everything out of my shed and hosing off the mess. Whew!

Next few uses went well, keeping it to small jobs. Used it to glue the wings n my acoustic bass, the top went perfect, and a few small parts. Good to go!

Then I went to glue the top on my acoustic bass. Slopped it on real quick, slapped the top on and clamped it down with everything I could throw at it. Thought that went well, HA! When I removed the clamps there were gaps along the edge where it didn't clamp down, Rats!

(My Grandfather was the ace at raiding my Grandmother's kitchen for some utensil he needed on the farm, destroying it, and having to replace it when she threw a fit. It was funny at Thanksgiving when she was looking for her turkey baster, LOL. He used it to draw out some hydraulic oil. Oh the fireworks were going that day.)

So I grabbed my wife's iron, filled it up with water, plugged it in on high and waited for it to get hot. Once it was ready I steamed the suspicious gaps, added a little more glue and clamped it down. Hoky Smokes it worked!

Now I got adventurous (look out) when gluing the fretboard on my bass. Gooped it down with HHG real good. Had a long rubber band ready to go along with every clamp I own. Wrapped the rubber band, slapped on the clamps. Squeeze out looked good. Fingers crossed!

Check on it a few hours later and the edges had gaps all along the edge. Tried the iron thingy to steam it shut. No good. So I had to steam off the fretboard wich actually came off quite nicely, until I got to the body. I really didn't want to screw up my top. So I stopped there. Heated up the glue real good, heated up the neck with the iron. took my glue brush and painted the hot water on it, then the glue. Hopefully it worked.

Waiting for it to cool and set up before I unclamp it, but I thought this would at least be entertaining for ya'll.

Never mind the fretboard. Just made a big mess of it. Was able to steam it of. Gotta work the next few days so I'll let it dry out before I sand off the hide glue and redo it with titebond.

Gotta have fun with it.

I've only used Titebond.
Since it is water based, I have had problems gluing veneers that have cracked when dry.
I now clamp snugly, but not over tight and not for a long time.
I can see how hide glue would be good on veneer.
Dan

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Well back to titebond to finish these builds. HHG has it's place and I'm going to continue to use it for certain things. Also got a bottle of Old Brown Glue with pattern router bit from Rockler. (Free shipping if I purchased $25). This will be interesting to see how it works.

Question: My shop is not heated nor cooled (except for fans). How does hide glue respond to freezing?

just a few words on how I use HHG for fretboards:
1) preheat the neck with a hot block of wood
2) scrape the fretboard slightly (!) concave prior to gluing. the water in the HHG might cause the fretboard to expand a little on the underside, leaving you with gaps along the fretboard if you don't
3) clamp down using a thick flat block on top of the fretboard
4)don't clean up the glue squeeze out, except above the body where it will be impossible to clean off after the glue dries. During the drying, the squeeze out will contract, pulling the fretboard even tighter to the neck.
5)keep the fretboard clamped down overnight.

hope this helps, in case you would want to give it a second try.

Cool. Might try it during the next Georgia summer. Plenty of heat, LOL.

Jim,

You can glue your top to the sides with HHG if you apply the glue to both surfaces, and let it set up. After it has set up you place the top on the rims and use one of these to steam small sections and clamp as you go. . The steam reactivates the HHG and this system works well.

Bob

There ya go

Keep at it and you'll develop a feel for it. Your gaps are most likely due to the glue gelling before you got it squeezed out. Heat the parts nice and warm before applying glue, and preferably work in a warm room (at least 75F, preferably 80). Large area surfaces like fingerboards are especially tough. Adding a bit more water to the glue helps it squeeze out easier. Rubbing water on the outer surface can help to counteract any cupping. And as warmong says, scrape the glue surface a couple thousandths concave.

Also, you never really need to sand off hide glue residue. Just lay a damp paper towel on it for a while to re-hydrate it, and then rub it off with a warm wet towel. This is one of the things I like about hide, because if you ever find yourself unable to reach some squeeze-out without removing a clamp, you can always just get it after it dries.

Gluing the plates on acoustics is even harder than fingerboards. I have yet to perfect a technique for it.

Here's a great approach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC78Z9zFG0I