Official Luthiers Forum!

For regluing plastic bindings that have pulled away from the waist, which adhesive do you prefer -- Weld-On cement, LMI's FCA, or LMI's FGW -- and why?

The guitar on the bench at the moment is a 1970s Vega with celluloid bindings, but I'm especially interested in your experiences with adhesives that work well for various plastics, not just celluloid.

Also, when using these kinds of adhesives for regluing parts, is it necessary to be as fastidious about cleaning/scraping/prepping the surface as I would be if I were using a polyvinyl glue?

Thanks!

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Thanks for your input, Todd. It certainly would be nice to avoid a time-consuming clean up job after gluing. I'm puzzled by the CA recommendation, though, since CA, in my experience, will eat the nitro finish.

With the clean up issue in mind, it occurs to me now that maybe epoxy is a good option, since I can clean that up with alcohol before it cures. I've never heard of anyone using epoxy for this application, though.

Then there's wood glue (or LMI white?) - apparently Frank Ford finds this to be a good choice, and that would be an easy clean up as well -- http://frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Tec ... nding.html

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

I think we may have discussed this on the main forum but I've had good luck with Titebond original. I did wipe the cleaner looking areas of the binding with acetone.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks, Todd and Steve. I appreciate your input. As usual, more than one way to skin the cat. Speaking of cats, I posted my question on another forum, too, and got a helpful reply, which I will quote here:

"I've used LMI's FCA contact adhesive for two repairs, now, and it's the cat's meow. Paint it on with a small brush, press the binding on, no problem. No squeeze out and the brush allows great control of the glue application to keep from contaminating the neighboring finish. Clamping helps to get full contact -- because of the lack of squeeze-out, it's very easy to firmly tape the re-attached binding to the body without danger of smearing. The brush cleans up completely with acetone, so no problem there, either. I use an artist's brush appropriate to the size of the job.

I've tried the wood glue method but unless there's some wood chunks stuck to the binding and there is an exact fit with the separated wood area, it hasn't worked for me."


In the case of the Vega I'm working on, I'm resetting the neck, too, so, with the neck off, I've separated the bindings from the waist all the way up to the neck joint. They came off with some glue stuck to them (which I've removed), but no wood. The method described above sounds good to me. I've ordered some of the FCA adhesive from LMI, and will give this a try.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Go to this thread for an update:

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=42487&p=562305#p562305

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Thanks, Todd. Your thoughts/observations/experience are much appreciated.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/