Official Luthiers Forum!

Terry,
I've got a X braced back gluing up right now with hide glue in a go-bar deck, and I'll leave it for an hour under pressure then take it out. I'll let it sit probably for another 3 hours before I start carving. The reason I take mine out so soon is because the location of my go-bar is not humidified, so I want to get it into a humidified environment as soon as possible. Outside in my garage is probably 30% humidity and inside is about 40%. But if I had a controlled environment, I would leave clamped for 1 1/2 hours w/ hide glue before carving. If I was using titebond, I clamp for 45 min and then I'm ready to go. These are for braces only by the way. Good luck!
Tracy

I am still fairly new to using HG for brace glue up (about a year now) I leave mine clamped up over night . This a just a leftover from my titebond days. any major joint I glue up is left over night. We have a very dry climate here so unless the guitar is going out of this area I build pretty much in the environment I live in.

   I'd say your right on the money as it is. For major joints, leave them overnight before you add stress to them. You can probably take it out in 20 minutes and they won't move, but why take a chance? If you're in no hurry, take your time. Speed kills...

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Yup, speed kills, enjoy the landscape instead!

Overnight on everything, slower, but safer

30 - 45 minutes clamping time for braces, kerfing end wedges etc. and 1 1/2 hours for gluing the back or top to the rims. At least four hours for fretboards, bridges, rosettes and scarf joints peghead veneers etc.

Just as a reference for you overnighters. I glued up a broken off mahogany headstock with Titebond. The student was in a hurry to leave town and in 3.5 hours we strung it up to find it could hold the tension of medium strings in that short of a time.

We took off the tension and sent him off. That just demonstrated to me the impressive gluing strength Titebond develops in a short while. So braces mentioned in this thread are in no jeopardy after just a little while clamped up. Amazing what you learn along the way.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I agree with you Bruce for the short period of time our glues needs to strenghten, on my first glue joints(HHG), i did what i thought was stupid, i lifted my freshly joined top plates holding only one of the two plates after within 5 minutes of the glue up and it already felt like the whole top was one stiff board.

But even though strong, i'd still recommend leaving it rest overnight so the glue and wood strenghten even more but it's just my newb perception of things Serge Poirier38788.3748611111

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (before Titebond) my father, a
cabinetmaker, liked to show the strength of Elmer's white glue. He would
joint and edge glue some 3/4 stock, clamp it for 30 minutes, and then
put the wood over his knee and snap it. It always broke wood, not the
glue.

If the wood being clamped is not under tension, and not abnormally
thick, then one hour is plenty clamping time for the AR (LMI and
Titebond) type glues. I would not hesitate to continue working with the
glued-up wood, as long as you are not subjecting it to continuous or
unusual tension. In guitar making, that means don't string up if the
bridge has only been glued for an hour. The only other reason to wait
more than an hour is to allow blobs of unhardened squeeze-out to dry
hard before trying to sand them off. Not that a guitarmaker would ever
have any blobs .

Brook Moore

Titebond's nice and strong after half an hour, maybe an hour, but I wouldn't put it in shear until at least 24 hours later, because it's not at full hardness/is still plastic, is my feeling.

[QUOTE=Mattia Valente] I wouldn't put it in shear until at least 24 hours later...is my feeling.[/QUOTE]
AND the manufacturer's recommendation! I'd believe them!