Epoxy or titebond for body glue?

[punkrawkguy]

I'm building a PRS-shaped guitar using the Carvin neck-thru blank, which is maple. My body wings are mahogany. I want all the tone and sustain that I can get and I don't plan to have to ever "remove" the wings. So does how do epoxy or titebond compare acoustically and adhesively?

thanks

[krazyderek]

welcome to the forum, wood glue is what most people use to glue the wings on any guitar, just make sure you clamp well

[westhemann]

i like titebond...super strong stuff.just make sure the surfaces to be joined are properly planed and that you get the joint nice and snug during glueing and you should be more than happy with the tone.

i snug and resnug all my clamps about 4 times during joining because the joint loosens as the excess glue squeezes out.and keep a piece of cardboard handy to clean up the excess glue...that stuff is really hard to sand off.

also make sure you have enough glue to cover the whole joint and that you spread it evenly

[krazyderek]

blockbuster cards work great as per the tutorial

[punkrawkguy]

Thanks guys,

However, wouldn't a thinner adhesive like epoxy transmit sound better than gummy, plasticy wood glue?

[RAI6]

But doesn't epoxy dry rock hard?

That doesn't seem to be a better solution....

[krazyderek]

let's put it this way, every guitar manufacturer in the world uses wood glue as far as i know, with the exception of when carbon fiber comes into the picture. I mean i'm not an expert or anything so don't take what i say as gospel, but it makes sense that WOOD glue would be the best glue for WOOD brian might be the best guy to talk to about this, he seems to have a good knowledge on what kind of epoxy's do and don't work on guitars, but that's mostly for filling dings, holes and cracks in guitar bodies.

[daveq]

I wish there was some scientific study of some sort on the "transmission of sound" when it comes to gluing, bolting (bolt-in/on necks), ... When I read reviews on subjective things like pickups, the reviews are all over the place. I think this might be a similar issue (maybe not?) - how many players would notice if you built a guitar that had 2 or 7 pieces glued to make up the body (no matter what type of adhesive)? I'm not trying to say that this is a stupid question - I actually think it's a very good question.

I have never heard of anyone using anything other than wood glue (such as Titebond) for this.

[Setch]

Titebond forms a very thin chemical bond - if you cut a good tightfitting joint. Epoxy never sets truly hard, and forms a thicker glueline, since it creates a mechanical joint and needs thickness to be strong.

You can use epoxy, but wood glue is better, dries faster, is less slippy and slimy than epoxy and will create a less visible glueline. IMO epoxy is not the best choice here, or for most luthiery applications.

[Guitarfrenzy]

Yeah listen to them on this. Epoxy has it place in guitar building, it's just not ideal for gluing the body wood together. Stick with wood glue like Titebond, Titebond II or Loctite produts. They don't seem to show the glue line as bad in my opinion. I've also had a friend use Gorilla Glue with great results.

Matt

[krazyderek]

didn't we agree that titebond was better then titebond II ??

[Guitarfrenzy]

Not sure, I must have missed those laboratory studies you guys did.. lol

[westhemann]

i didn't realize we all agreed to use titebond

i thought we were just discussing the differences

[krazyderek]

well we discused it

[pour bleeding me]

i believe wood glue seeps into the grain of the wood and joins the two pieces actually making them stronger then the wood itself...i dont think epoxy does this...epoxy isnt as strong as wood glue either...i wouldnt recomend it

also make sure your pieces are square! i forgot to do this and had to go back and plane it

[punkrawkguy]

Man, nobody likes my Epoxy idea.

Well, I've got a fresh bottle of the Titebond I stuff, so hopefully tommorrow night I'll glue it.

I'm using dowel rods drilled through the neck and into each side of the body wings . The wings fit snugly enough to wave the guitar around or carry it by the "horns". So it should be a rock-solid joint when I glue it.

I will supply the pictures to. It's natural maple neck-thru with cherry-finished mahogany wings in a PRS shape with the PRS headstock, with a gold tunomatic, strings through the body, direct-mounted double-cream Seymour Duncan Custom bridge and The Mag neck humbuckers, that and gold Grovers.

Looks like something of a mix between a Warrior and a PRS.

PRG