lowbrow Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 I'm refurbishing a "1963ish" Gretsch Astro Jet. I got it as a stripped carcass and one of the issues it has was rotting binding. The treble side of the neck binding had fallen off long ago and a previous owner had continued to play the guitar apparently. The wood ledge for the binding was worn away in a area around the 12th fret. I've re-installed new binding and I mixed up some liguid hide glue and mahogany dust as a filler for the missing wood. That all has gone pretty well and I'm at the grain filling stage. My problem is I've noticed the hide glue putty area gets sticky if my hand is in contact with it for any length of time. I assume I'm re-activating the hide glue with my body heat and moisture. Will this be a problem after I get various coats of sealer and lacquer over the area, do you think? Would I be better off to stop where I am, remove the hide glue/putty and re-do this fix with something else or some other method? I don't have much in the way of power tools, so replacing it with wood would be quite difficult...I was thinking maybe mix epoxy and mahogany saw dust instead, but I'm not sure now... Thanks in advance for any insight or help you may be able to provide.. Here are a couple pictures of the area in question: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotYou Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 I've never used liquid hide glue, but I've heard it causes problems like that. It will also start to creep in time. Even if you lacquer it, the glue will probably cause problems in time. Probably not for a long, but it's likely to happen. You're probably going to be better off removing it and using something else. You can get it out with heat, but it's likely to loosen to fretboard. I don't have a lot of experience filling wood, or with removing hide glue, so I'll let someone else give you advice with those things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dugg Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 Yeah, liquid hide glue has urea in it which causes it to keep reabsorbing moisture, either from the air or in your case from your hands. Though I've never used it on a binding, I think hide glue is probably the right choice, just not the liquid stuff. I've used hot hide glue to make 'plastic wood' as you've done, and it works great. In fact, over the last few years I've started using hot hide for just about everything, it's that good. Just takes some practice mixing and setting up your assembly to be fast enough, but the results are much better than any other glue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowbrow Posted May 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 Do you think I would be better off removing it and using something else? Yeah, liquid hide glue has urea in it which causes it to keep reabsorbing moisture, either from the air or in your case from your hands. Though I've never used it on a binding, I think hide glue is probably the right choice, just not the liquid stuff. I've used hot hide glue to make 'plastic wood' as you've done, and it works great. In fact, over the last few years I've started using hot hide for just about everything, it's that good. Just takes some practice mixing and setting up your assembly to be fast enough, but the results are much better than any other glue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRAKO Posted May 13, 2009 Report Share Posted May 13, 2009 I would have gone with the epoxy for this job, but at this stage you might want to use some of that concoction you made there on a piece of scrap wood and see how it reacts when you throw some sanding sealer over it (or whatever comes next for you). If it still acts up go for the mulligan and get the epoxy ready. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowbrow Posted May 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2009 I decided to forge ahead and see what sealer coats would produce. After two, the problems seems to have been addressed. I think with all the sealer and lacquer coats it's going to get, I should be OK. If not, I'll just have to re-do that area or the whole neck. Now that I know it's the urea reacting, I think I might be OK. Thanks all! If you have any curiosity, I've been doing a blog about my guitar rebuilding adventures... http://lowbrowguitars.blogspot.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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