whoofnagle Posted July 31, 2004 Report Share Posted July 31, 2004 I am in the process of building my first guitar ( a tele style/shape). To date, I have created a template out of plywood, bought a 1 1/2 piece of mahogany, and glued bookmatched pieces of KOA (1/4") for the top. Two questions: 1. How much glue do i need to glue the top to the body, which I intend to do prior to cutting the body and routing the pickups/neck? In other words I don't want to use to little or too much. 2. What is the best way to attach the template to the top once glued to the body? I was thinking of double sided tape, but did not want to mess up the top. I will post pictures as this goes. Also, to differ slightly from a standard tele, I plan to install a set of P90's for the pickups. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MzI Posted July 31, 2004 Report Share Posted July 31, 2004 prolly the best place to go for answers is a book a few good ones are by melvin hiscok and martin koch, as for ur questions 1. i ususally spread glue all over the place and then take my finger and spread it out so the glue competely covers the wood and you cant see any of the lower piece that way you are ensured good coverage over the whole area, when you clamp the pieces together glue should skirt out the sides and that a good thing, you can clean that up with a damp rag if you want to 2. that depends on you router bit, where the bearing is on the router, double stick works and a number of people use it, i personally clamp my body to the table and set the template under the body because i dont use a router table i run the router by hand, the double sided tape should not ruin the top at all, the only way it might is if u leave it on there a long time some of the tackyness from the glue might stick in that case take a small small amount of thinner and put it on a rag and wipe it off MzI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kench Posted July 31, 2004 Report Share Posted July 31, 2004 1) Don't use too much glue because it won't help for better bond. Just pour some glue on the surface on several areas and spread the glue with your finger. Maximum 1 mm of glue film on the whole surface is more than enough. But make sure you spread the glue on the whole surface. When you clamp the pieces, a large amount of glue will leak from between the top and the back and it will drop all over the floor. Put some newspapers under your work so you won't have to worry about cleaning the floor when its dry. But it is a good thing as mentioned above. If you clamped well, there won't be a glue line. Another thing is. Do NOT fine sand the surfaces that are going to be glued together. Make sure they are true flat but not too smooth. Leave the wood porous. 80 grit smoothness is very good. While the glue is drying, it will be sucked by the wood and that will make a strong bond. A very smooth surface cannot suck the glue well before its dry. And clamp well. Make sure you have lots of clamps. Clamping in the hard-to-reach middle areas can be a problem. Have 3 or 4 large clamps for the middle areas. You will need to get your blanks cut and shaped before glueing. You can roughy cut them with bandsaw (like 1-2 mm away from the edges of your body shape) and give the final smooth shape with your template and your router after they are glued together. 2) Even the cheapest double-stick tapes worked great for me. Sometimes they leave some adhesive on the acrylic templates but can be cleaned. Don't worry about your top. These tapes makes strong bond and are easy to remove from the wood. 3) Don't be too lazy like me, and shoot photos of all the process, and SHARE!! Goodluck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted August 1, 2004 Report Share Posted August 1, 2004 Yeah man, that sounds like one beautiful Tele. My Koa Tele is coming along fine, shooting clear coats on it now, you will love yours I'm sure, and P-90's with Mahogony is a great, intellegent, rock-n-roll choice, you got it going on my Koa brother! OK, yeah, 2-sided tape is great, I use it all the time. Glue: I keep those cheap-o white plastic spatulas on hand (Home Depot) and use the spatulas to spread out my glue before clamping. You really don't need a whole lot of glue, and an excess will allow your top to 'slide' on you when you go to clamp everything together, so keep it really reasonable. I put a -thin- coating on both surfaces. Be prepared to do a little -adjusting- when you start clamping it together, it will probably 'drift', or 'slide' on you a bit, so be prepared for it, you have PLENTY of time to readjust things so it's perfectly centered. You have time to remove the clamps and re-align things if you need to, so don't lose your cool. Don't freak out and panic, this is why I'm telling you now. Be steady, be gentle, don't be in a big hurry when it comes to glue-ups. Keep it centered and you'll be a happy guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted August 1, 2004 Report Share Posted August 1, 2004 If using a PVA or aliphatic wood glue, or hide glue (such as titebond original) you can ignore the advice about roughing gluing surfaces. The best bond is achieved between smooth surfaces, with a tiny glueline which actually chemically adheres the woods together. Roughing the surface raises wood fibres which keep the surfaces further apart, and produces a weaker joint. Aliphatic glues produce an extremely strong chemical bond, usually stronger than the bond between wood fibres in an unglued piece of timber, but the glue it self is actually very weak, so extra thickness of glue is bad. The ideal gluing surface is freshly planed or scraper surface, which is flat and smooth, but has not had time to oxidise. Roughing or 'toothing' surfaces is only helpful when using a mechanical adhesive, such as epoxy, or when gluing disimilar materials togther - ie plastic binding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoofnagle Posted August 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2004 Thanks for the advice. I will try and make sure that the glue is spread evenly and not too thick! However, I am still a bit confused on when to glue. SHould I rough cut the top and body, then glue and rout? Or Glue the top on the body then cut, rout, and sand? I have been doing lots of reading and feel like people have differing opinions. Once again, I will try and post pictures as soon as possible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goth_fiend Posted August 1, 2004 Report Share Posted August 1, 2004 what i did on my Rhodes V(you guys will see it soon i hope, digicam is gonna be a few more weeks!) i cut the body out and then glued my bookmatched top on it and routed the excess off, now i dont know if thats the best thing to do but it worked on my project, also make sure your bits are good and sharp or you will regret it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted August 1, 2004 Report Share Posted August 1, 2004 Unless you're doing a drop-top, I don't think it much matters. I usually rough-cut to within a 1/4" (give or take) of my outline first, then glue. But I usually am into saving the scraps from the top wood to use as my headstock veneer, so keeping as much extra top wood as I can is always in my best interest. Also, if there are extra top scraps, I'll use them for my color boards, trying colors on them first before applying color to the body. So to me, saving as much top scrap as possible is always a goal, that's why I cut to as close to my outline as I can before gluing up, but it's not 'necessary', but sometimes 'wise'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoofnagle Posted August 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2004 Well here is the first picture. I have glued the top and cut the body. I plan on cutting and gluing the top this weekend, although I have a black limba body on order that I might use instead of the mahogany. If I want to put a set of P90's in, are there thoughts on the disance from the neck where they should be routed? Is there a typical length? KOA top and mahog. body Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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