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I see here and elsewhere that many builders like to use CA glue when installing bindings and purflings on top and back. Prob the best advantage, at least to me, is being able to get everything in place, tape, then glue.

I know others like Tightbond etc but at least until I get more experience seems like things can get busy as glue is starting to harden.

Question is - since most recommend shellac in top binding channels to prevent spruce staining, does that affect adhesion using CA (since earlier it was clear to me to have no shellac under top braces when gluing with tightbond)?

Thanks as always

Jon

There is going to be someone with more knowledge on this than I, but I will chime in.

CA for bindings IS advantageous to the points you made. I do use it to install my purfling before I install my binding (I hate managing multiple things during a time sensitive install).

The downside (as I am sure it will come up in this thread) is that CA is particularly brittle adhesive. If, for some reason, there were pressure applied to a part of the binding (router tearout from the tenon, a short drop of the guitar body on it's side, etc) the whole binding may pop off. I suspect this problem would be magnified if you were to seal the binding channel with shellac since the shellac is preventing some bonding mechanism.

I guess to recap, CA glue does not perform well (typically) under tension.

For what it's worth, I use fish glue for bindings. I love it's open time and its simple cleanup. It's not without it's downsides tho (which is out of scope for this thread).

Ok, now we wait for the empirical evidence to counter everything i just said...

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-Marcus
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I've been using CA over shellac for my bindings for many years. Never had a failure. Done a few with TiteBond and the binding channels had shellac too (habit I guess). No problems there either. Probably 95% of my bindings have been wood.

My personal guitars go on and off stage several times a week and they've taken some pretty good hits. All are CA/shellac. No failures.

Anyone out there had a binding failure with CA?

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Same as Marcus and Steve, I use CA. I think by now around 15 instruments with it following the same general guidance on sealing the channel on the top side of the instrument with shellac. It doesn’t take much and you can target just the spruce if you’re concerned.

I did have one failure, a full strip of binding delaminated from head to tail. It was ABS. I had forgotten to rough up the inside of the binding strip before gluing it in. So, a mental error on my part.

Making sure to have no gaps, a well fitting channel, knock off the inside edge of the binding, rough up ABS, etc… all those good practices that should be happening anyway will help it be successful.

Good luck!


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I don't use CA glue, but this particular tip from Brad is one that deserves a "me too." The inside edge of the binding is a sharp corner that tries to fit into a sharp corner. If anything gets in the way, the binding doesn't fit well. If you gently round over the inside edge of the binding (the only edge of the binding that won't show at all), it really helps make sure that the binding will fit where and how it is supposed to fit. Just one of those little hints that makes a huge difference.

I was going to reply w/ a question until your timely response. Thx to all.

I don’t have any shellac. I’ve always used nitro to seal before CA. One wet coat and never had a stain.

Hi Jon. I didn't read the other replies I'm too busy repairing guitars this week with 12 under my belt so far this week alone, make that 13 I forgot one.

I don't like CA for bindings and although I'm sure that's going to ox someone's Gore I prefer and used Titebond Original on all of the guitars I built and never had a single issue, not a one. Additionally no need to shellac the binding channels but I did shellac the top maybe 2" from the perimeter to prevent lifting fibers when pulling off my binding tape.

Paul Woolson who used to be on this forum and is a superb builder was one of a number of posters who posted here back in the day that he had binding failures from CA use where when the binding came lose entire segments 4" long he described lifted and came loose. He was not alone and there is also the issue of staining the spruce as you brought up. No stains to worry about and ruin your week... if you don't use CA.

Time wise, your concern with Titebond original it was never a problem for me and I never worked all the fast when I was Building. Since you or I are only doing one half of say the top at once there is ample time for the 15 minute open time.

What I did was only apply perhaps 1/3 of the channel with Titebond, work it in with my finger and then proceed to tape the binding. As I approached the section of binding channel not yet with Titebond in the channel applied I applied another 1/3 of the channel with the glue and repeated this process until the last 1/3 of the half of say the top I was doing was done and all taped up.

Lots of squeeze out with Titebond and that's great and easily cleaned.

One more dig at CA for bindings and I can hear the naysayers now which is rather amusing to me these days... CA sucks in sheer and fails that way too.

The entire purpose of binding if we could dig up the Luthiers of the 1800's.... and they didn't smell too bad was to protect the instruments edges and even cushion them from a blow. CA sucks in sheer and that very well can result from a hit or blow to the instrument.

Additionally there are posts on this forum from excellent, pro builders who reported issues with CA for bindings with some specific hardwoods such ebony or African Blackwood. Seems the higher the density the less the grab with CA.

So I would and did use Titebonb Original (always the original and not the other flavors that often suck for Lutherie) for my bindings and my rosettes too. I found the swelling of the rosette channel from Titebond Original to be an opportunity to use it in the fitment process and it worked great.

Lastly there is one place that I did use CA on my builds and only one place. One small drop to secure the nut after crafting the nut to "snap" into place and not even need glue. So I did cheat and use a drop of the stuff....

I just remembered I used it for position markers too but please don't tell anyone....

Hope this helps.

This is a brilliant suggestion and I am so glad I read this thread! Thanks for sharing!