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I'm working on an old Yamaha that has a big thick engraved pick guard (thing Gibson Hummingbird) that is coming off. It looks like it was attached to the top which was finished (doesn't react to lacquer thinner, must be some sort of catalyzed something). There is damage down to the wood in a number of places, mostly right along the edges of the p/b. I'm guessing someone tried to repair it at some point with unknown glue.

Got the p/g off and cleaned the old glue off of its (mostly scraping, naphtha didn't touch it). Cleaned up the top and brushed a couple of coats of shellac on the bare wood. Warmed the p/g and clamped it flat overnight. Put double sticky tape on it and attempted to reattach it. Came loose from the top after a couple of days.

Dilemma now is what glue to use. I know contact cement is sometimes used for p/g's but with the irregular and damaged wood I'm wondering if this might be a case for (whisper) epoxy. I can get good clamping action all around the p/g but I know I only get one chance. Thoughts?

Bump. Anyone? Here is a picture of the guitar - as you can see the top is not nice and level and flat.

I had the same problem not too long ago - an old Norman guitar with a pickguard that someone had tried to glue back several times with different glues creating a fussy mess. We wanted to keep it original, so proceeded to remove all glue traces from both pickguard and body and apply some sort of finish on the now-exposed wood. It seems you've already done that from what I read.

Next I did some research and found this :

3M VHB Adhesive Transfer Tape

That's the Canadian (or maybe industrial, can't remember) version of the product. It seems that it is the stuff many builders are using, I got the reference from the former paint shop manager at Guitares Boucher.

From what I gather, it is the same transfer tape StewMac are selling for gluing pickguards. It worked wonders on the old Norman. It's hard to get elsewhere, though.

Needless to say, I now keep some in stock.


Pierre
http://www.torvisse.com

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Pierre Castonguay

Hey Freeman,

I just did one of those last summer. You got first steps correct, remove the pick guard and all the old adhesive and seal the raw wood. What I did next was to fill the areas of missing wood and finish with epoxy finishing resin. Once that is scraped and sanded smooth you'll be ready to reinstall the pick guard using the 3M adhesive sheet that Stew Mac sells. The warp makes it tough to get those back on properly but with a hair dryer and strategic removal of the backing paper you'll do just fine.

Steve

Thanks Steve and Pierre, I did a bunch of drop filling with CA today to try to level all the holes and ordered some of the 3M stuff.

Great, good luck Freeman!

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Pierre Castonguay

I would also recommend the 3M transfer adhesive for this project. This is my preference for all pickguard attachments unless the customer requests it be glued down, as in the case of a valuable old Martin to conform to originality. I prefer sticking them on because it prevents the possibility of future top cracks from pickguard shrinkage that commonly happens with pickguards that are glued on; and, sticking on is much easier and faster .

Thanks everyone. I drop filled all the blown out areas with multiple drops of CA and leveled back to the the finish, the warmed the area slightly with a hot air gun and stuck the p/b back down with the 3M tape. I had previously warmed the pick guard and clamped it between to pieces of UHMW - it wasn't completely flat but about as good as it was going to get. Warned the owner that it might come back off and we could try a more aggressive adhesive if it did. He asked if I could make a new P/g - I said not for this one.

Fingers are crossed

That looks pretty great Freeman!

Success!


Pierre
www.torvisse.com

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Pierre Castonguay

Nice work! That adhesive is very sticky. I'd say it isn't going anywhere.