Thread: Animal glue source

The sponsors of this forum sell hide glue. It comes in of minimum 200g though.

For the amount that you need though you might be better getting gelatine (aka edible hide glue) from the supermarket and using that. I haven't done this myself but I have heard of luthiers using this when in a tight spot.

'Art' supply stores sell rabbit hide glue in pellet form - it is used as a 'size' for preparing surfaces for painting - I have no idea how small a quantity they will sell, but you will need a glue pot & stove.

You could also make 'fish skin' glue - go to a good fish shop & see if they will save you a bit of salmon skin that they take off the fillets. Boil this up like the rabbit hide pellets.

In all the above cases, chuck the leftover glue as soon as you have finished, or let it cool & feed it to the dog - it does NOT keep & can't be re-heated.

U-Beat's ready mix hide glue is a better deal, but some people want to be experimental or 'authentically antique'.

if you only need a bit you can have some of mine. I'm in the inner west.

Hide glue is going to require heating. Titebond I (original) another option for bridge gluing. Its what I use on my bridges. Clamp up well and dont string up for at least 24 hours after glue up.

I'm with kiwigeo on this.
If you not set up for hide glue just use titebond original. It will be a very strong bond.
BTW you wanna be onto raw wood or if not maybe use epoxy.

Hide glue needs heating and needs to be fresh. You dont want to expreiment on learning it on a bridge join that maybe not raw wood

If it was a valuable vintage guitar you might want to use trad materials but as you are aksing on this forum i doubt that's the case

Some more notes:


1. Make sure you have some way of stopping the bridge sliding sideways while its clamped up. Gutter bolts and nuts through outer bridge pin holes is one option. Tape position guides (little bits of wood are suitable) to aid in positioning of bridge....two in front of bridge on treble and bass side and one at one end of bridge.
2. A caul under the bridge plate is a good idea if you can manage it. Place wax paper between the caul and the the bridge plate in case any glue gets through bridge pin holes and onto the caul.
3. masking tape over bridge pins holes will minimise glue leaking through same.
4. Clean up Titebond from around bridge straight after gluing.

For detailed procedure on regluing a bridge see Hideo Kamimoto's 'Complete Guitar Repair".

You're all very kind, thank you very much. For me I think the tightbond option sounds ideal (stick with what's known).

The guitar is a Takamine that I've had for around 15 years, for some reason they released a bridge that the strings pass through instead of bridge pins!

About 6 months ago I thought I'd have a go of the heaviest strings I could find, until pop!

Anyway thanks again, I very much appreciate the tips and direction.

All the best,
Nick

As an aside I would like to recommend a glance at this site...

> http://z4.invisionfree.com/double_bass

Awesome work contrebasse.

Nick,

Any chance of a photo of that bridge...sounds interesting.

If youre going to stay with those heavier guage strings then check the bridge saddle compensation once the bridge is back on. You may have to whack in a new saddle and refile ridges on same to get correct intonation.

Cheers and good luck

Martin

Originally Posted by JackJack

As an aside I would like to recommend a glance at this site...

> http://z4.invisionfree.com/double_bass

Yeah I noticed that site. The guy's a lunatic! And he's just using hide glue!

_Suicidal_ lunatic....look how he's using his wife's steam iron to heat up the hide glue!!