I have to preface my remarks with the fact that I am not a luthier and
do not execute any but the most trivial repair work myself. However, I
own several original 19th-c. instruments that are old, assembled with
glue and timbers that are now old, and thus are in somewhat frequent
need of maintenance and repair. I don't do the work, but do have some
stubborn opinions about how I like such work done.
Cyanoacrylate can be useful to repair some cracks/breaks in single
pieces/panels of wood. I do not like the concept of using it in
separated glue joints. Yes, it can be separated with acetone, but it
can take some real soaking to get into a well-glued joint. It is very
hard and can be brittle. It also can soak very deeply into fibrous
material.
White (typical school-room paper glues) or yellow (typical modern wood
glues) glue is also known as aliphatic resin. They are vinyl based
(polyvinyl acetate or PVA). It's what is used to assemble most modern
wood joints, including on most modern musical instruments. It's easy
to work, and sets relatively quickly, but not TOO quickly. Its
disadvantages are that it is rather flexible and thus tends to "creep"
under tension, and it is persistent and gummy, often requiring a fair
amount of scraping if you want to reverse it.
I value repair efforts executed with an eye to the intent of the
original build; I believe them to be the most minimally invasive. The
bottom line, I personally would want the separated joint repaired with
whatever adhesive originally assembled it. If that was hide glue, and
you yourself cannot work hide glue, why not just leave it as is until
you can get it to a luthier who does? This obviously is not a joint
necessary to the function of the instrument and shouldn't impede your
ability to play it so long as you play it with sufficient care to not
further damage the separation.
Luck,
Eugene
----- Original Message -----
From: Anthony Hind <[email protected]>
Date: Sunday, March 15, 2009 6:57 am
Subject: [LUTE] glueing back decoration
To: lute List <[email protected]>
> Dear Lutenists
> While
> carrying out my latest octave tweak, replacing the
> octaves with Venice Meanes, I left the string a little too long:
> once
> the strings were up to tension, the thickness at the peg, pushed
> out
> the pegbox decoration.
> Here is a picture of how it was before this occurred:
> http://tinyurl.com/atnlcb
>
> My question, what glue, apart from hide glue (without heating)
> can I
> use to glue it back? I suppose it must be reversible.
>
> I imagine it only needs a small drop, as it has only moved in
> the
> last upper 3rd.
>
> I would be grateful for suggestions.
> Regards
> Anthony
>
>
>
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