Glue for plastic bindings

[Oliwally]

Hi all,

So I've figured out that I should be using Bind-All or Duco Cement, which are Nitrocellulose Solution adhesives, for glueing on plastic bindings around the guitar body.

But it seems to be a little tricky to get hold of these (particularly Bind-All) in Australia.

Could someone please share some wisdom on where to buy this stuff or what substitutes I could be using (other than super glues which soaks into the grain too much and makes staining difficult).

Thanks a lot,

Oli

[Marcel]

If it is simple binding straight on to a wood body then Acetone is a reasonable alternative. It melts the binding into the wood and evaporates quickly so your 'hold time until set' is typically around 60 seconds.

Basically the process is 1/ spill some Acetone into the routed channel and on the back of the binding, 2/ hold wetted section in place for 60 seconds or until the Acetone evaporates... Done.

There are a few videos of the Acetone method on YouTube.

Alternatively you can try and find a glue at your local hardware that lists the two materials you a trying to bond... That does mean spending considerable time in the glue section reading all the labels.

Do stay away from Gorilla glue as apparently it does yellow and once set can be quite hard to clean up ... quite fine if you're painting though, like with house paint and a roller......

[Oliwally]

Thanks for helping out Marcel. I'll give the acetone a go. There is only a very small section that has come away righ at the end of the binding near the neck. I may be able to use a syringe to get some acetone in there.

So, what do folks in Oz use for doing a whole guitar? Surely not just acetone, right? That would be only a very shallow mechanical bond, with very little of the dissolved banding 'soaking' into the timber for a strong bond. Do regular guitar builders import the appropriate glue?

[Oliwally]

Ok, so I'm doing some more poking around about a suitable adhesive. Since the binding is made out of ABS (Stewmac tells me so) then it makes sense that acetone will dissolve it. Some suggestions I've found online for glueing this include UHU Hart and perhaps even Revell Contacta (plastic model building glue).

Any thoughts?

[WeirdBits]

Tarzan’s Grip is an option as it gives you a bit more work time, I used it when I re-bound a TL kit. Cleaning up the edge can be a frustrating as it can stay a slightly rubbery and be tough to scrape, it can sort of ball up and drag rather than scape cleanly. Thick or Gel CA/superglue works well, I believe DB always used CA for his binding.

[Fretworn]

Ok, so I'm doing some more poking around about a suitable adhesive. Since the binding is made out of ABS (Stewmac tells me so) then it makes sense that acetone will dissolve it. Some suggestions I've found online for glueing this include UHU Hart and perhaps even Revell Contacta (plastic model building glue).

Any thoughts?

Actually I think they do use Acetone for the whole binding, but I may be wrong.

[Marcel]

Ok, so I'm doing some more poking around about a suitable adhesive. Since the binding is made out of ABS (Stewmac tells me so) then it makes sense that acetone will dissolve it. Some suggestions I've found online for glueing this include UHU Hart and perhaps even Revell Contacta (plastic model building glue).

Any thoughts?

On my Denim partscaster Tele build I did use the Revell Contacta glue on some parts of the binding. Mostly in the cut away section. However the majority of the binding that lay over the top of the Denim was done with Weldbond Universal adhesive and a considerable amount of masking tape to hold things in place until it set. The denim itself was secured in place to the Alder body by using copious amounts of Titebond original.

[Brendan]

Part of the reason for acetone is to slightly melt the binding plastic - check out this vid:
https://youtu.be/hszYf0V7HlA