How do you assemble the body?

[alanp]

Okay, so I've seen quite a few pictures of guitars where the body itself is made from multiple pieces of wood.

How do you guys get them to stay together so well? I can't see any nails or screws, is it all down to the power of Superglue?

I'm terrible at woodworking and don't plan on making a guitar, just wondering about how these bodies are put together is all. (I'm nosey.)

[jeremyb]

PVA or Aliphatic Resin I believe

[GrantB]

Probably most would be aliphatic (alaphatic)? resin glue or animal glue...try not to use PVA on anything on a guitar (other than a fudged screw hole - ooohhh-er)....please

[sgt mukuzi]

you have to coax the wood together under the moonlight on the last Friday of every month
only then will it bleed together like the vixen on the alter at sabbat
take rise to the sheman
for only s/he can make it loud
prey to the dark lord for he can fix a tive
and let all know who he hath tapped
eruption
epoxy; it is a sin to the sand piper

[mjwhit]

you have to coax the wood together under the moonlight on the last Friday of every month
only then will it bleed together like the vixen on the alter at sabbat
take rise to the sheman
for only s/he can make it loud
prey to the dark lord for he can fix a tive
and let all know who he hath tapped
eruption
epoxy; it is a sin to the sand piper

Haha awesome.

Probably most would be aliphatic (alaphatic)? resin glue or animal glue...try not to use PVA on anything on a guitar (other than a fudged screw hole - ooohhh-er)....please

Why wouldnt you use PVA? Its defiantly up to the task. Surely you cant argue it has worse tone than other glues? That would be ridiculous.

I use PVA to glue laminates together, and also to glue fretboards down to the neck as well. But im no luthier, its just a hobby.

Nothings ever come close to giving up on me. However, with my body laminates I do use dowel as much as possible.

[ash]

Excellent surfaces, dry/stable wood and PVA, aliphatic, RF glue, urea formaldehyde, melamine; whatever the manufacturer finds most production friendly.

[Cabb]

Melamine? Fonterra grade or regular?

[ash]

Regular. That Fonterra stuff tastes funny.

[hamo]

How do you assemble the body?

Well the knee bone's connected to the
Thigh bone
Everybody!

[Rog]

Adrian, do they ever dowel them?

[ash]

Adrian, do they ever dowel them?

No.

The only time I've dowelled a body blank was when the peices were difficult to clamp and alignment was critical. I used a dowel to stop the peices slipping relative to each other while the glue was still wet, not for any post-assembly strength.

[Rog]

Cheers,
I do recall seeing a 3 piece dovetailed body once. No idea of make. Naturally, since it was unpainted, it didn't appeal to me.

[GrantB]

Probably most would be aliphatic (alaphatic)? resin glue or animal glue...try not to use PVA on anything on a guitar (other than a fudged screw hole - ooohhh-er)....please

Why wouldnt you use PVA? Its defiantly up to the task. Surely you cant argue it has worse tone than other glues? That would be ridiculous.

I use PVA to glue laminates together, and also to glue fretboards down to the neck as well. But im no luthier, its just a hobby.

Nothings ever come close to giving up on me. However, with my body laminates I do use dowel as much as possible.

Well I don't want to be rediculous do I...if I have a choice of glues to use on a guitar I will use the ones that I know will a) do the job and b) optimise any chance that the joint will assist vibration transfer and c) can be repairable (not so much the case in laminating bodies). Maybe I am arguing the tone element? Probably most cheaper guitars have PVA all through them?

Sure PVA is up to the task. But if I had a choice though I would use something else like those I mentioned. For e.g. I would never use PVA to glue a fingerboard onto a neck - animal glue first, but if it was real tricky then resin...but hey, that's me.

[B45-12]

Aw Jeez you lot what's wrong with nails??? start by nailing the bent ribs to the end blocks - 5 or so 20mm panel pins at each end will do very well. Then you can nail the braces to the top and back. Now you should probably use 2-3 inch galv nails for the neck to body joint and 1 inch panel pins for the fingerboard to the neck.

Onve you've nailed on mupltiple blacks for top and back linings (use the old half inch panel pins), you have a choice - tradionallty the higher quality instruments (you'll recognise these by the label 'Fabricado en Taiwan') have the tops well screwed one with multiple screws but that's a hell of a lot of screwing which will probably ruin your eyesight for good. So use drawing pins instead. Now for the back Ash is having great results with chewing gum but you never really want it to come off so supergluing is probably a good option here - or carpet tacks.

See you are almost ready for the bridge - the Gibson style plastic one is harder to fabricate but only requires two bolts to hold it on as opposed to the three nails of the trad trapeze bridge.

Using these simple techniques you can make yourself a quality instrument that would fetch at least $1.50 on the open market and is just perfect for covering in stickers and singing dirty songs to around a campfire. Enjoy -