Best glue for split ebony?

Hi, guys,

I have an archtop I bought in 2003 made by the Grimm Bros., from Idaho. I think they may no longer be building, I haven't seen any sign of them for a long time.

Anyway, a missing builder is not the issue?

The guitar has a nice wedge-style abbreviated ebony, raised finger rest, mounted to the side of the fingerboard with two screws through a rather small ebony block. There's also a padded rest for stability under the volume pot that controls the floating pickguard.

The mounting block, through which the screws pass, recently split while we were not at home--the guitar is on a stand. I blame the cats because it doesn't seem to suffer from any obvious stresses and it held on for 9 years, but whatever... . The whole assembly did put a little gouge in the top when it fell.

Before I re-engineer something more sturdy, I thought I'd try to glue the split block back together and then maybe reinforce it with a laminate of some stronger material, e.g. some thin ABS or styrene plastic. It's held on for 9 years, maybe I can get another 9 out of it. There's no tear-out in the split block, just a nice fitting split that fits together perfectly. It should be easy to glue it back together.

So, what's the strongest glue to re-attach the split ebony? HHG may be the best but with the wiring for the pickup hanging out of the treble F hole, maybe something else, especially since the remainder of the block is glued on the finger rest and heating the block might release it. ACC? Titebond? Epoxy? How about for gluing a laminate to the block after it's glued? And, what would make a good laminate? Is that a good idea for reinforcement?

Thanks,

Larry

PS: If anyone knows the Grimm Bros. and where they've gone, I'd appreciate knowing.

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Permalink Reply by LARRY KLOSE on May 15, 2012 at 9:41pm

Uhh, the volume pot controls the floating Pickup... .

Larry

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Permalink Reply by Ned Knepp on May 15, 2012 at 11:41pm

I've laminated some old piano keys into workable blocks using CA. It worked out pretty well since the stuff I made with them wasn't stressed. I made sure the mating surfaces were well mated then as clean and oil free as I could. I cleaned the gluing surfaces with acetone that I let dry before I applied the glue. I also clamped them up just to make sure it was a tight joint.

Now that said, I have also tried to repair a splitting ebony mandolin bridge using CA which lasted all of 2 or 3 hours before it started to collapse again. I don't know if I didn't get enough of the natural oils out of the split before applying glue of if it was just too much pressure on the bridge. If you are going to glue up something, perhaps you should consider replacing the split block with a new one

Got pictures?