Filling rosewood saddle slot - which type glue?

[Michael Van Brackle]

Saddle was in the wrong place on my old Gibson SJ.  So with advice from this forum I've made a rosewook saddle blank that fits very snugly down into my saddle slot.  Took me an hour or so of back and forth sanding and fitting, but I got her.

So what type of glue is best to use to secure the blank down in the slot?  I've got 192g HH glue, thin CA glue, Titebond, or I can go get some epoxy from one of the big box stores or WM.

Also the edges of the old slot are just worn enough that it'll show even after glued in tight and shaved down.  Should I use the old colored baking soda and CA glue into the cracks after everything's secure and shaved down?  Or if I use HH glue on the fill blank I guess I can mix some rosewood dust with HH glue down in the cracks?

Appreciate advice and suggestions.  Thanks.

[Christian Johnson]

I'd use titebond, and rosewood dust in CA for fill.

[Eric Steven Johansen]

Michael, As your intent in the end is to permanently install the filler, it would be my choice to use colored epoxy for this type of alteration/adjustment. The liquid colors from Stew Mac work great for tinting epoxy. The common box store variety works but I am still a fan of West Systems for all of my epoxy jobs.

[Michael Van Brackle]

Which West system would be best?

Right now I only work on my own instruments, so I hate to buy a lot of anything if I can help it.  I might not use it again for a year or more.

Will the SM color additive work with the West epoxy?

Lord, I get sick of ordering from SM although most of their stuff is quality.  If I need one pickguard screw, it's $8 min for shipping.  Plus, I get kind of sick of their blatant commercialistic "helpful" hints.

[Thomas James]

Super Glue. Normal thickness for the insert. Level and sand. Add thin stuff on the dust and fill in the little cracks/craters. Don't use accelerator. It might make white spots in the glue. Level and sand.

[Frank Ford]

I'll second the cyanoacrylate - it's my first choice because it sets up hard and rigid, and is extremely heat resistant, in addition to wicking in nicely and sticking really well.

[Michael Van Brackle]

Well, I went with thin CA.  Turned out great I think.  You can only tell where the fill is by the grain change which I actually accounted for when making the blank and then lost track of which end was which and glued it in backwards:).  Oh well.

What do you pros charge for this repair, btw?  Just wondered how much the special jigs purchased and experience would be offset.

Raw, sanded to 220

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/M27JvOJ.jpg[/IMG]

Refinished with thin CA

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/hVo8ovv.jpg[/IMG]

All done.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/aiAw0jv.jpg[/IMG]

[Mark McLean]

Now that is a happy ending.  Nice job Michael!