Violin Forum/Message Board

[Dave Chandler]

Anyone here use Rabbit Glue, and what would it be used for in violin making?
_________________
Dave in the Blue Ridge
Southern Violin Association

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

"I took the road less travelled, and now I don't know where I am." Marco Polo

[Mat Roop]

Don't know anyone using rabbit glue. Rabbit glue has a much higher boom strength so it will set quite fast and have less shrinkage when drying, the downside of that is that we want the hide glue to shrink because that is what will pull the joints together as they dry.
... and that is the full extent of my alleged knowledge on rabbit glue!...
Cheers, Mat

[BobW]

Dave, I have used rabbit glue to replace a missing slice of spruce on the top. The damage was so bad, the top was removed, and needed a slice of spruce from the purfling to the f-hole. After carefully cutting away the damage, and beveling the top cuts, a spruce wedge using rabbit glue was clamped into the void. Both sides of the slice were then scraped to match the top contour. After touch up finishing, the top was hide glued and clamped onto the violin. I went w/ rabbit glue for needing something that would not come apart while reassembling the violin using hide glue. I could have used super glue as some guitar luthiers do, but did not want anything that would interfere with the finish. Other than this repair, and maybe a structural repair, I agree Mat and cannot think of any other reason to use rabbit glue.

[kjb]

how does super glue hold up over time? 50 years , just curious if anyone has had a repair come apart after 20 years with superglue?

[Mat Roop]

i have used super glue for over 20 yrs, never had a joint fail (that I know of).
Mind you, I am not really a fan of superglue, I use it primarily on frog repairs... slides, eyes, and hairline splits. I won't ever use it in situations where there is stress on the superglue joint, not even for rehairing.... For no scientific reason, just a personal thing.
I do also use it to harden the string slot on bridges... keeps the string from sinking in.... and so I don't use that plastic sleeve thingy that comes with the string
Cheers, Mat

[L P Reedy]

Like Mat, I don't use super glue where it will be stressed. My first use was about 35 years ago in a low-stress application. That joint failed dramatically after about a year. The stuff may have been improved a lot since then, but I'm a skeptic. My main use for it these days is to close cuts on my hand and to glue thin leather patches over e string grooves. (I tried just coating the grooves but found that to be a little unreliable.)

[kjb]

thanks