How To Glue A Maple Veneer To A Strat... With Hot Suck Action! 

Thanks or watching Jeffin we love you too

Thanks Charlie, I see people on forums talk about me and they totally don't get it, they don't understand what I'm about... I think they are 13 year old kids or just really bitter, what a way to live. I love what I do and I'm going to keep on doing things my way

Glad you enjoyed it Rossco

Thanks for watching Pam. Veneer is a really neat way to make a plain guitar really pop. Good luck with your project, let me know how it goes.

Thanks Terry, will do my friend

Thanks for watching Tom, glad you enjoyed the video

The vacuum is the really hot set-up

Thanks for calling me out

Oh it will be a HH strat. I haven't decided if it will be super (Floyd Rose) or not?

Thanks for watching Andrew, glad to hear you liked it

You bet!

Absolutely, you can do a thicker top with clamps and get a great result. With something as thin as veneer you need some other tools.

Texas Toast Guitars cool...I'll have to rember that. Maybe someday down the road it would be nice to get a bag and vacuum pump. I love the veneer. Turns plain wood into gorgeous wood! For a fraction of the cost!👍😎🎸🎶

It's the good stuff kids go for

Texas Toast Guitars yep!☺

Thanks for watching RB, it is certainly easier to do when it's one big piece

You know me any reason to by a specialty tool is good enough. Going to work on a series of videos about the myths of veneer soon

Thanks Rosa

Good to know!

Thanks Brian

Thanks Scott, Veneer Supplies will not ship to Colorado, bums me out

Thanks for watching Michael

I almost went with that, this stuff worked well too

Yea forgot franklin has a cold press glue too.if always likes unibond as a first choice though.

tightbond EXTEND not tightbond ii extend is supposed to be very good too

Thanks for watching Seth

@@TexasToastGuitars Most welcome, thank you!

I think we did? My friend Jim Fuller has this guitar

Thanks for watching Adrian. I'm not sure if this is secret stuff of not. Lots of it is used by the bigger guitar companies but also used by woodworkers all over. Send me an email and we can schedule a time to talk

Texas Toast Guitars awesome i tried calling the shop but ya guys are closed apparently morenoadrian1229@yahoo.com please contact me thanks so much

I'm taking the rest of the day off but I'll get with you this week

A little tape is a great idea Patrick, I don't think it would take much. Thanks for watching, glad you hear you are digging the videos

Thanks so much JC

Thanks brotherman

You bet it should make things easier for y'all and quicker too

There are probably some really smart things one could do with the left over bits... I have just been tossing them.

It isn't too bad the smallest vacuum bag is all you need. You will have great results

@@TexasToastGuitars hey do you know a good place to get veneers

Yep, that is a pretty clever trick since they are going for some sonic properties of the maple, want the wood to look like a PRS and keep cost down. I think that veneer is a cool thing but it is a lot like cheating

That is a good idea Lou, I have often thought of doing that but have never pulled the trigger

Working with new stuff is always way easier

Thanks for watching Christian, the Unibond worked very well and, as you pointed out, made a nice seam. I'm sure there are other good adhesives too. I am a believer in using the right glue for the job

Good advice

Yes i agree with taping it down...it will eliminate movement

We use the cold press stuff from Titebond

If it was my guitar I would not try to repair it. Of course, I am all jigged up to do re-tops

Hi Esteve, thanks for watching, glad to hear you are enjoying the videos. We have worked with burls a little bit, I love that stuff. I think you could make a really slick guitar with walnut burl veneer. I am not an expert on using this stuff so you should seek out as much information as you can and even do a few test bits. I'm sure there are lots of products you can take advantage of that will make life easier. I'm excited to hear what you come up with. You got to send me some pics

Thanks for watching los 6, it is my understanding that contact cement will NOT work for gluing wood veneer to thicker wood.

Absolutely, Veneer Supplies has all kinds of good information, FAQs and, of course, supplies. They are a one stop shop.

Hi Tim, I think that would work great. The nice part is you could test it first before you put any glue down. I also did a video where I used clamps for an 1'8 inch top. Give it a try and let me know

Hi Richard, thanks for watching. You should work your way through the regular grits, you know, 120, to 220... since the veneer is real wood albeit very thin. People who work with veneers a lot will tell you to use pencil marks so you know you are not spending too much time in one spot.

Give it a try sometime brotherman yo might dig it

A sand bag is a great idea. I spent 20+ years in the aquarium trade and I always used crushed coral to glue faux stand covers to hide plywood until they glued stuff down, sand would have worked much better, play sand is pennies on the pound vs crushed coral, but it never dawned on me. To me, it was what I had on hand, but it makes so much more sense. I also would have around 300 pounds of crushed coral covered in wood glue now. I can't even use it in aquariums either.

"How does the glue dry when sealed airtight?" Don't most glues dry by evaporating the solvent, rather than reacting with air? I would kinda expect most glues to dry more easily in a vacuum, since it'd make it easier for the solvent to evaporate. Of course there are tons of different glue types, some react to pressure, some to heat, some just evaporate, some rely on chemical processes when in contact with materials... Who knows the specifics of these glues! (Well I guess the manufacturers do...) "now watching your process I'm thinking that's what the breather mesh is for, to create a tiny airspace for drying, great idea!!" To me it seems the idea of the breather mesh is to make sure the point where the nozzle is doesn't just seal against the body, and only create a local vacuum, instead making sure that the air gets removed from the whole area. But I might be mistaken.

Sandbag: 20 lbs over 200 square inches = .1 lbs per square inch (far more than enough to hold down any veneer) Vacuum: up to 14.5 lbs per square inch (far more than any tornado) Whatever works, of course, but yeh, physics.

Hi Russell, I'm sure it could be done but I have never attempted it. Veneer is pretty flexible but cutaways could still present you with some challenges. Good luck, thanks for watching, glad to hear you are enjoying the videos

Too much glue is a thing too. We did one where the adhesive got sucked through the veneer and made a huge mess. I think a lot about veneers and put them in the same category as painted graphics or even our fabric tops. They certainly don't anything sonically... and that's okay. If companies charge more money for veneer than that's not okay.

When it comes to caps, maple specifically, it's not about the sound for me, although a thicker hard-wood cap will tend to brighten up all Mahogany guitars like the LP, simply because hard woods tend to absorb less of the high-end resonance of the strings. You can disbelieve in the whole tone-wood schtick all you want, but the fact of the matter is that harder materials, regardless of type or species, will yield a brighter sounding guitar. What makes me interested in them is both a cosmetic and durability thing. Any type of maple cap will generally be a lot harder than the substrate wood, which enhances durability, and let's face it: A slab of Quilted Maple will generally have alot more depth to the grain than a veneer would, and would be easier to finish, to boot. The only thing difficult about it would be rendering the faux-binding, masked off edge look that I love so much about guitars with proper caps on them. To me, the sexiest guitars I've ever seen had the edges of the cap masked off when applying color coats.

Yes, absolutely... as long as your tip is thick enough or strong enough to not break in the cavities. .023 veneer is probably too thin 1/8 spruce is to weak. You know what I mean?

Generally speaking, we askew political correctness. Frankly, there is no need for that kind of thing on a guitar building channel.

@@TexasToastGuitars Can't wait to watch more of your videos.

I have not but it can be done, there are a few tricks with the centerline do a few experiments before you get your glue out if you know what I mean

Yeah man we can do that for you

Hi MB, You can absolutely do this on a carved top Les Paul. You might be surprised and just how much you can flex this stuff without it cracking. There are products you can use to make it even more pliable… you do not have to steam it. What you will have to do is tweak the center seam, it will not be straight, it doesn't make sense but I assure you it is true. Check this guy out he is pretty good at it...ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xuHFc3BNJYM.html

Uhm... as long as you have some you should be good to go. Sorry that isn't more specific.

Thanx Man, I'll give it about a 1/4 inch and see how it goes. 👍

Keep in mind, the thicker the veneer the harder it is to work with.

We use the binding tape from StewMac

Hi John, It is pretty easy... if you have a binding jig, cutting, thing. They are pretty affordable or even build it yourself they are easy to make too

could... not cold

I can help you out. Got three pairs of scissors. I swap one for your pin router 😎😎😎

I think shipping would eat you alive :)

Cool man

I think this one got binding

It was sold as maple but you know how it goes

I don't see why not

Hi Jason, I don't know if I still have this guitar but if we do I'll put it on display during the next podcast

We haven't bought any veneers in a while, I'm sure there are lots of places that will sell you something nice

HAHAHA

Ha yeah that would be a bummer, the bag is pretty slick... I don't think anything would stick to it.

Epoxy resin won't even stick to these things.

I saw a video of a guy doing a fabric top with resin in one of these bags once... was that you Don?

I have not done a fabric top (yet :) ) - but I have done body and neck laminates with both West Systems and 3M epoxies. As long as the surface of the bag is still pretty "slick like new" most resins won't stick too much. That said - I don't leave anything in the bag any longer than the initial set for the adhesive in question. Once it's glued I pull it our for the "full cure".

Hi Martin, we do not have any issues with cracking... sorry I can't help you

You have to balance a veneer most of the time. Which is bonding another veneer to the backside of the face veneer. This allows the veneer to expand and contract. It will prevent warping, and shifting of the veneer.

?

I don't know, I don't sell these units.

That can be a problem MrMisterMan, the pin router helps keep that to a minimum.

I have not tested that

The glue I used for this worked like a charm, no reason to switch. It is going to be a while before I run out. I ended up using the mesh on the top rather than wrapping it as well. I'm not sure what it really does but I bought it and by God I'm going to use it! hahaha

The mesh simply allows air to escape / not form pockets if the valve happens to "suck down" to the surface before the bag is fully evacuated. More important on flat surfaces than contours, but not a bad habit to use it. It will, over time, crush down tho. That's a lot of glue - shelf life is about a year once opened. I'd suggest dividing it into smaller bottles, and storing in the fridge. Joe at Veneer Supply is a great guy - he's got some KILLER tamo ash the perfect width for bookmatches. Pricey, but incredible figure. (well - pricey to me, but the per-top cost is less than what you paid for the stuff in this video)

Thanks for watching Don, we have several 1/4" roasted ash tops right now... you are right Joe is a cool dude. I think I mentioned that in the video? If not, I'll do another one.

Yeah - you mentioned them for sure. I LOVE roasted ash. I took a huge tree down in my yard last year - had a section sawed into 8/4 boards, should be ready to use next year. Ash borer beetles killing all the ash up here in the NE. Roasting northern ash is about he only thing other than chambering that will lighten this stuff up. But Tamo ash (Japanese I believe) is a whole nother level - check out these bookmatched sets! (IIRC about $14/set) - imgur.com/a/7l4BCSB Joe's stock must be getting low - he's jacked the prices a bit since I bought mine (but he's still got some nice stock)

This guitar did eventually get painted but I'm not sure where the pics are

This one will be getting tobacco burst. So, not to far off from your recommendation. Stay tuned I'm sure we will get some video of that.

We often run out of the rollers and use hotdogs :)

The greasy hot dog would possibly ruin the glue

What do you think?

You can get a vacuum pump pretty cheap on Amazon, and I've even rigged one up from an AC compressor from an auto junkyard. You just need to put a couple tack welds on the clutch so it doesn't spin, then bolt it to a frame with an electric motor. Just make sure you get the direction of spin correct.

That is good stuff

www.veneersupplies.com/products/VS-Standard-Vinyl-Vacuum-Bag-2-x-2.html This is the one I got it is pretty much the cheapest thing they had, works great for electric guitar bodies

I'm not sure what the difference is?

i heard it's the water content in normal glue that can mess the veneer up,i'm an electronics technician,my only trip to glue land is for tightbond for tube amp cabs,though i may need to veneer my telecaster(once i build it).

Me too

Chris assures me that "Weenie Roller" is an industry standard term.

In Chris we trust.

Just use wood glue, glue it on and use a roller on the veneer, rolling out from the center to get all the bubbles out. Once that's done, clamp the edges and put some weights on the center section and leave it to dry overnight. You'll be good to go.

Yep, sorry you didn't like it

Totally.

Yep scissors will do the trick

Its better to use a surgical scalpel to cut veneer.

Nope

The vacuum bag is reusable... I'm not going to bite on that other one

First let me thank Steve for allowing me to borrowing his older woman line. I'm sure she's lovely. I'll consider the vacuum bag method in the future. Sometimes lack of funds forces one to put in a little more elbow grease, though I will be supportive of your videos.

When in doubt... pin route?

I got that yesterday after I talked to you

I think it is a must have

That's the last thing you want