Titebond or Epoxy or Resin

[needsmorecowbel]

Hey guys, I'm currently trying to glue two pieces of red Alder together to make a guitar body. Any ideas what glue would hold a butt join for the longest period possible. I'm guessing that the density of the glue will slightly effect the sound/ resonance of the guitar (but not as much as it is electric), so closely matching wood density and glue density would be important?

i.e.

Simple Diagram:

[Timber] (glue) [Timber] to this: [T][T]

[Nick]

Any of the recognised wood glues will achieve a bond of the type you want. I used to use an Aliphatic resin PVA type (yellow in colour) glue for my electric bodies. If you cramp the two halves together tightly enough, the amount of glue holding the halves will be so insignificant that it won't affect the sound at all.
If the glue join is a good one (no gaps), the glue will hold probably longer than you'll be walking the planet for & be stronger than the wood either side of it. No amount of glue will make up for a poor joint though.
Oh and by the way, your simple diagram [T][T] wont work, there will always be (glue) between them! How wide that glue line is depends on your prep work. [T][T] will always fall apart (dry joint) unless your diagram = [T](nail or screw)[T]

[Rick Turner]

One other point...when you say "butt joint", what comes immediately to mind is an end grain to end grain glue joint...about the weakest you can do. I do understand from the context of what you're writing that you intend to glue long grain to long grain...and the advice is good...if it's a good joint, just about any good glue will be fine. I'd use LMI white glue for that one, probably.

[kiwigeo]

Titebond or LMI...or if you want to get a bit of practise for your eventual entry to the darkside...hideglue!!

[matthew]

yeah, hide glue will get you the thinnest glue line IF your joint is perfect.

BUT what you're asking is probably only going to contribute to .001% of the tone of the assembled instrument, compared to the stiffness of the neck, the hardware, the electronics etc. So, really ...

[needsmorecowbel]

I really don't want to have to biscuit / dovetail join the pieces of wood, I heard Maton just do a Butt join...i.e. two flat sides glued at the middle.

[Nick]

I really don't want to have to biscuit / dovetail join the pieces of wood, I heard Maton just do a Butt join...i.e. two flat sides glued at the middle.

That's all any electric body is, two flat faces glued and clamped together, infact the same is true for acoustics. That's why I said that you need to do a good joint cos the glue is the only thing holding those faces together.Infact I would advise against using any jointing system because we tend to think that just because there is a biscuit in there (or any other mechanism) that that is what will do the holding and our joints don't need to be as good. If you have a well sharpened plane then that and a bit of patience is all that's required to make a good join.
Most factories even glue 3 or 4 pieces together (Fender included) if it's going to be a solid colour, I've even repsrayed a 3 piece Fender body that was sunburst at the factory (perfectly matching timber...could hardly pick up the join!).
How did you do your first one?

[needsmorecowbel]

The first one had a dovetail join between the two pieces of Jarrah, My Second and Third are a Solid single piece of Rosewood, and the 4th is planned to be the Red Alder