Chapter 2
Hide Glue Preperation and use.
Page 8

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I helped?,Jim Mitchell glue his fingerboard on last Friday,March 2,2007 and made a bad error in assuming that after a little over an hour the clamps would be safe to remove. Jim had to get back to take care of his invalid brother and had to leave about 5:30. I should of had the guitar stay here for proper dry time with clamps on. Jim called me next day and said the joint on the finger board opened. The fingerboard joint at the top stayed good. I think the cedar top absorbed the moisture in the joint and did not fail. I asked Mitchell for images of the joint and upon seeing how bad the joint was,asked him to remove the finger board. To remove the finger board I recomended that he use a hot iron used for clothes with a cloth on the fingerboard and put water in the joints and use a thin bladed tool to open the fingerboard joint from the nut towards the sound hole. He opened little by little with the tools. I advised him to use the tools across the grain to prevent digging in. All went good. When things dry out on his guitar he will come here and I will help him again and let the glue joint dry the proper time. The joint was fitted good when dry clamped but the force of the moisture absorbed by the fingerboard and the neck caused swelling and was too great for the not properly dried glue joint area. Haste makes waste,