Making Matters: A Major Sticking Point

One of the most essential materials for violin makers is animal-derived (reversible) glue. I have asked many luthiers and restorers what they considered to be the qualities they look for in good glue, but I never had any definitive answers. So, having battled for many years with glues that were difficult to use and possibly not as strong as I hoped, I embarked on a voyage of discovery within the mysterious world of glue.

I have tested brands of commercially available glue from five of the leading companies, using various glue:water ratios, gluing and breaking lots of samples of spruce and maple, and recording the results on spreadsheets. From the outset I should say that my sample size was too small to give definitive results, and I would not claim my research has any scientific value…