Reattaching a bridge to a nylon string guitar

[EarlBrother]

the bride found this old nylon string classical i think 3/4 Giannini nylon string guitar at a thrift store and the bridge came unglued.Also i noticed a machine head slightly bent.What would you recommend for glue/ drill and screw it back on?

[sgosnell]

That's usually done with hide glue. Don't use screws. You need the glue, the proper clamps, and experience. Clean it meticulously before gluing. Ideally, get someone to do it who knows what (s)he's doing. Replacing the tuners is much easier.

[Jimmy blue note]

Similar answer I went into here:
glue

[sgosnell]

Yeah, apparently the OP posted the same question multiple times. This is just the one I saw.

[Freeman Keller]

In my shop it would be one hour of labor to totally remove the bridge, clean all the old glue off top and bridge, repair any damage to the top, reattach the bridge using either HHG or AR (based on what it had before) and lightly touch up finish assuming it was shellac or lacquer. Its a routine repair, done frequently.

[EarlBrother]

I am a technotardo sorry about posting this again all over the place.

[sgosnell]

Stuff happens. I'm in no position to judge anyone else.

[Freeman Keller]

Earl, here is the process of gluing a bridge back on a classical guitar. When this one came off it took some of the cedar top with it - in general the glue joint is stronger than the wood.




However in this case the glue did separate. You can see why, it was just dribbled back and forth without really being spread. Anyway I reattached the top piece using AR glue and a big flat piece of UHMW



I removed every bit of glue from both the top and bridge - new AR glue does not stick very well to old (hide does, but this is a modern guitar put together with AR).



Glued it back on using a caul on the top and the inside and some long clamps



Here it is strung up and ready to play. The finish was some sort of modern poly-something and the owner didn't want me to do anything cosmetically.

[EarlBrother]

thanks ! still trying to post my own photos.Definitely a profession.

[EarlBrother]