Freeman Keller

Thanks for the review, Chris.    I've looked at the Glu-Boost products and discussion at one of the lutherie forums has been positive.    

Were you happy with the way the drop fills buffed out?   Did you scrape, sand (if so what beginning and ending grits), use Micro Mesh or similar and/or buff (which products and methods?)?     I'm assuming that both the Epi and Breedlove were poly - were you able to blend the drop fill into the finish to your satisfaction?

Even tho the manufacturer says its OK for nitro, there was a comment on one of the forums that it did soften or react with nitro - was your beater by any chance finished in lacquer and did you have any issues?    Again, when you did your repairs on the beater were you happy with the scraping/sanding/buffing?   How did you apply glue to the cracks - straight from the bottle, wick tip, pipette or ??   Last question about cracks - would you be comfortable gluing the crack with one of their products and using another adhesive for cleats (probably AR) - I just can't imagine trying to position and clamp a cleat covered with CA

I'm also interested in the accelerator - the ones that I have used did cause some whiteness and the CA sort of blistered up, making it slightly more difficult to scrape, plus they get really hot when they kick off.   It sounds like you had no problems with the accelerator (also assuming that you sprayed it on top of the CA, not applying to the surface first which is sometimes done).   Did you wear breathing protection with either the glues or the accelerator (I have become very sensitized to cynoacrylate and have to wear a respirator whenever I use them).

Their tint kits are pretty interesting - I have used tinted CA (amber and black) but matching color on existing guitars has always been a problem.   The kits are pretty expensive but I'll probably have to pick both the traditional and bright colors.   

Getting repairs to look good is always difficult - I tell my customers that it will be structurally sound but might not look as good as I would like.    I'm always looking for better ways to do cracks and dings, particularly on poly.    Might have to give these a try.

Chris, I'm going to add one more question to my previous comment.   Since you can buy cynoacrylate glues from a number of sources, including lutherie supply houses, model and hobby shops and hardware stores, what is the advantage of Glu-Boost over any of these other products?     I use a fair amount of very thin CA for repairs and installation of binding and purfling - why would I want to consider this product?

According to the link in your article, 2 oz of the ultra thin Glu-Boost sells for $15.00.   LMII sells it for $20.75 (interesting mark up, eh?).   They also sell another thin CA called Hot Stuff for $11.03, half the price of the Glu-Boost.   StewMac sells their own thin CA for $5.73 for 1 oz, roughly the same as the Hot Stuff, but currently have it marked down to $3.84.    There are similar and significant savings with other CA products.

I have used both the StewMac products and Hot Stuff and have been very satisfied with both.   I do think the StewMac accelerator leaves some white haze (which is why I asked about it in my previous question).   One significant problem is that usually the bottles clog up long before the glue is used - caps become glued to the bottle and require pliers to remove, the tips get plugged (yes, I know that Glu-Boost has a little pin, I usually use a piece of wire like a guitar string).     I actually think its better to buy smaller quantities of the glue to minimize problems with the bottles.

The one product that does look attractive from Glu-Boost is the tinting powder and I may end up buying both the vintage and modern kits (at $44 bucks each they are pretty darn expensive too).    I do have StewMac's amber and black medium CA and they work fine for drop filling those colors but from time to time I'm asked to repair a colored guitar.

Anyway, I would be interested in  your thoughts why these products might be better for lutherie than some of the other things on the market.