What would be the best method to removing a wood veneer pickguard from an unfinished spruce soundboard? I am thinking carefully working a sharp
chissel underneath. Would love to hear some thoughts, tips or experiences.
MaanBrian Prunka - 4-2-2017 at 08:08 PM
I'm not sure how to do it, but that sounds like the wrong way.
SamirCanada - 4-3-2017 at 05:53 AM
yes wrong... chisel will dig into the spruce top.
take a clothing iron and a slightly moistened paper tower on the pickguard, press the iron on the towel and steam/heat the pickguard.
use thin steel spatula like the one to spread cake icing or something to even out drywall. slide it under the pickguard and move it around to loosen
the glue. Matthias - 4-3-2017 at 08:08 AM
the main question is, which glue is used:
-- skin glue
--> best to remove
-- modern glue like titebond
--> a bit more difficult, needs longer to swell
-- superglue
--> will be a problem
For the first 2 options I would plce a slightly wet cloth over the pickguard which should have the same size and which will be covered with a plastic
and would leave this for 1 day. So both glue will swell and in the best case you only have to go with a spatula between pickguard and soundboard and
can separate them.
I always avoid using a hot iron contacting the soundboard, as this is dangerous. In this case the iron is bigger than the pickguard and you have the
risk to touch the soundboard with it, and also you probably make the soundboard hot and try with the risk of cracks.
In case of superglue, you can only sand off the pickguard.
Best regards
Matthias
Maan - 4-5-2017 at 03:53 PM
Thanks for the great information guys, very much appreciated! Trying Matthias his method first, if heat is required after the 24h damp cloth I will
carefully press a heating iron on the thick sponge-cloth. Posting detailed photo's of every step I make here for other tinkerers.
SamirCanada - 4-6-2017 at 06:24 AM
that's a great trick.. I am sure it will work fine for hide glue. Matthias - 4-6-2017 at 08:30 AM
And its important to make it not too wet. Important is the time and not the quantity of water or heat the hide glue gets to swell ( and also it will
work with Titebond ) .
MatthiasMaan - 4-7-2017 at 02:41 PM
It's on there for 48 hours now. Will extra giving it more time (until tomorrow morning with better light) help or will it start drying out the glue
again after more than 1 day as you first suggested?
It's on there for 48 hours now. Will extra giving it more time (until tomorrow morning with better light) help or will it start drying out the glue
again after more than 1 day as you first suggested?
Manuel
Hello,
that indicates it is not natural glue, it probably will be titebond or superglue, which will be the worst case. This cannot be removed with water and
heat. It must be sanded off.
MatthiasMaan - 4-8-2017 at 05:00 AM
I had not checked it yesterday when I wrote that, but I did this morning! The wood veneer had started 'bulging' slightly in some parts and the glue on
the edge of the pickgaurd that was sticking out (brown tinted) was soft and could be scraped away easy around the edge. Getting anything underneath
the edge was however not possible yet.
I put it on again after dampening the cloth a second time to see if 1 extra day will help. I don't think this is Superglue. It is a Sandi oud, not
sure what glue they use, I will contact them while I wait.
