Best bobbin glue

[Zhangliqun]

Looking for some really good glue to build Fender-style bobbins with. Your recommendations, please...

[Spence]

It sounds like you're having problems with oversized holes in the flatwork.
Superglue will do but you really have it set up over night to be sure it'll work.

[voodoochild]

I assume you need glue to hold the flatwork and magnets together. If so then thin viscosity super glue is the best.

[kevinT]

Stew-mac has some great super glue in 3 different viscosities. Their bottles taper to a very fine point for focusing the glue. However, it gets clogged at times. But it does come with a push pin to unclog it.

I haven't used it yet for fender-style bobbins but I do use it to glue down the wood spacer in my hummies.

I've also used it to glue together 2 ceramic mags and it really bonded them together.

[David Schwab]

I also use the thin viscosity CA glue to glue my wood flatwork to the blades.

[David King]

Smith's thin Ca is about as thin and fast as it gets. It's what I use for nearly everything. just keep a paper towel handy and use a thin tip applicator on the tip of the spout to put it where you want it.

[Possum]

...

You don't need glue. Make a jig to assemble the pickup and press the magnets in with an arbor press thingy from Harbor Freight. Do your lacquer dip and the lacquer acts as glue when its dry, its what Fender did and it works....

[Peter Naglitsch]

I was waiting for that type of " do it right instead" comment from Possum. And you are right. It works. I do it all the time. But I still cannot help myself from putting a small dab of medium viscosity CA around the "joint". Better safe than sorry and I don't want a customer making a review saying the top came of the pickup two years later...

[kevinT]

Plus, in his book, Jason recommends putting glue on the joint.

[NightWinder]

Don't forget!!

Also wipe the assembly down with alcohol- No glue is going the stick to cutting oil or coolant- Use 80% not 50%...

[voodoochild]

You don't need glue. Make a jig to assemble the pickup and press the magnets in with an arbor press thingy from Harbor Freight. Do your lacquer dip and the lacquer acts as glue when its dry, its what Fender did and it works....

I absolutely agree. However this depends on if you make the flatwork yourself or who you get it from. Some suppliers have sloppy holes and you need to glue it. Lately I have been using Mojo flatwork and theirs are so tight I don't need glue. So it depends really.

[Possum]

....

Jason's book recommends glue because back then you couldn't buy flatwork from anyone unless you paid a fortune to have them laser cut. So when I started the holes in the flatwork were drilled and weren't a real tight fit, so you had to glue them for safety. There's no reason too now unless you are winding so tight the flatwork is flaring.

[ShannonH]

<<hand raised>>

There's no reason too now unless you are winding so tight the flatwork is flaring.

I've done that. Once I got used to the wire running through my fingers I over tensioned a few and got flare. I can say that super glue won't keep the coils from flaring, or a double dip in lacquer/poly. Maybe I'm really over tensioning.

[belwar]

Jet Glue is awsome with the pipettes that they sell.. Do not buy thier accellerator though. It sucks. I wouldnt use accelerator for this job, but if you want to get it search for zip kicker.

Here is a link.

Jet Glues

We buy this stuff by the case and is the best CA around. If youre ever in oxnard i'll give you a bottle.

[jason lollar]

Keep in mind that book was written over ten years ago and the situation on buying parts has completely changed!
I still glue my bobbins- I think Fenders way was not ideal- seen too many warped tele bridge pickups from players sweating on them. I have one client that fed ex's me his pedal steels overnight in flight cases ($$$$) because his techs leave the guitar out in the rain from time to time and the guy sweats an incredible amount as he throws his pedal steel around the stage
Glueing if you do it right- yes there is a wrong way to do it- its impossible to get the pickups back apart without breaking the flatwork apart. I dont like the lacquer for insulating or gluing- its not very good at either task and thats why you see so many Fender pickups with the inside lead grounding out against the magnet and why they put tape over the bottom of the magnets on teles before they put the grounding/ reflector plate on and why they used closed covers on many of the pickups they wired in series.
I am building stuff to hopefully last 50 years or more- I already have a few pickups around I made 30 years ago and they are still together- thats a relief!
Sure you dont have to glue them but its not about flairing flatwork from overtensioning its about doing it better and making it last longer which is definately my opinion YMMV.