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I am sure this has been covered, but I can't find it when I do a search. I know that both fish and hide glue have a long cure time (12 hoursish righ?), but how long do you leave them clamped? I am going to be using hide for the bridge, neck to body, braces, maybe the fingerboard to the neck. I am going to be using fish for binding/purfling. Thanks.

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Fish glue is 12 hour clamp time, 24 hour cure time.

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-Marcus
http://www.bailieguitars.com
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i live my hide joints clamped for a couple of hours.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Hide says 8 hour clamp time, but if not a stressed joint it's fine after a couple of hours. If you can do rubbed joints, clamping only seems important for the thinnest possible glue line. I always leave fish over night.

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I use light flat aluminum violin clamps for fish glue ups using 3 pieces for tenor ukes . I use a shooting board and a L/N large shoulder plane. I also weigh down the clamps with dead 12 v drill battery and hvy recycled metal tape dispenser, otherwise the 3mm edges want to pop up. 2hrs , and I take off the clamps, but I let it sit for at least 24 , before working on it. With a perfect edge to edge joint and using an overhead heat lamp. I can unclamp after 1 hr. Temp feels like abt 110-120 F. For a recent 315 test hide glue I heated the bridge to 130 F using an omega 1.25in x18 heating blanket .Then quickly using 3 , 4in vln C clamps I clamped the bridge up, an stuck it under the heat lamp to abt 90 deg F. Took the clamps off after 1hr cleaned the bridge area with a plastic straw angled to 45 deg and some warm water.Let it sit for 24 hrs before stringing up.

Both fish and hide glue will stick pretty well even after a few minutes, which can be quite convenient in some situations, especially with repairs. In my shop, clamping and curing time depends mainly on the joint; I use hide glue for bridges, and usually don't stress the joint for 24 hours. I have strung up steel string guitars with medium strings after a couple of hours however, with no problems. I bet one hour or less could be enough in a pinch (not that I ever am that pressed for time, of course...). Not sure that would work with fish glue, but it might... Some things can be clamped with just finger pressure for a few minutes, until the glue starts to grab, and then left alone. Same with rubbed joints. After gluing soundboard center joints, I leave the plates alone for at least a couple of days, until I'm sure all moisture is gone, and any swelling of the surrounding wood has shrunk back. If sanded or planed to final dimension too soon after gluing, you may experience a "sunken" glue line. I use fish glue for neck laminates, and leave those even longer, as there is more glue moisture involved.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin