[Leica] adhesives

[s.dimitrov at charter.net (Slobodan Dimitrov)]

Seeing that thread on glue, heating the optics, etc. was eye opening. 
It's led to a downward spiral of concern about the ability of the new 
lenses survivability alongside the M bodies.
I'm in an internal debate as to at what point do I stop being 
comfortable with the glue content of what is supposed to be an 
expression of state of the art engineering, or just another dumbed down 
product.
S. Dimitrov


On Jan 24, 2005, at 9:56 PM, Michael Blugerman wrote:

> Small world.
>
> From a guitar list, discussing cheaper but apparently well made [good 
> sound and playability] musical instruments from Asia there is a hidden 
> danger in cheaper construction methods:
>
> snip
> "This rather forthright man says that Asian and European
> instruments are being glued with some sort of glue combination that he 
> has
> never seen the like of, and cannot identify.  It might be 
> petroleum-based,
> and soaks into the wood very well and no amount of sanding can get him 
> to a
> level where he can use the traditional hide-glue.  Hide glue will not 
> stick
> to this oil-soaked wood.  You can see the problem.  Instruments are 
> supposed
> to be take-apart-able.  So, he used glue on mine and said it will 
> either
> come apart in a week, a month or a year, but it WILL come apart again. 
>  So
> far, mine is staying together (6 or 7 months).  I am very disappointed
> because that is a good sum of money to unknowingly send down the 
> plumbing
> system.  It's just NOT right."
>
> I'd be VERY suprised if any European instruments are made this way -- 
> it's
> the Europeans, after all, who perfected the traditional building 
> methods to
> begin with! Eastern Europeans included.
>
> I have an Asian-built bass with (I'm told) the above-mentioned glue 
> problem.
> Rather not mention the make here because I don't know first-hand that 
> it's
> not the right glue, but I have been very careful to keep it humidified 
> -- my
> bass tech tells me that if such a bass starts cracking it may be 
> impossible
> to fix at some point, if a repair that would normally require removing 
> the
> top is impossible because of the way the instrument was glued to begin 
> with...."
>
> It seems that progress  (cheaper construction) is an epidemic 
> affecting fine products of all kinds.
>
> Michael
>
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Slobodan Dimitrov
Photography