Simple and cheap kit assembly

We purchased a kit for $22 Aussie dollars.

It consisted of a complete body with ply back and sound board, a neck, plastic fretboards with moulded frets, machine heads, nut, saddle and strings.

Assembly involved gluing the bits together. I had sourced some Titebond glue from Carbatec, as many luthiers were suggesting this as their glue of choice. I did read across traditional hide glue, polyurethane glues etc. as well as the reasons for and against.

We glued the neck to the body and cramped it and left overnight. We used polyurethane glue to fix the soundboard to the neck. Polyurthane glue has a tendency to swell as it goes off, leaving a whitish excess or bulge around the margins, it is quite good for sealing and is strong and waterproof, however it is messy and hard to clean up. Careful application and removal of excess as soon as possible afterwards are advisable.