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I use 5/16 wooden dowels, height is 30"

Mike
White Oak, Texas

"Cam clamps will be needed though."

I picked up six of them already at Woodcrafters.

Think I will need more?

I also bought a set of the "Cauling clamps?" The ones with the threaded bar and padded disc on either end.

Hey Shane;
To answer your question above...
I do use the vacuum for braces sometimes, but the go deck is still my preferred method. I have to figger out a way to keep the braces from slipping off the lines. (I had one X brace slip & now I'm nervous about it happening again.)
Glue cleanup is easier on the deck too.
The vacuum is great for bridge gluing & clamping, but 'till I get time to make a couple of jigs for my standard patterns, I'll use the go deck for most of my bracing.

if you are thinking of cam clamps think around thirty - thirty-five to do a top or back.

go bars and deck are both economical and highly effective. and don't worry, you'll use them again sooner than you think.

Thanks Dan,

I use the deck also and have a vacuum system built like yours out of fridge compressors that I will use with the LMI bridge vacuum lamp that I scored from Larry P quite a while back. So....when you get the brace jig figured out, I will be bugging you again!

ShaneShane Neifer38933.5636921296

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Canada

Daniel,
Collings has a combo gobar/ vacuum, they set the braces with the gobar, then when all is right, quickly remove the sticks and add the vacuum top to pull it all down.

Taylor uses some cut out templates and a soundhole plug to align everthing. You can catch that on FactoryFridays Video on Taylor's site. Vacuum all the way here.

I'm stuck on gobars and gobars are stuck on me! Someday I'd like to try that great sucking power of the vacuum deck.

John O told me he put his gobar deck on lazy susan so that he can turn it round for sasey glue cleanup. I have been thinking of doing the same for the last year or so. Maybe tomorrow.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Here's another source for fiberglass. I got the 5/16 thru here. www.mgs4u.com   

Antenna fiberglass rods for ham radio.

Kirt

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Horton, MI

Rectangular strips of straight grained ash, just rip a bunch on the table saw. Works great!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Thanks for all the input, guys! I just finished my deck last night using plenty of your words o' wisdom.
I found an excellent source for fiberglass bars pretty cheap: www.goodwindskites.com
They were about a buck per 48" bar after shipping. They should arrive monday or tuesday.
Question:
Where do I find rubber ends/tips for the 3/16" bars? Thanks again.

-j.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

Goodwinds kites has the end caps, look under connectors on their site.

                Paul

"if you are thinking of cam clamps think around thirty - thirty-five to do a top or back."

Crap six of them cost me like $80 on sale!

That would be at least $400 in cam clamps....


"go bars and deck are both economical and highly effective. and don't worry, you'll use them again sooner than you think"

I'm arguing their ecnomy but I don't have room for another large jig go bar deck nor do I have any idea how to build one....

Buying the fiberglass rods sounds easy enough but building the deck sounds time consuming for a single guitar production.

Any links to plans for these decks and how to construct and use them?

P.S. how do you properly quote from other posts?

All the other forums I have been on have a clickable quote option on the message menu or use a html code. I don't see a clickable quote option and the html function did not work for me either..

[QUOTE=Scooter B]

I'm (NOT) arguing their ecnomy but I don't have room for another large jig go bar deck nor do I have any idea how to build one....

Buying the fiberglass rods sounds easy enough but building the deck sounds time consuming for a single guitar production.

Any links to plans for these decks and how to construct and use them?
[/QUOTE]

You couldn't be more wrong about the time consuming part. I put my Go-Bar deck together in about an hour and a half tops. No problem. I'd be happy to send you photos and details. They really are cheaper and easier than clamps and you can use them as stands/storage for other things. They really do support a lot of weight if built right. Mine will easily support over 250 lbs on top.
PM me if you want more go-bar deck info.

-j.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

My deck is the shelf of a small work bench for the base and the underside of the work surface for the top. I have a fairly limited amount of space in (what used to be) the guest room in our apartment. The work bench came from Harbor Freight and would disappoint a furniture maker because of it's size, but it works well for guitar building.

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

Whoops. Nevermind.

Ronold man38933.9929513889

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

building a deck is simple; take four square pieces of 3/4 ply, glue two of them together, then do it again. stack the resulting two pieces of ply and drill a hole through both in each corner. take four length of allthread, screw a nut and fender washer on each end of each one. put the ends of the rod through the holes. put another fender washer and nut on the end of each piece of all thread. adjust for squareness and tighten the nuts. done.

if necessary, it only takes a few minutes to breakdown or set it up, ad it stores in a small space.

the most time consuming parts of the process is going to buy the wood and waitng for the glue to dry.