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I'm not Fred, but I made the mistake of ordering 1/4" the first time around. They might have been okay for a really tall gobar deck, but they were way too stiff for a normal ~24" high deck. 3/16" works great, big difference.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Any hardwood is good. If I don't have any scrap wood I'll buy ash sometimes since it's pretty cheap and cut 1/4" strips from it anywhere from around 1" wide will work. You might want to smooth the edges with some sand paper as to not get splinters .

I've used wood sticks, fiberglass round rods and fiberglass flat bars. I prefer the wood (flat) sticks. I'd avoid round rods (fiberglass or wood dowels) as I find them prone to 'pivoting' in place and getting out of control- though others use them with no problems. I think I'm going to glue some rectangular, wood ends on my fiberglass go-bar rods to see if that can 'tame' them a bit.
Sticks are nice and cheap if you have access to a table saw or bandsaw.
Fiberglass rods are available from shops that cater to kite builders, so that might be an option for you in the UK.
Cheers
John

I use 3/16" fiberglass rods from a kite building supply place.

edit: before that I used 1/4" x 1/2" or so hardwood sticks. Oak, cherry, walnut, and I think even some southern yellow pine. I like the fiberglass rods better but the sticks worked fine and were free from scrap I had laying around.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Let's say you have an outside mold and work with a radius dish. If the mold is heavy, that weight may be enough. If not heavy enough, you can stack some weight on a board over it. I don't think in this instance you need clamps, go bars, or bands. You probably should have some small weight, e.g., sand bags, to hold the plate to the shape of the radius dish.

Along Chris and Hesh's line of thinking, if you have a desk you are working on in the hallway, you may be able to place the rim/back on the floor underneath the desk and use the underside of the deck as the top of the go-bar deck. Might have to add weight on top of the desk.....or bolt it to the wall or something, but a little creative thinking could get you there.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Any bicycle shop that does repairs would be happy to give away old innertubes, they'd probably dig that someone could get some use them.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Inner tube method is fast and cheap. That's all I use now. I've done the drum/dowel clamp method and found it slow and cumbersome but nice at the same time. You can make those clamps easily with threaded rod, wing nuts, dowels and cork. But the tube is the cheapest and I think it does a wonderful job. I also experiment with different guitar shapes and radii and the tube method seems to be more versatile, I could be wrong. Go bars do look awesome though just not practical, I literally have no space for it.

One thing also nice about go bars also are they can be used to glue on all the braces and the center back graft and even bridge plates.
But if there is no room then there is no room. You need to find some woodworking friends or groups to help you out.
Got any friends wth a small truck with a topper?

On the Go-bar deck,
Cost isn`t an issue nor is space from here.
My guitar workboard acts as the base. We all have one, no?
My flat sanding board (22" x 30") acts as the upper deck, abrasive side down. We have a sanding board too, no?
I made 4 Legs with an "F" shape on each end to accept the thickness of the decks.
Clamp the legs to the lower deck, slip the upper deck in place, clamp the legs to the upper deck, and Bob`s yer uncle.
The only lost space is when it`s in use.
My go-bars are just thin (3/16" square whatever is at hand when I make a few).
I make them in two lengths, one for braces, and one for tops and backs.
As a personal preference, I have two small flourescent lights that I clamp (lightly) to the underside of the upper deck for better sight.
Works very well for me.
BTW, if you`re gonna make some go-bars, remember to leave some long ones aside to show the young ones how to make a kite.
Box kites aren`t seen much anymore.
My grandson has his 4th b-day coming up, it`s spring, and hey, the last name`s Franklin...
Coe

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

I may just try the rubber inner tube method on this one.... however, I dont have a guitar shaped workboard that I can clamp so that the guitar is hanging out in space to allow me to wrap the rubber around it though. Maybe I can just clamp the neck in my vise. Would that be a bad idea to not have that extra support underneath it?

I do really like the idea of whipping together a cheap go bar deck installed on top of my bench though. As Cocephus said I could probably just get like a 2'x2' board and attach it somehow with some rods to the bench.... then all I need is to visit my local hobby store for some bendy rods. I do have access to a table saw once every couple of weeks though (when I visit my parents), but buying kite rods may be easier.

Wear safety goggles or a face shield - they are nasty if they attack you!

Cheers
John

Or just clamp the neck down to the bench, that will do even a better job than the vise. Hold the body with one hand while applying pressure with the rubber band or rope. I f you don't apply brute force you won't break the guitar


Don't go too cheap though. I can't stop wondering how so many people urge to wear safety glasses when working with the go bar deck. Accidents and near misses like this one could be easily avoided by not bending the go bars like hell. I prefer to use many bars with very low pressure on each - no safety goggles at all needed.
Here I was clamping down the back reinforcing strips on the three piece back of a sopranino uke:


O course, a floppy go bar deck would "buckle" enough that the hardly bent bars would straighten and fall out of the deck! This is why I use a really sturdy deck (of course, the "bottom" (here the solera) is as sturdy as the top of the deck) :


Any kind of bars will do it, but you will need may of them. Depending on where you get them or how you make them these will cost somewhat more than a rubber band or rope.

This is what I've finally settled on, I've used other clamp arrangements of course and a big screw press (out of the Martin factory) but this arrangement is the easiest. Plus I can see what I'm doing. The solera is tailored to the requirements of these particular clamps.

What did that rig cost? Do you use HHG?

I built the solera (work board) and form so just the cost of materials there. If you are doing a separate neck/body style of building you obviously don't have to include the neck extension into the fixture.
The Irwin "Quick Grips" can usually be had in a pack of 4 for about $24. I use around thirty two of them so that's around $200.
I'm using fish glue as it provides a much longer working time. This process becomes fairly easy with the quick to operate clamps and no need to rush because of the glue.

Anyone know where that YouTube video of the guy using an big press that looks like an old grape press is? It was in a past discussion about gobars and gluing on the top/back.

thats a lot of clamps!!!!


So I think im gonna just try the method of clamping the neck to the bench and using the inner tube. Seems like the very cheapest way to go for now. Im still pondering the best way of building a go bar deck into my bench though... maybe Ill use that for #2. Markus where did you get all of those bars? I agree it would be much better to use a lot at low pressure.

One VERY IMPORTANT thing to remember if you are going to use anything to clamp (cord, rubber bands, inner tube etc.) that runs up the sides and over the back and down again is to TRIM the back as closely as possible to the final size of the rims.
Leaving an overhang will cause the edges to be levered up by the pressure of the cords or bands up over the edge of the plate and will ruin the joint.
It is not neccessary to trim closely when using clamps as the pressure is localized and only in the downward direction.

Hesh,

Here is the video of Rudie Blazer of Blazer and Henkes guitars gluing on the top of a guitar using a big press. Apparently this was a press that was originally used for archtop guitars in a guitar factory.

I really wanted to figure out how to make a similar contraption because of how quick and simple it is. But after watching the video of Mario Proulx doing the go bars to glue on the top and back, it made me realize how quick and simple the gobars are. You can even make long go bars that go up to your ceiling, using go bars is really no big deal as some may believe it to be. I think it is the cheapest method aside from the innertubes.

Yeah thanks for the heads up. I have been using my dremel to clear away the excess. I tried chisels but they are a bit dangerous to the sides hehe.

Thanks Hesh. Mine are pretty long and go to a deck that is also a storage shelf for the bars and other stuff.

I use my solera deck.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I use pretty much the same method (exact same clamps) but I use 3/4"x3/4"x4" plywood cauls and only half as many clamps. I arrange all the cauls around the edge of the body before I apply the glue (HHG). It takes me about 90 seconds to apply the glue and all the clamps.

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Jimmy Caldwell
http://www.caldwellguitars.com

I also use my solera.
The first time I have used reed cane for the go bar deck (each cane cut in 3 lengths). One can find reed everywhere here. It can also be done with bamboo.