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Hello again,

I was wondering what some of you use for jigs to glue up your bookmatched backs and soundboards.

I have seen a couple different set-ups, but would like to see some new ideas.

Pictures would be great!

Thanks-

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--Leanu--

Masking tape.....

Tape for me too, with HHG

Binding tape.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Here's what I use and it's pretty much foolproof...at least it has been for this fool! All you do is butt one plate to the far left side and then screw down the board that is just left of center on top of the plate. Glue up the second plate and lay it down for joining (wax paper underneath), place a weight on the plate and turn the tightening wedges on the right for a perfect clamp up. Fool proof!

Scotch 233 tape with Fish Glue or TB.

if it's good enough for the greats, it's good enough for me.

+1

For gluing plates together that don't want to lie flat, I've used the eccentric cams, above, as Mark shows, only instead of weights I hold the plates flat with go-bars in the go-bar deck.

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Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

Binding tape, made a jig once but tape works as good or better so I ended up using the parts for some other task

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Tape or eccentric clamps, depending on my mood. On real advantage to tape is you don't ever have to square or otherwise shim the outside edge of the plates.

plus 10 on the tape!!!!

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MK5acoustics.com

The best jig in my shop is the tape dispenser, heavy enough to be used as a weight on things and always close by when needed.

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Blue tape

I used to put down wax paper, clamp one half of the plate down to the bench, and blocks to the other side of the bench, to where I could stick wedges in to press the two halves together. Tape is a lot quicker and easier, plus it keeps the show face clean of glue so you don't have to mess around with scraping it off later. But I'd use the old method if I was attempting to glue a plate that wouldn't lie flat, since it would peel the tape off before I could get the glue in and weight it down.

I just made my two best plate joins yet yesterday, using my recently completed wood plane (pecan and black cherry with Krenov-style Hock blade). So nice to finally have something reasonably flat and long, not to mention lighter weight and smooth edged so it's easier on the hands.

rope and wedges

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

I use transparent packing tape. I have seen elaborate jigs and people even using bar clamps. This is simply the easiest and one of the most efficient way to do it....Mike

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Another day, another dollar.

Another one for the 3M 233 green masking tape with HHG.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Sometimes I make shift something on my bench - other times I use tape. Really anything works that keep the joint tightly pressed together and flat.

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

That's a nice looking plane, Dennis.

So do you guys thickness your plates pre or post jointing?

Thanks, Ed.

I use Cumpiano style, flat board, wedges, wax paper, and weight for the center.

Chuck

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Its much easier to thickness after they are glued up, as it makes aligning the plates less critical.

As for jigs: I've used the Cumpiano method, ropes and wedges, tape, but now I'm back to... (drumroll) clamps! They are within reach from my glue-up table, so no set up time to speak of, and they are easy to use even when I use a purfling strip between the halves, as in the picture. What's not to like about it?

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I join first, scrape the show face smooth and shellac it to keep it clean, cut out the shape, do the majority of thicknessing with my trusty block plane, tapping and flexing to judge how far to go (I just use my fingers, no fancy deflection testing setup), then cut out the soundhole so I can really get a feel for the flexibility of the bridge area, and scrape to final thickness. The final scraping step usually involves working on the show face side as well, since it's tough to avoid getting any wood chips underneath and denting it during the plane step.

After joining although if the material is rough cut I'll usually run it through the sander a few times to even it out a bit (as long as I have enough thickness available).

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I tried everything else before this. It'll hold odd-size stuff like tele bodies also.

Am I right in thinking that Overholtzer didn't use any clamping method for the tops, just rubbed the glue line together and left it alone?

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.