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go bar decks are so great
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=20963		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Tai Fu [ Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:55 pm ]
Post subject:  go bar decks are so great
Last build (first one) I glued on braces one at a time using cam clamps and C-clamps. It took me three days to do it because I didn't have enough clamp and it was hard to find somewhere to set the thing aside since the clamp+support (board with radius cut into it) has an odd shape therefore it wouldn't fit anywhere. Now I got a go bar deck it takes less than 30 minutes to glue on all back braces, and I can clean out glue squeeze outs with a damp towel... It used to be that the cam clamp would push every brace out of alignment for some reason (clamp action maybe??) and I had to reposition the clamp which takes up time and makes for a poor joint (using hide glue). With go bar I have none of those problems.

I am not taking any chances either... I turned up the dehumidifier until humidity reaches about 45% before gluing the brace. Have to plan ahead on this one though it takes a while to take the humidity from over 65% to 45%
Author:  Stephen Boone [ Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: go bar decks are so great
Nice deck! They are nice.
Author:  Tai Fu [ Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: go bar decks are so great
Stephen Boone wrote:
Nice deck! They are nice.


This thing is actually intended to be a stereo rack, which I purchased years ago for audio equipments and stuff... then I found the infinite height adjustment to be a very useful feature, not to mention it's conveniently sized for use as a go-bar deck...
Author:  Rod True [ Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: go bar decks are so great
Good job Tai Fu. Yup go bars are the cat's meow.

One thing you'll have to remember about humidity, you want to build to an average of where the guitar is going to live. So if this one is staying with you and the humidity averages 55% you'll want to build it at 55%. If the guitar is going to spend more of it's life in a higher humidity climate, it's ok to build to that climate. If it's going to live in a climate that swings hard (like the Mid West USA) then you'll have to control that climate throughout the year to keep the guitar happy.

It's usually fine to introduce more moisture (higher humidity) into the guitar, cracks don't usually happen from swelling, although some glue joints may fail, depends on how high the humidity gets and for how long. But having the humidity drop much more than 10% lower than the build environment, and that's where cracks can start to happen.

Keep at it, you're doing fine [:Y:]
Author:  Tai Fu [ Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: go bar decks are so great
You know my first built it went with a missionary team to Bin Laden land (you know Afghanistan) where I am sure the humidity averages less than 10% there (where in Taiwan it's about 80% and up) so I am actually worried that it will crack or whatever there. I didn't really control humidity too much on my first build because I did not know any better. But I am way more worried about the safety of the missionary team than anything happening to the guitar.
Author:  Darryl Young [ Mon Feb 09, 2009 10:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: go bar decks are so great
Tai Fu wrote:
This thing is actually intended to be a stereo rack, which I purchased years ago for audio equipments and stuff... then I found the infinite height adjustment to be a very useful feature, not to mention it's conveniently sized for use as a go-bar deck...


How about a pic of the top of the deck where it has the infinite adjustable height?

Your deck looks nice!
Author:  Jeremy Douglas [ Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: go bar decks are so great
Another thing to remember is that even if you drop the relative humidity to 45% right before you glue the braces the wood takes much longer to lose moisture and equalise with the environment.
Author:  Tai Fu [ Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: go bar decks are so great
The top is fixed. The individual shelves are adjustable, there are rows of insert on the support column where you would screw brass things into where the shelf sits on, and you can adjust the height of each of them to account for different sizes of equipments. Don't worry about clamping pressure breaking them... this thing is designed to hold audio equipments that weights over 70Kg!!! (someone showed me a picture of this thing holding three (yes three) 70Kg power amps)

The top I just use it as a mini work bench....
Author:  Antonio [ Tue Feb 10, 2009 7:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: go bar decks are so great
Jeremy Douglas wrote:
Another thing to remember is that even if you drop the relative humidity to 45% right before you glue the braces the wood takes much longer to lose moisture and equalise with the environment.


How long would you say one has to wait? one day, one week?
Thank you for the information
Author:  Antonio [ Tue Feb 10, 2009 7:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: go bar decks are so great
Jeremy Douglas wrote:
Another thing to remember is that even if you drop the relative humidity to 45% right before you glue the braces the wood takes much longer to lose moisture and equalise with the environment.


How long would you say one has to wait? one day, one week?
Thank you for the information
Author:  Jeremy Douglas [ Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: go bar decks are so great
I'm not sure. I know a lot will depend on just how much of a difference you are subjecting the wood to. This is from UMass's website...

"Though air temperature and relative humidity can change radically in a short time, the moisture content of unfinished wood changes slowly. Moisture content changes in finished wood happen even more slowly because water vapor must first diffuse through the coating. Because of the time lag between changes in atmospheric conditions and changes in wood moisture content, short-lived fluctuations in relative humidity usually have no appreciable effect on wood moisture content. But with prolonged exposure -weeks to months- wood will eventually stabilize at an equilibrium moisture content dictated by the average ambient relative humidity."

I think someone else will have to answer your question if you want more info than that.
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