I'm going to actually make a vacuum clamp to hold the bridge in place and keep it from moving around. Then I might make a vacuum press like the LMI bridge clamp to fit on top of the locating clamp. But I was thinking it might be faster to put the support under the bridge and use gobars then make the clamp. Heck just how much pressure do you need to glue on a bridge ? If I dome the bottom of the bridge for a good fit. We glue lining on with clothes pins don't we? And HHG will pulls the wood together as it sets doesn't it? I can controll the pressure by the size of the gobar can't I?
I'm not too sure as to how tight the vacuum clamp will hold onto the top as I'm waiting for the sealing tape to arrive from Joe woodworker along with some fittings. I'll be using a frig compresser so I have to wait and see how this vacuum works. But I'm still just brain storming at this point. I was talking with Bruce Dickie via PMs and I mentioned the gobars and he like I thought it might make for an interesting discussion. Bill M. at mimf also said he did it on a repair with cauls and wedges for inside support and it would have been pretty easy with one of the SM sissor jacks. (anyone made their own?) Abraham used the 1/4" fiberglass gobars with plastic end caps and it looked pretty safe. I'm just trying to get away from sliding metal C clamps in the sound hole. I can just see myself dropping one and it chipping the finish on the sound hole or scratching or denting the top. But that might be the way I go in the end. I'm just looking for other ways to skin the cat.
If the vacuum clamp holds good I'm also thinking I could make top plate with a groove for a router collar and make a saddle slotting jig to route the slot with the bridge glued to the top. Basicly the same as my clam shell jig that I use to cut the slot now. But that's another discussion maybe later.
Well when I was gluing in the extra piece which was just curved to match the back of the bridge, using 5" C clamps (harbor freight @ $5) with a bottom caul it appeared to me to be a somewhat tricky precisure. First being careful putting the clamp into the sound hole with a caul attached to it I had to worry about scratching the edge of the sound hole and then alining the caul with the piece of plate double sided taped to the caul wasn't easy. It took quite a bit of fumbling and caution which got me to thinking there has to be an easier and quicker way when it comes to the bridge. Take it for granted that my technic isn't honed as this is my first acoustic as my past builds are resos and electrics (no bridges glued on there or top voicing). So it's probably my nature that when I find something that seems to be clumbersome for me or overly complicated I tend to think if there is a way I fix it to work for me. By the way I put a magnet on the plate piece with double stick tape in the center and put glue on it and reached inside and put the piece in place and centered it by watching the top magnet. Then put more magnets to each side. Then clamped it with a C clamp and top and bottom caul for a few minutes and the removed loosen the clamp removed the magnets and tighten the clamp up. Back to the point, first I thought of just making a vacuum press. Then there was the fact that with the pinless bridge I didn't have a pin hole to keep the bridge from moving while gluing it either. So I got to thinking and thought I could route the shape of my bridge like in my bridge jigs into some corian I have and make it a vacuum clamp to hold the bridge in place and then just slap some HHG in the template/vacuum clamp and pop the saddle in and put 3-4 gobars on it and be done. I figured I'd cut the clamp flush with the front of the bridge so that the clamp was opened and could be removed after the HHG/Titebond has set up some and I could clean it up. But my plans could change.