Official Luthiers Forum!

hey guys, i've hit a bit of a tooling problem. As I wait for my finish to cure I started thinking about how in the world I am going to clamp my bridge on as all my clamps have a maximum throat depth of about 3" and I don't have a Go-Bar system. I looked at Lowes, Home Depot and Lee Valley and they all have nothing and to order 3 clamps from Stew-Mac would cost the same as the clamps in shipping. I know there are alot of luthiers in southern Ontario on here. where did you get your soundboard clamps??

Thanks guys

Mike

I use the Stew Mac clamps now, but I used to use a plywood block which I bolted on through the bridge pin holes. It had bolts on the ends I'd use to press on the wings of the bridge. I don't have a picture. I hope my explanation is good enough to make one.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Michael-
Woody's suggestion is a good one for pin bridges; I've used it and it works well.

The 'standard' clamp for bridges has been (3?) wooden cam clamps which you can make fairly easily.
You can also cut a 'U' frame out of plywood and just use bolts for the 'screw' part, but they tend to be a bit clumsy to use.

Another possibility is some strong rare-earth magnets in pairs- epoxy the magnet discs to short sections of broomstick so you can grab them easily. I learned this one at Sergei deJonge's and it does work.

You mentioned go-bars- any clamping set-up that just 'pushes' on the outside of the 'box' will be a problem unless you arrange a supporting 'prop' under the soundboard. With supports, there are several ways of clamping on a bridge that will work.

Finally, with hot hide glue, you can hold the bridge in place with your fingers until it 'grabs'.

Some of the older books like Sloane and David Russell Young (check your libraray) tend to have lower-tech (and cheaper) ways of doing simple jobs like this, and are worth a read.

If you go to Google books and search for 'Sloane classic guitar' you can find a preview of some of the pages from that book (he also did a steel-string book) and in the 'Tools' section are plans for building those cam clamps.
Cheers
John

I use the Stew Mac clamps. You can also get deep throated clamps from Grizzly for about $10 each plus reasonable shipping.

Ed

Sloane cam clamps- I don't know how legible these pics will be....

BTW, it's less work to make a 'skinny' cam in the center of the clamp (like the Klemmsia), but Sloane's is nicer-looking.

I Haven't used one, but you might be able to make something like what Kathy is using here.

http://home.comcast.net/~kathymatsushit ... atc36.html

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Jim Hansen

I use the Fox steel string bridge clamp from LMI, but it would be simple to build one of these out of wood.

http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproduc ... dge+Clamps

Yep .. mine is essentially the same as Kathy's .. you dont need clamps for a SS pin bridge .. use the two E holes for 3/16 ths bolts, and then add some bolts and cauls for the bridge wings .. wax the two bolts going thru the body, and mine thread into 1 inch dowel pieces with threaded inserts in them .

I have one made of aluminum for my std bridge shape, adn pryamids, and made a fast and dirty one for a custom bridge shape out of birch ply .. even threaded right thru it, worked fine.

If your bridge is sitting down tight all round with minimal hand pressure, you dont need excessive clamp force to glue it down at all ....

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

About six years ago I experimented with bolts and had a couple of bridges come loose. Back to three cam clamps, no problems.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Harbor Freight (gasp!) has some cast iron deep-throat clamps that work. Heavy, but cheap.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

The problem I've seen with the StewMac clamp is that you really need a rigid clamp to hold it down. When I tried a Wood cam clamp it gave a little when tightening the wing cauls and relieved the pressure on the center of the bridge. I like Todd's idea of two Ibex clamps.
TJK

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Vacuum mine for last 3 years and love it. when don't as have 3 or so going one time, 3 of the newer little stew mac cam clamps. Hold bridge in place with pins at E's

I gave my Stew mac clamp away. I use three cam clamps with no problems.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

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