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im not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet, but i made my go bar deck to be adjustable in height. i know others have done the same. all of my go bars are 24" in length. i simply adjust the height of the deck for the appropriate operation. the height is adjustable via 4 pieces of all-thread, nuts and washers. hope the picture explains it well enough.

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sweat the small stuff.

Perhaps someone else has already thought of this, but it would be really cool to have quick-release nuts for this, like those found on some drill press depth adjustments, where you push a button in the middle of the nut, and can then slide it up and down. It'd also be cool just to say that you have quick-release nuts.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

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sweat the small stuff.

This version doesn't use such "quick-release nuts" (!), but it is a way to adjust the deck easily. I used two pipe-clamp parts for each corner and have notched out the corners. It works for me!

Kathy

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Kathy Matsushita
San Jose, CA USA
http://theamateurluthier.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathy.matsushita

Brilliant, Kathy! I love it.

Todd, I haven't had luck finding the motorized deck, but sure sounds cool.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

I didn't actually come up with this idea myself — it came from an Internet friend, Mark Frazier — he did it somewhat differently, using only one pipe-clamp part underneath an adjustable bottom deck, which would work well, also.

Couple this with Hesh's great pull-out TV swivel idea (which I used this summer), and you have a very, very easy to use go-bar deck!!! (I did a little video on this because I was so tickled with how it came out: http://home.comcast.net/~kathymatsushita/moreprojects/htmlpages/atc12.html)
(The video is at the bottom of the page.)

Kathy

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Kathy Matsushita
San Jose, CA USA
http://theamateurluthier.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathy.matsushita

I've posted this before, but checkout how George Lowden does it. It's a bicycle innertube with fabric straps stapled to plywood.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Here's me gluing the back with go bars, well, sort of.

Also, the support bars have fixed inner blocks, so if I wanted to adjust the height, I could add a slotted spacer by loosening the wing nut and slipping it in on each rod. What I do, however, is have a fixed height and add a spacer to the go-bars when I'm gluing at deck level. You can see the spacers in the top of the bars in this picture.
level.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Anybody use go bar deck to glue on the bridge?

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Kathy where do you get those fittings where the pipe goes into the plywood on the base and on top?

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

I just get those pipe clamps and only use the little end part (not the handle part) — find the cheaper pipe clamps and it won't be as expensive. You need 2 per corner, so 8 total. You just notch the corner of the deck to accommodate the clamp part.

Kathy

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Kathy Matsushita
San Jose, CA USA
http://theamateurluthier.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathy.matsushita

Nice video Kathy!

Very nice video, Kathy.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Heath, I did the same thing many moons ago but I use 3/4" althread so I could make the deck 40" tall and very rigid. One of the best fixture re-works I have done. it is not as quick as pipe clamps to change heights but it only takes a min. or so. I also doubled up the 3/4" birch play decks to 2 sheets (1.5 total) to eliminate as much deflection as possible. I mounted a large heavy duty lazy susan on the bottom and attached to a dedicated 36x36 bench. I have (4) 3/8" dia holes drilled thru the lower deck 90 degrees apart and one in the bench top and use a 3/8 dowel as a locking pin while riging bars. I reall love this setup .

I do the same as Heath.This works really well for me to be able to adjust the height.It seems a lot more versatile this way.
James W B

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Is it just me or does it look like there is a guy's head being squeezed out of this press......

Anybody ever consider just having two different length fiberglass go bars on hand? Works for me.

http://www.tvshelves.com/images/225_2.gif


Is this the swivel used on the go bar deck ??

thanks Ange

I don't use two different sizes of go bar rods, but do have two different sizes of 1/2" threaded rod for the go bar deck. Since I keep the deck broken down when not in use, I just pick the shorter set when setting up to glue braces to the plates, or the longer set when gluing the top and back plates to the sides.