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I am starting on the body for my first build and I am looking for information and ideas on building a go bar deck. I wasn't able to find anything useful in the archives. So if anybody has any tips or links that would be great. It seems straight forward but there are a few things I am unsure about. Should I use pipes for the corner support beams, or will 2"x2" lumber or similar wood supports be sufficient? Should I buy or make fiberglass go bars or will wood go bars be sufficient? If so what would be the dimensions? I have plenty of scrap lumber to make a go bar deck and go bars for no cost, but I do want it be well built so I will spend money if I have to. Thanks for any advice.

I used 1/2" threaded rod for the corner supports. It not only makes the box stable, but also adjustable.

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Jason McGowan
M&S Guitars
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It has been about 6 years since used a go bar system, but the last one was a solid core door top and base. I supported the corners with 5/8" all thread (or whatever it is called) inside square aluminium tube. I did that because I could adjust for the difference in tail and end blocks and braces. rather than cutting up go bars for the varied depths. You can do that, and works well, I just confuse easy as to what sticks went with what body.

For bars, you can use any of the materials listed for sticks. I used some 1/4" fiberglass reflectors from Lowes or HD, can't remember and cut them to length. There are some yellow fiberglass rods in those stores also. They were thicker and don't bend as easy. The boss uses wood dowels from same stores. They all work well. Use what works for you.

For size, mine was 26" X 26" as that gave me plenty of room for the dish. But can be small as you want, just make sure you have plenty of room for a dish if you use one. I have dishes I now use cut into shape of a dred and used it for base in the deck and now in what I do for gluing and working on the plates.

I now vacuum for braces. I use cam clamps and cauls made up for the top on the rims, and use the dish noted for the back I have also used at a shop I worked at and in my own shop a press system. I love that, but again it took foot print in the shop. Once I have more room, I will go back to the screw press. I Been thinking of going back to a go bar system for closing the box though. If I do, I will build a top over my bench. Get some storage and not have to find a place to put the deck as I now have limited space. I can walk all sides of it, which isn't a must, but convenient.

If I ever can think of a way to vacuum the plates to the rims, I will do that. But that would be one tall system.

I also used threaded rod.

Obviously it works for some folks, but I found that my deck wanted to twist and rack with just the threaded rod. I ended up putting in corner posts of 2" PVC with the ends cut nice and square on a miter saw, with the threaded rod pulling it all together. I wasn't that interested in making it adjustable anyway since I wasn't going to use go-bars to close up the box.

If you go with 3/16" fiberglass rods, check out intothewind.com for the rods and rubber tips, they are a kite making supplier. I think it actually ends up being slightly cheaper than the home center rods, even with shipping.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

I just moved my shop to a different room and was trying to decide how to make a new deck. The old shop had a 28" tall deck built into the wood storage area. I used wooden bars. For the new deck I wanted to address some of the things I didn't like. It was too low (easy enough fix) and a bit cramped to work in with the 2 x 4 supports and was not movable which wasted space. While deliberating on how high to make the new deck (weighing room to work in vs, storage space when not in use) it hit me. I screwed a layer of MDF with a layer of ply over it to the ceiling the length of one side of my bench space (about 24" by 48"). Now I have no side supports to worry about, can use any convenient (read clear) section of the bench and only have to store the bars and dish when not in use. I also went to fiberglass driveway markers for rods. I'm still deciding if I like them or not. Being round, they tend to move around more than I would like but they are consistent and easy to store. One thing I wont miss is having a wooden bar decide to break in use.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

I'm strapped for cash so I do what I can on the cheap (not allways the best I admit). I made my frame with 2cm pine going through larger blocks of pine with 2cm mortices cut into them. A couple of boards top and bottom. Adjustable by moving the blocks up and down and screwing in. I used lengths of ash for the bars with balloons taped on the ends.
Seems to work fine although I doubt the pressure is as consistant as it is with fibreglass rods. Still, cost me nothing to build.
I saw somewhere a go-bar deck that was also a shelf.
The deck it not important really, just the pressure from the bars.

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

maybe you already skimmed through these, but IMVHO they´re worth reading:

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=31117&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=gobar

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=26790&p=359434&hilit=buckling#p359434

good luck!

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Thanks for the great tips guys. I can't see myself spending $105 on the Stew Mac go bar deck hardware kit so I am thinking I will build it with the materials I have on hand. I'm thinking Ill use 2"x2" lumber for the posts and attached by scrap sheet metal cut at 90's, then a top down/bottom up screw on each post to get compressive strength. Todd, thanks for the useful link for Goodwinds. I am baffled that the luthier supply shops charge $4 or so for each go bar when you can make up your own for $0.75 each!

Buy one of those flat core doors at Lowes. Cut it in half for the top and bottom. Skim coat it with thin plywood (1/4") on both sides (glued). cover the working sides with shop cloth (drop cloth) fabric, spray glue.

Now that I think about it, I used MDF for the skim coating. But thats heavy! The door makes it a ready made torsion box. But the surface would never stand up to the go-bars. Plus, you need a good surface, both sides, to run bolts through to mount the iron pipe bib plates. It's clearer in my head now... I skim coated with 1/2" MDF on one side, and then added a 6" wide strip along oposited ends on the other sides to provide stronger surface for bolt heads (counter sunk).

I used the whole door since I wanted it for Harp Guitars as well.

The shop cloth makes for a nice, non-slip surface for the rods. You probably will want some dowel holes on which to mount the radius dish. The most expensive parts were the iron pipes. But it will not flex!

Mike

Gil , that/s why they call it "Luthier Supplier " you get to pay more $ for the privilege of using the word luthier, Take that word out of there and presto , majico the price comes down dramatically, You have just graduated from luthier economics 101. .

You think that's bad? Just try buying anything with the word "aviation" in it.

+1. This can be useful, because overly flexed go bar clamps act more like crossbow bolts than clamps....

Yes, you can use all your scraps for the whole thing. I use 1/4"x3/4" maple for my go bars.

If you can, just make it part of your bench area, a lot less fabrication and all you really need for a go bar "deck" is a solid base and solid roof and some bars between for clamping.

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I have 1/2" threaded rod on mine to make it adjustable. I silver soldered a piece of pipe to the 1/2-13 nuts and then soldered a big 1" nut to that to make it easy to run up & down on the rod with my fingers although it's still a little slow to get the top level.
I remember seeing somewhere you can use pipe clamps, might be a faster and better way to go.
To protect against dings i slipped over the rods, 4' clear plastic flourescent lamp safety tubes from lowes. The tubes cover the majority of the rods with just enough rod exposed for adjustment.
You can make a go bar deck any size you want but just leave yourself enough shoulder room between the posts to work comfortably.
I bought 1/4" fiberglass rods for mine but they are stiffer than they need to be and really hurt. I will buy 3/16" rods next time.
A piece of carpet stapled to the top helps to keep the rods from slipping.
And finally, I put the whole thing on a waist high cart w/ 4 swivel casters and it's the same size as the deck footprint.

I haven't even glued the braces on my first build yet and I am already freaking out... I need 36 gobars to glue on my bridgeplate ???

Mine is similar to Rod's. I work in a basement shop, so just extended the floor joists down about 8" and used one thickness of plywood for the top. That gives me a little more storage above and shortens the gobars. The three floor joists support it pretty well so far, though it's pretty new. If it begins to deflect, I'll add more plywood.

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Chuck Kish

I put mine on a little cart on wheels. Very convenient to move around while gluing and when you want it out of the way. deck and top are 2 pieces of laminated 3/4" ply. supports are 5/8" threaded rod covered with clear vinyl tubing. One of these days I'll finish making the rest of the drawers

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

One of the things I love about this site is the vast pool of ideas we can come up with for tools and jigs, from simple to complicated and all points between.

I tend to keep things as simple as possible, mine is 2 24" square pieces of 3/4 baltic birch ply supported on 4 1/2" all thread rods, it does flex a little but no major problems. I use it for a lot of different clamping tasks so need the ability to change the height of the deck, the only change I would do is change the hex nuts to wing nuts to make changing the height quicker and easier. It is 7 years old now and probably the most used tool in my shop.

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

I like the attitude, Fred. I have been thinking more all the time that I (most folks?) tend to overdo things. I know that everyone's experience here is really valuable and to be built upon and love it for that. But why not try one layer of ply? Is a little flex that bad? And how hard is it to add another layer if one DOES flex too much for your taste? I am looking more all the time for simpler, quicker, less consumptive ways to do things that make no real difference in the end product without jeopardizing the pleasure or safety of the process. I, too, love reading everyone's take on things, whether they are beautiful jigs, or "scrappers" that do the job.

And the work I see here from everyone is really inspiring!

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Chuck Kish

Another option is to make it permanent. Mine is above an island so I can get all around it. I adjust height by stacking pieces of wood under the work. I use 5/16 fiberglass driveway markers for most stuff and 1/4" wood dowels for lighter clamping. I use plastic thread protectors from Ace on each end and they don't slip. I also have a forest of bars on bridgeplates.

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

I just build a board and affix it to the shop ceiling, or a shelf, and use the bench. I've used the floor before. A mobile unit would be more ideal in terms of access to all parts of the workpiece, but I simply don't have the space for it.

You don't need to over think this. All you need are two surfaces a certain distance apart that can take a bit of pressure.

Here's a pic of mine on the left side. It has three casters between the base and cabinet it sits on with a bolt to keep it on center, so I can rotate the go bar deck as needed.

Chuck

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