Official Luthiers Forum!

I searched the archive, but with little help. To all of you from whom I have learned so much--what did "they" use before go bars?

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Adam

I see violin building articles and old guitar building articles using spool clamps for the sides. Rub fitting of braces with hot hide glue does not require clamping, I am told. Various deep throated clamps. Weights.

As far as go bars, these were used in carpenter shops 2000 years ago, where the top deck was the ceiling of the shop, and the bottom work area was a table or the floor. The go bars were just sticks.

Cam Clamps...!! I still use them.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Of course personal preference and efficiency are prime factors --- I am fairly certain that "no clamp" rub joints where used by the old timers that were in hurry -- no doubt wedges, banding strategies and simple screw clamps where employed.

I am not a fan of GBD's mine went in the fire pit after about one year back in the late 1960's I'm with Tom, cam clamps are mighty handy. I also like elastic (modern banding) for many operations as well -- and not to mention vacuum clamping -- which is awesome for brace and bridge clamping! Sorry I digress.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

I saw a video of one guy that liked to use old coil bed box springs cut for clamping. I thought I would try it too but couldn't get past handling somebody's nasty ol bed found in the dump. Might bring home more than just springs!

And there is this old time hog ring method

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

I use 1/2" PVC water pipe with 1/4-20 plate-nut glued in with flat-headed furniture bolts. There is no flex in screw-threads to adjust as the glue flows or shrinks so the top deck is lined with cork to compress.
After ten years of use it seems to work for me.

Bob

I don't use go bars either. Various clamps, long lengths of rubber (mountain bike tire tubes are my favorite), and cotton rope.

Here is a similar type of clamp to the c-clamp in the video, but home made.

A piece of 150mm PVC stormwater pipe, cut in slices about 30mm wide on the bandsaw, and opened on one side. It makes a c-clamp with the right width to span the sides of a guitar, and with a good degree of spring-back to provide clamping force. You just need to put some padding on the ends. I bought a length of foam water-pipe insulation from the plumbing section at the local hardware store ($1.50 per metre) and attached it to the clamps with cable ties. It cost me $30 and about half an hour to make 30 clamps, which is enough to do the full perimeter of a guitar.

Go-bars go way back as wbergman said and I read somewhere that there is evidence that go-bars were used in caves as well. One can speculate if they tried to match ceiling height to go-bar length or go-bar length to ceiling height or both back them. There may be an OLFer or two who can remember... (what we read not remember from being there.... )

Before go-bars we can only speculate that they may have used BFRs and LFRs, big freaking rocks and little freaking rocks and a hand from gravity even though Sandra Bullock got it way wrong in the movie by that name....

One thing is for sure though, I doubt that they had license agreements for PLEKs back then.... (they were smarter than us...).

Peter Oberg apprenticed with Robert Ruck, who uses this method.

Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

Fingers.

Very clever, Mark!

If my recollect is right it was 'Go Go Bars' but i suspect most of you were to young to remember.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Those were slightly different. Instead of a go bar deck it was a go-go bar cage. . .

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

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