Go Go Gadget Go Bar Deck

So one of the quintessential tools that you'll find in most luthier's workshop is a go bar deck. This is a handy device used for gluing braces to the tops and backs as well as other gluing tasks. So they play a pretty vital role in the construction of an acoustic guitar. Luckily they are a pretty simple concept. You have a top deck and a lower deck. The items are placed inbetween the decks, and fiberglass or wooden rods are used to put clamping force on the items being glued.

Here's an example of someone's go-bar deck in use:

What makes these particularly useful is if your top or back has a radius to it. Like the image shown here, the back is placed in a radius dish to support the back and braces. when the go bars are applied that the pressure is distributed evenly. For the Selmer, this is essential because both the top and the back are arched. Since the Selmer, uses a moveable bridge like you find a violin, cello, or a mandolin, it has what is refered to as a pliage which is a fulcrum point or apex to the bend which where the bridge will reside, meaning the arch is not a uniform radius. For this reason I need to build a compound radius dish to accomodate the bend in the top (as well as the back) but befor I could do that, I needed a go bar deck that would aid me in the process of building the dish.

So after lurking around the interwebs and reading a couple of threads on forums from people who made their own decks. I decided I'd do the same and make one. Since space is a commodity that I cannot afford right now, I could not make an elaborate deck that you would find Michael Collins using in his video, or large decks that double as work benches that could accomodate 3 back to be glued at once. Since I'm only doin one guitar for now. I'll start small, similar to the picture shown above.

I was originally going to create one exactly like the picture above using threaded 5/16th threaded steel rod, washers and nuts to create my supports, however I read somewhere that it could be a bit unstable can be a little wobbly under the stress of several go bars, increasing the chance of a go bar slipping and wreaking havoc on you items or anything in the general vicinity. The suggestion solution was to use 1/2" pipe and some floor flanges to act as supports. For deck material, I used two 2' x 2'x 3/4" MDF boards glued together to make both the top deck and the bottom deck. I wanted to make sure that the decks were stiff as hell and that no possibility of deflection would occur. The only real minor set back to this design is that the space between the decks is 25 inches. This is by no means a problem just that the fiberglass rods that I ordered, are 48 inches in length to be cut down to 24 inch go bars. Meaning my rods will be a little short. No matter, I can simply use extra mdf or other material as a riser so that the rods can do there job.

Overall its a very solid structure, enough so that it doubles as a stand for my scroll saw and a rack for my clamps. Like I said space is precious, gotta squeeze as much out of ever square inch. currently I have some rubber feet on it, however if I am going to have it double as a work station for my scroll saw or any other bench tool I may aquire in the future. I'll probably put castors on it so that its easier to move around.

Also notice the box? Got my first shipment from LMI. Woohoo!