Time-saving go-bar clamping has become a breakthrough technique for gluing guitar braces, soundboards, backs and more.
Strong flexible "go-bars" are placed under tension between the top of the go-bar deck and the wood being clamped. This eliminates the cumbersome multitude of clamps that slow down the gluing process, and results in more uniform clamping pressure.
We offer hardware and instructions to easily build your own setup, including custom-radiused convex dishes for maintaining accurate soundboard and back curvature.
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"Gluing braces on tops and backs used to be a slow process. One session used to take me two hours, but with go-bars it's less than twenty minutes. I build a dozen or more acoustic guitars a year in my home shop. I couldn't build that many in my limited spare time without using go-bars."
— Todd Sams, StewMac production manager
Go-bar Deck Hardware Kit: Our set of metal posts and hardware for making a sturdy go-bar deck. We provide complete instructions; you provide the plywood top and base.
Go-bars: Made of rugged flexible fiberglass, 24" x 1/2" x 5/16" (609.60mm x 12.70mm x 7.94mm). Sold individually.
Concave Radiused Dishes hold guitar braces, soundboards and backs in the correct curvature for gluing in the go-bar deck, and can be used without the deck for sanding braces.
They're precisely CNC-machined from rigid fiberboard for years of use. Dimensions are 23" x 20" x 1" (584mm x 508mm x 25mm). Available radii include: 15-foot radius for Martin backs 20-foot radius for modern guitar backs 28-foot radius for modern guitar soundboards 40-foot radius for Martin soundboards
Sanding Disc for Radiused Dishes: Add a self-adhesive sanding disc to your dish for easy non-slip clamping, and for sanding guitar braces accurately. 24" diameter, 50-grit. Color may vary.
Use the Go-Bar Clamping System when sanding and gluing braces for our Acoustic Guitar Kit. The 20-foot deck is recommended for the guitar back. The 28-foot radius dish can be used for the soundboard.
Go-bar decks: fast, flexible gluing
In this issue:
This week, Dan Erlewine asks Todd Sams to show how a go-bar deck in his home shop turned two hours of work into twenty minutes!
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