Go Bar Deck Construction

Go bar deck construction rattlecan guitar restorations by james o rear duration.

Go bar deck construction. The supports consist of all thread rod fished through 1 plastic conduit bench dog holes in the bench and holes in the plywood with washers and wing nuts at the ends. There are no critical dimensions involved in the construction of the go bar deck but if you want to use commercially available dished work boards 2 in diameter and commercially available go bars 2 long it is best to keep all dimensions at 2. The basic idea is that you apply vertical pressure using rods usually fiberglass under tension. Now you could just use lots and lots of expensive clamps with many cauls but most luthiers use what is called a go bar deck.

The top of the deck is just a single sheet of 3 4 construction grade plywood. Contractors in los angeles ca. Once the body is finished and it is time to glue and clamp the top or back of the guitar to the sides the upper deck will be raised about four of five inches to give room for the guitar body without over bending the fiberglass rods. Rattlecan guitar restorations 1 442 views.

A go bar deck is a low tech clamping solution using the spring tension in dowels in this case to position and hold parts while glue dries. When clamping braces on the front or back of the guitar the upper deck is set about two feet above the lower deck. Stack and glue two of the pieces together and stack and glue the other four together the extra thickness is required to give the go bar deck base sufficient stiffness. Go bar deck assembly from a sheet of 3 4 plywood cut six pieces each 2 feet x 2 feet.

A go bar deck is an open sided box with a plywood top and bottom. It flexes a little but it doesn t matter. The peices being glued sit on the bottom and the flexible go bars bend to apply pressure by pushing against the top.