Stewmac Go-Bars

[Phil Mailloux]

Those of you who happen to have or have used stewmac go bars, did you do anything to them or are you using them 'out of the box', those bars are putting some mean denting onto my braces, I'd love to use the O'Brien method of gluing the top and back to the sides in the go bar deck but the way these bars are, they'd do way too much denting in the material, I see he's using the lmii go bars that have plastic caps at the end, so such thing on the stewmac ones.

So back to the original question did you sand the end of your go bars, wrap them with something, etc..?

[Kim]

Not sure of the diameter of the stewmac rods or perhaps they're flattish in profile?? Anyhow I made my own gobars from 1/4" fibreglass rod. A local plastics distributor sells it in 3m length so I just cut them to size and went off to Bunnings to buy some white rubber tips. If I recall there is another place online that sells them in packs of 50 or 100 far cheaper.

Cheers

Kim

[Phil Mailloux]

Thanks, the stewmac bars are rectangly fiberglass with a mean edge on all four sides at each end, I'm thinking I might have to do what you did, I guess you can never have too many go bars (like clamps)

[jeffhigh]

Phil,
I use wooden go bars, but I use an offcut under the end when I am gluing on top and back plates.

[Phil Mailloux]

Thanks Jeff, makes sense, i've been wondering about the wooden ones, what sort of wood would be good for this and would it have to be cut on the flat or quarter side? God knows I've got a crapload of offcuts that could be easily sliced up, mostly swamp ash, maple and alder

[jeffhigh]

I've been using merbau decking 15 thick cut into strips about 4mm thick by 850 long (I use a high deck)
The main thing is straight grain and low runout.

[martintaylor]

I don't use go bars yet but for all clamping I use softwood (pine) shims between any clamps and timber. The pine will always absorb the punishment and they are cheap to replace. They also give me a good spread of pressure along braces etc.

[Trevor Gore]

Not sure of the diameter of the stewmac rods or perhaps they're flattish in profile?? Anyhow I made my own gobars from 1/4" fibreglass rod. A local plastics distributor sells it in 3m length...

Anyone know a Sydney supplier? The ones I've found charge an arm and a leg. I have a tall go-bar deck, so need ~1.2m lengths.

To avoid denting if you're gluing down pre-shaped braces, try this: Collect a few wine bottle corks and bandsaw out a segment, so that when viewed from the ends it looks like a cake with a slice cut out. Then opposite the missing slice, bandsaw a flat. When go-baring, sit the notch in the cork over the top of the brace and seat the go-bar on the flat of the cork. Doesn't need to be expensive wine, but doesn't work with the screw tops! Mind your fingers when sawing, as cork can grab.

[simso]

I have the same bars as stewmac offers, you need to put a bracing piece under each bar otherwise yes they will imprint the surface,

That being said, they are pretty good for providing plenty of pressure

[ozwood]

Hi Gents,


You could try some rubber stoppers.

K Mart had some replacement tent pole Kits a few years back that had 4 x 800 lenghts of Fiberglass pole that were hollow and about 6mm thick with some shock cord and joiners on a runout special for $5 each , ( i wiped them out ) I got some rubber stoppers/feet from Bunninngs for about $2 for a oack of 4 and put those on the ends and it all works a treat , though I think they are a little stiff , But I manage fine with them and have no dents or any slipp off either.

Cheers,

[kiwigeo]

Im a cheap arse and use hoop pine dowels......I love it when the split in half and come flying out of the deck at you. I stick a piece of cork under the end if denting is going to be an issue

[Chopper]

Trevor,
I purchased my go bars (round fibreglass) from a kite making supply shop in Sydney (Coogee from memory). I found them on the net and they were great to deal with. I did post about them at the time but it was along time ago and the post may have been lost in the great site crash! Any kite shop has what we use for go bars and tips.
I hope this helps,
Cheers John Copley
www.copleyaustralia.com.au

[Kim]

Not sure of the diameter of the stewmac rods or perhaps they're flattish in profile?? Anyhow I made my own gobars from 1/4" fibreglass rod. A local plastics distributor sells it in 3m length...

Anyone know a Sydney supplier? The ones I've found charge an arm and a leg. I have a tall go-bar deck, so need ~1.2m lengths.

Unless using a riser, @ 1.2m between surfaces you may find you will need to go up in size to 8mm GB's Trev.

My deck is 970mm between surfaces. From memory, with a brace clamped onto a top that is positioned in a 50mm thick radius dish, the 950mm x 6.2mm solid fibreglass rods I am using apply app 8 to 10lb per. I am not sure of the maths but adding another 200mm> to the length of each column would reduce that clamping pressure a fair bit and if I had to guess I would say it would be down a couple of lb to around 6 per which is probably not enough so a test before invest approach may be a good thing.

That said the beauty of using a riser of say 6" when bracing the top/back is that when it comes time to glue the top/back to the sides, you can leave it out and get away with using the same length rods without the need to load them into "you'll have ur bloody eye out son" projectile status.

Cheers

Kim

[lauburu]

Had a similar problem with fibreglass rods marking the spruce braces and used a bit of native cunning to solve the problem.
Got some cheap rods off Trademe (online auction) for use in a go bar deck. 6mm*600. They provided plenty of force but were a bugger to work with and marked the wood badly. Then I saw another bargain on Trademe a bag of springs - cost $1 and $15 for postage. HUNDREDS of springs about 20mm long and 10mm OD.
Built a cap from cedar 10mm*10mm in section and varying lengths (approx 80mm long). Drilled a 6mm hole in one end to insert the Fibreglass rod and a 10mm depression in the other end for the spring. Secured with hot glue gum. Resulting contraption applies suitable force for gluing and being a vertical force, doesn't have pieces of go bar pinging across the workshop or braces sliding across soundboard.
Am able to make as many more bars as I want just by using wooden rods of a suitable length and mounting the springs on top
Hope that provides inspiration for somebody. If anyone wants springs, give me a yell.
Miguel

[steve_I]

Dear Phil,

I "plasti-dipped" the ends of my Stewmac go bars - but still use a some sort of caul between the bars and wood that I am clamping.

4 dips of plasti-dip puts a nice "rubber" end on one end of the bar.

Steve.

Those of you who happen to have or have used stewmac go bars, did you do anything to them or are you using them 'out of the box', those bars are putting some mean denting onto my braces, I'd love to use the O'Brien method of gluing the top and back to the sides in the go bar deck but the way these bars are, they'd do way too much denting in the material, I see he's using the lmii go bars that have plastic caps at the end, so such thing on the stewmac ones.

So back to the original question did you sand the end of your go bars, wrap them with something, etc..?

[Kim]

Dear Phil,

I "plasti-dipped" the ends of my Stewmac go bars - but still use a some sort of caul between the bars and wood that I am clamping.

4 dips of plasti-dip puts a nice "rubber" end on one end of the bar.

Steve.

That's a good tip especially for the flat profile of SM's gobars.

I've done similar to an old plane blade I use as a scraper.

Cheers


Kim

[Phil Mailloux]

That plasti stuff looks great, where can you buy it?

[Kim]

I got mine from ebay in AU.

[Mark Fogleman]

Not sure of the offshore shipping costs but these are what I use:
http://goodwinds.com/clearance/clearanc ... glass.html

With these tips:
http://goodwinds.com/connectors/vinyl-end-caps.html

They also have very good priced on CF flatstock:
http://goodwinds.com/clearance/clearanc ... arbon.html

[Tod Gilding]

Wouldnt putting a little silicone sealer on the ends do the same Job ?

[kathymatsushita]

Those of you who happen to have or have used stewmac go bars, did you do anything to them or are you using them 'out of the box', those bars are putting some mean denting onto my braces, I'd love to use the O'Brien method of gluing the top and back to the sides in the go bar deck but the way these bars are, they'd do way too much denting in the material, I see he's using the lmii go bars that have plastic caps at the end, so such thing on the stewmac ones.

So back to the original question did you sand the end of your go bars, wrap them with something, etc..?

I bought the Stew-Mac go-bar sticks long, long, long ago, when they were around $2.50 each, around half the price they are now (I'm glad I bought them then!). (Before that, I was using wood dowels, which I would sand to kind of a rectangular shape at the ends. But sometimes the wood dowels would crack and I'd have exploding, flying go-bars!!! That's why I went to fiberglass bars.) I like the rectangular fiberglass bars because they're nice and sturdy and dependable, and they don't spin around, which the round fiberglass ones might do. I don't do anything to the ends of the bars --- if I'm clamping something soft, I'll usually put something as a caul over it (like popsicle sticks over braces), unless it's a section of the brace that will be carved away anyway. Then I don't bother with a caul. I love my go-bars. When I bought them, I bought 36 of them, and that has proven to be a good number to have. (But today, I don't know that I'd buy them at the price they are at now.)

[Trevor Gore]

Anyone know a Sydney supplier? The ones I've found charge an arm and a leg. I have a tall go-bar deck, so need ~1.2m lengths.

Thanks for the sourcing options everyone. Goodwinds have a good variety at good prices. If any of you want heavier duty rods, one option is 10mm fibreglass electric fencing rods, which are available from farm suppliers at a reasonable price.

[steve_I]

You can get it from www.plastidip.net.au

I bought mine from an electronics supplier in Brisbane. With the cost of postage there wasn't a great deal of price difference between retail and buying it from the web.
I only got a "junior" can - plenty to do all my go-bars and heaps left over.

Steve

That plasti stuff looks great, where can you buy it?

[sprouseod]

Just use a small thin piece of spruce scrap under each brace between the go bar and brace

[Taffy Evans]

A bit late but I was doing this part of a build and thought I’d show my ideas on using the Go Bar Deck

Mine is mounted on a wheeled cabinet that I pull out if I need to work all around the guitar back, top or the guitar itself if gluing to the rims.

I use shop made rods [three types] of different lengths that suit the job at hand, the top of the deck is fine tuneable for height and a false base can be inserted to further change the distance from top to bottom of the deck.

Two of the different rods are cut from a suitable springy timber at two different lengths. The third type of rod I’ve used for the last 15 years or so – the ones used mainly for bracing – are 3/8 dowelling that are spring loaded. These do not mark the bracing.

I used aluminium tube back then but have made some more using plastic covered curtain rod. One type has the spring retained by a split pin at one end that goes through the tube and the coil of the spring, the other has a plug in one end with the spring having electrical tape wrapped around one end to create a push fit. The split pin model does not have the spring sticking out of the end in use, just for this photo.

The spring assemblies are in a tray in the open drawer and the rods are lying on top of the drawer, the two are put together as they are placed into position over the brace. All the rods are stored on the side of the mobile go bar deck.

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