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I currently have my go bars between a bench and a reinforced shelf which works well and there is no structure to store when not using.

However the use of a deck on a movable cart is the best argument I have seen for using a made up deck. Being able to turn round to get at all sides must be great. Thanks for sharing. My only problem is I'm beginning to run out of floor space. I'll have to do a bit of reorganising.

Dave

You get a lot of storage out of making the cart a clamp rack, or putting drawers underneath, or shelves, etc. It is useful space down there. Plus, on a short term basis, it is nice to have another two places (lower deck and upper deck) to place things to get them off the main bench, but not on the floor. The danger is that you get some clutter building up if you don't use your deck for extended periods, but that's going to happen with any horizontal surface. I think it is a net gain in terms of storage space.

After a week off from work and spending 95% of my time remodeling my kitchen, I finally built my deck. Sorry I don't have any pictures right now. What happens when you finally get a little shop time and you'r eager to get something done, you forget some things. I have 24" instead of 30" as I had planned for. So now if I want to follow my original plans for a movable spacer, I'm going to need 20" bars. I don't think it will matter.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

The space I use for a go bar deck is the 20 inch gap between the upper and lower cabinets of a "hutch". 20 inches works O.K. for gluing braces on tops and backs, so 24 inches might work O.K. for gluing up bodies.

Thanks Clay.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Finally got some me time in the shop. I built a go-bar deck and a new back for my guitar after messing up the alignment of the first one. A little shaping on the braces and I'll be ready to close the box as they say. This weekend hopefully.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

It's a box!

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Always nice to get to the "it's a box" point.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Nice! Way to stick with it!


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Next up, build a vise to hold this while I work on it. I plan on a kind of Moxon vise using some 3/4" pipe clamps that are 6" long, I'll never need these but I'll save the pipes just in case. Step one, try to find a nice 2x6 at one of the big box stores and get a couple of shorter pipes. I think 1 should be enough. I have some 1" packing foam for the faces. I think that should do it. I'll be glad when I get this first guitar built and don't have to build any more shop tools.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

A suggestion on the vise:

Be mindful of the fact that some foam is sturdy enough to apply too much pressure to the middle of a top, if you leave the foam flat and clamp up the body in a Moxon type vise. By too much pressure, I mean enough to cause something to crack. The folks that use Trojis seem to always use pretty soft foam, so they can leave it flat and it conforms to the shape of the guitar. I use some pretty sturdy foam, and in order to keep it from applying too much pressure to the middle of a top, I cut it to a radius that is tighter than either my top or back radius. It works great, because it is only grabbing the rim of the guitar when I close up the vise.

Just something to worry about in the planning stage, instead of panicking after you hear a bad noise.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

The foam on my Troji is the same as what you would use in a chair or sofa cushion. It is about 1 1/2" thick and since I clamp bodies of many different sizes in many different orientations it is not dished. You may use your Moxon type vise somewhat differently.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

This is the single funniest thing I've read all day!

The tool building won't ever end, as there's always a better way, improvements to make, etc.

I had a feeling that statement was going to come back and bite me in the ass.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

It's all good, friend.

If you didn't like building stuff, you probably wouldn't be building a guitar.

The next couple definitely get easier, as your tools/jigs/skills build up.

Have fun!

I just hope I don't forget too many. I have 2 unfinished mandolins and a fiddle to finish up before I build another guitar.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I just realized that I didn't add the linen to my xbracing. I suppose I can still do it but is it necessary?

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

It wouldn't be hard to do, and it's cheap insurance. It does add some strength.

I struggled last night to clean fare the edges to the side using a variety of hand tools. It wasn't until this morning that I picked the perfect one, the spoke shave. What a wonderful tool that thing is and I'll never have to use a router again.

These are all the tools I tried.


Next a little work with a scraper and I'm going to try to cut the binding ledges by hand.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

And Hutch, you picked a great spokeshave to use - one with a blade parallel to the work. My favorite too. The putty knife didn't work?

Ed

Ha ha, the putty knife was there because of one more tool I tried, coping saw. I was foolish enough to saw away from the joint and actually popped the back off the ribs. Even sawing towards the body, I wasn't getting great results so I quickly put that away. I used the putty knife to get more glue in the joint.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

You know, I've seen a lot of so called experts using block planes and chisels for this so that's what I started with. That was a lot of work and the guitar was difficult to hold while I was doing it and that's why I was going to build a vise. Once I switched to the spokeshave, the vise was no longer needed. I just leaned the guitar against the rounded edge of my bench and used my belly for a stop. Couldn't have been easier.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

One more thing, I'm still going to build that vise but it won't be for holding guitar bodies.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Just curious, is the goal to avoid power tools? There is a group on Facebook dedicated to instrument building without power tools, are you already a member there? Unplugged luthiers I think? I’m not a member, I just know it exists.

Brad


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