Hi,

I am designing/building my go-bar deck, and have been through alot of the archives for ideas.  I have the following scenario, and was hoping I could get advice/recomendation/critique on my approach.

Set-up: I have a small room that I have retro-fitted for guitar building.  I built an "L" shaped bench to work on.  On the "bottom of the L" part of the bench is where I want to build my go-bar deck.  I have 2 walls a right angle.  I want to build the deck utilizing the 2 walls, which will give me better access to the deck as I wont have dowels in the way.  I want to put the top of the deck slightly higher than I am tall (don't want to keep hitting the darn thing in the head).

By doing this, I will have a 38" clearance from workbench to deck.  I was planning on building an ~ 4" platform to work on which would make the distance ~34"

My Question: Given this 34" space, I wanted to use 36" go-bars.  What would be the best material to use assuming the go-bars will be 36" long?

Thx,

Glenn

Thx for the feedback.

Actually, I am looking at Goodwinds, and they have very good qty discounts.  If I buy 12 1/4" x 72" rods, the cost is $1.45 (which yields 24 36" rods).  Adding .24 ea for 24 end caps, that works out to $0.965 per rod.

[QUOTE=Bruce Dickey]Good luck building your shop. Are you sure you want to do this?    [/QUOTE]

 Yeah, I am sure.  I have wanted to for a long time - Been playing for almost 30 yrs. I am sure alot of challenges ahead.... but I look forward to it.

Glenn

[QUOTE=ToddStock]Now that we've established ourselves as pinheaded, pocket protector-wearing geeks, it's all downhill from here, eh?[/QUOTE]

I resemble that remark!

[QUOTE=ToddStock]BH -

Applied force is always in line with the endpoints whether standard go bar, spring-bar, or other. If the ends are in vertical alignment, the force is vertical.

I can see the attraction of spring-loaded bars for helping with vertical alignment, but the standard go-bars' property of uniform load through the entire range of usable deflection (buckling to ends meeting) is something I'd be reluctant to give up.[/QUOTE]

I would go with rectangular Ash then, and go along the long axis of the glued up brace, rather than round fiber-glass, which is more difficult to control. I dont even really like spreading them out, one X one Y one X etc. on the X braces. The load transfer is most definetely uneven. Fiberglass is sloppy go-bars. They didnt use fiberglasses 100 years ago, they would have used (rectangular?) bendy-woods.

I still like spring-loaded dowel rods. But I like the idea of Ash rectangles, real go bars like 'they who came before me' used, also.

Blackheart says,.........dump the glass or dont buy it in the first place. No engineering degree to figure that out.

Applied force is always in line with the endpoints whether standard go bar, spring-bar, or other. If the ends are in vertical alignment, the force is vertical.

Ooops, I would have to say this is way way wrong with gobars. I cant even imagine explaining this to an undergrad in engineering. If you made BOWS, like a bow and arrow thing, THEN the forces may be vertical to the ends, as long as the cord/bowstring  is taught?? (But not ALL the force)

 Gobars have applied forces in the bend area as well, a SIDEWAYS force is also acting, the OUTWARD expansion of the bar that wants to bring the fibers back in LINE,  hence the virtue of [rectangular] to make it more controllable in one direction, or springloaded, to eliminate it altogether.

With ROUND  Fiberglass go bars, you are dealing with the pain of round endpoints and 'uneven' pressure distribution, which can be moderated by offestting to one side of the brace or the other, 'good enough' I guess, but for a trade/skill that deals with thousandths of an inch, I think fiberglass is in the wrong place.

Ok, me post picture or something. We'll go to 'visual' mode and use .ooX gauges. - Im using HHG now, maybe that was an issue. I just slapped as much on as possible for one side (id rather do both but the time issue.) Noticed that #@#@@)__@(# the dang brace was tilted to the 'left'. Had to take off and do over.

A go bar rods forces will not all be taken in the pure vertical at the ends. There are side forces at work. This is obvious just as a bow and arrow work. When the bow straitens out, it propels the arrow in the same direction as the curve righting itself. The force is the same idea for a gobar. This can cause problems with glue up. No doubt.

Im talking measureing with the gauges here. I try for .002 before glue- up. Less than that is difficult for me using 150 grit and given wood variation. 

If your not careful where you place gobar rods, you may end up with uneven joint/surface cohesion. At least Im pretty sure of it.

Glue- up is anther issue. Its common with wood working to glue BOTH surfaces. Not sure why critical strength joints in the guitar would be less critical than furniture joints. Im not an expert, so I cant tell you why, but rules is rules.

Ok Todd, thanks,

maybe my gobars are not "in line",and thats what causes unequal pressure. No one said you need a plumb-bob to glue up braces.