Using a Go-Bar Clamping System to Edge Glue Thin Boards

I’m going to show you how I edge glue very thin boards and get perfect alignment and perfectly flat results without the boards buckling in the clamps.

If you haven’t seen one of these before it is called a go-bar clamping system.  Typically, we use these in our guitar making to glue braces onto the sound board and backs.  You can purchase a kit from stewmac and make one of these or, as I did make your own. It takes a half sheet of sanded plywood, some 24-inch fiberglass stakes, a stick of 1” schedule 40 PVC and a few 1” PVC fittings. I’ll do a video later about how to make a go-bar clamping system.

The go-bar it turns out comes in handy for many other clamping situations outside of guitar making. It allows you to apply downward pressure anywhere on a large part where you might not otherwise be able to reach with a traditional clamp.