Clamps

[tippie53]

not all cloths pins are equal. I use spring clamps because here at the local store the pins are too weak.

[David L]

I used clothespins without rubber bands to clamp the lining to the rim and I did have a spot or two where the lining has a tiny gap due to insufficient pressure. I will add rubber bands on my next one.

David L

[David L]

Oh yeah, also, I built my own gobar deck and found it to be very easy to use, even for a first time builder as myself. I used it to brace up the back and top and to close the box then I disassembled it (5 minutes max) and stored it neatly out of the way, it takes up very little room when disassembled.

David L

[MuddyFox]

not all cloths pins are equal. I use spring clamps because here at the local store the pins are too weak.

How weak is too weak? :) I guess you get a feel for it after a while but right now I'm flying blind. Can this sort of thing be found out with a dry run? Clip the kerfing all the way around and see if there are gaps?
How tight does it have to be?

[David L]

The tiny gaps that I had were at the bottom of the lining and not all the way across the lining. In other words, I used standard tiangular lining and the gaps appeared at the part of the lining that is thinnest (furthest away from the top or back) where the clothespins didn't quite reach, a bit more pressure would probably eliminate this. Dry runs are always good but not fool proof.

David L

[MuddyFox]

It's not that I wouldn't add them, I was merely contemplating whether they were necessary. If all wooden clothespins needed them, then why use wooden clothespins in the first place? I've only seen pictures of one build (cannot recall who it was right now) that used camping pins and no rubber bands. Others were either wooden pins or various clamps. That sort of "gray area" stuff just ruffles my engineering brain feathers. :)

Don't get me wrong Ken, I don't ask these sorts of questions just to bug you guys. I like to get (most) of my bases covered way before I start the implementation phase of any project, this one included. Yes, I overthink things quite often but nothing bad ever came out of that. David L had to learn the harder way because on all the forums I've browsed never have I seen the clothespins discussed. I suppose this sort of minutiae is just taken for granted. And apparently it is possible for them to not be enough even if one used hundred of them. I just like to be prepared for that contingency if at all possible. Spring clamps cost at least 20x more than pins over here. So pins it is, and after David L's comment, rubber bands too. :)

RR is beyond the scope of my preparations at this point and I look forward to picking you guys' brains on that topic on some future build, but since I'm trying to take baby steps here, clothespins and clamps first. :)

[Tarhead]

StewMac had a great Trade Secrets on Clothspins:
http://www.stewmac.com/tsarchive/ts0127.html

[pete nardo]

clothes pins don't exert enough pressure, even w/rubber bands, imho. You can get 1" spring clamps for less thean $1 ea. from Home Depot. For even less, you can get those black binder clips they sell at Staples (that's what Wayne Henderson uses).

why futz around w/clothespins and rubber bands? lol!

have fun, whatever you decide.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I use regular wood clothes pins with rubber bands and they work great...exerting all the clamping pressure needed to hold the kerfing inplace, also quick to put on. And, they were dirt cheap at Walmart.

Kevin

[kencierp]

The Martin factory has been using clothes pins since 1833 (or since spring pins were invented) without rubber bands. I've been using them on every single guitar (and other instruments) we've built since 1978 with and without rubber bands. So the answer to the question? Is becasue they work great -- Please -- You think two hundreds guitars a day would indicate they apply enough pressure? And again Dick Boak in his Martin factory tour video brags about how "perfectly" suited they are for the job of installing kerfing, while he in an area surrounded with about 100 or so pinned up rims. Incidently the rims are not in a mold at this point in the process$.02