=*Superwoman*=: A-Frame Wood Guitar Stand

I was making my husband something awesome for Christmas.

My luck...he found it midway being done.

So I'm going to share it with you (and then figure out something else to make my husband for Christmas).

My husband breathes music.

He's actually a very talented drummer.

His love, though, is playing the guitar.

I let him keep his acoustic in the living room, because I think it looks classy.

For some reason, every time I see an electric guitar, my first thought is Gene Simmons.

Odd?

Anyways, I know he's been wanting a guitar stand.

I don't like the plastic ones. Sure, they are cheap, but I also think they belong in a college dorm, not my house.

The nice wood ones average $200-$300.

Ouch.

Betcha I can make one!

I found this template online.

If you would like this template, the website is listed by the picture.

So I printed it off in 8x10 sheets, then taped them all together.

The guy that originally made this used two pieces of scrap wood, hence that line in the middle.

I wanted this to be decent quality, so I bought a full 3/4 sheet of plywood.

I cut out the template and traced around it on my plywood.

Once I cut it out, I used that piece as my second template. I stayed outside my line so that I could sand the edges.

Then I had two identical sides.

Then I needed to sand the edges.

I learned a really cool trick (in a magazine maybe?) for sanding. Instead of trying to hold your work and maneuver a sander around it, you clasp the handle of the sander in a vice grip and that leaves you with two hands to rotate your material.

This is much easier! I love this trick!

To make sure that the sides remain exactly uniform, I clamped them together before sanding.

After the usual sanding, staining (True Walnut by Miniwax) and polyurethaning, I attached the two sides together at the top with a decorative hinge.

You need to make sure the stand doesn't completely spread while a guitar is on it.

The template calls for two slits to be made so that a ribbon could pass through.

I thought that it would look sloppy.

I thought a chain would look much better, plus I wouldnt' have to try making slits.

To give myself leverage to twist the eye hooks into the wood, I like to use a C-clamp.

Once I got one eye hook in, I carefully closed the stand and pushed down, causing an indent on the other side. The ensures that the eye hooks are in the exact same spot on each side with no measuring!

You also should add padding on the stand so that putting the guitar down doesn't cause any chips.

On the website, he used felt and glue.

Why don't we skip that step and use 3/4" Velcro?? Only the soft side, of course.

;)

I cut off a small piece and stuck it on the front like this:

Then a bottom piece:

And the rest on the back. Repeat on the other side.

I used a hanging basket chain to connect the eye hooks.

I'm not happy that it's green, but since it was just sitting in my garage (FREE!) and it wouldn't be seen when the guitar sits on the stand, I wasn't too worried about it.

It will be replaced some day, I'm sure.