Make a Modern Guitar Stand

I wanted a guitar stand that was light and could be folded away, but still offered neck support since I have a dog. If you have a dog, toddler, or are just kind of clumsy, this is the guitar stand for you. It is also small enough to fit into a large guitar case and can be assembled in seconds. Great for campers or road trippers!

I used both power tools and hand tools, but the project can be made with either. Let's get started!

Step 1: Prepare Your Stock

For my stand I used a scrap piece of tongue and groove floor board, but you can use anything as long as it has uniform thickness. Mine was about 1.5 cm thick, which I cut into 3 strips of 4 cm x 70 cm. For the neck support, I used the rest of the board, cut down to about 17 cm x 10 cm.

Step 2: Creating the Half Lap

Placing two of your strips on top of each other. Measure down the length of your guitar body + 5 cm (55 cm in my case) and mark it, then move the two pieces to be about 5 cm less than the width of your guitar body apart (25 cm in my case) at that spot. Mark the top at this angle, then mark the sides at half their thickness.

Cut these however you like. I used a backsaw and cleaned it up with chisels. For the second piece, place your cut piece over the top of it and mark from there.

Step 3: Cut the Edge Half Lap Joints

First cut your third strip in half, giving two equal pieces of 35 cm or so. Tape these two pieces together, then mark and cut your joint 10 cm from one of the ends.

Then tape your other two strips together, and cut your joint about where you marked it before.

Step 4: Finish the Back

To cut the bottom, mark 90 degrees from about half of the angle of the top joint. Look at the red lines in the first picture for a better idea. Copy this angle to the bottom, about 6 cm from your joint. Glue the two pieces together.

When the glue dries, mark the line between where the two pieces meet and cut it. Take a moment to admire your joinery skills.

Step 5: Cut the Neck Support

Mark the neck piece as you like, making sure that the curve is deep enough to stop any lateral movement. Feel free to shape it as much or as little as you like, because you're in the home stretch!

Once you're finished, transfer the joint to the back and sand everything.

Step 6: Assemble!

Assemble the pieces and enjoy!

This is a good beginner project because even if your joints aren't super tight the piece will still work. If you are more of a techie, with a few minor changes this could easily be cnc cut from a quarter sheet of plywood.

This is my first project on Instructables, so please let me know what you think in the comments. Also have a look at the video if you're not sure about any of the steps. Thanks for reading!

Step 7: Check Out the Video!

Comments

[talco92]

Looks great, I'll definitely make this!! Also appreciate that you used the metric system ;)

edit: although the instructions for determining the angles to cut the feet and head are unclear to me

[RowanCant]

Nice, I might have to make a larger version of this for my cello..

[NickRowan]

Just measure the body and set up your height and angles accordingly. No need for complicated measurements. Best of luck :)

[Lovetra]

LOVE THIS! As soon as I have my worktable finished I am going to make a couple for gifts. Thanks!

[NickRowan]

Thank you! Be sure to upload pictures when you're finished, I'd love to see them :)

[Swansong]

That looks beautiful! I've seen camp chairs that fit together similarly and they're really easy to take apart and set up :)

[NickRowan]

Thank you! Yeah, it's a very similar design. They're super light too! :)