Workbench Surface

[Rabbitz]

Hi Guys and Gals,

I finally got time to make a hole in the garage, errr Lutherie Workshop and have cobbled together a work surface. I had to use up half of my birthday to get the time...

The top is particle board so will need a covering. It seems in most visuals of Luthiers at work there is a cloth covering over the bench - to protect delicate timbers I suppose.

What types of coverings are in use in the workshops and warehouses of the PBG faithful?

[andrewdosborne]

My workbench has a variety of old bath towels for covering (but not when soldering!) also some sort of old lavender herbal heat pack for human neck that works well supporting the guitar neck.

[stan]

hey Andrew, bath towels or old sheets folded on mine as well!

[keloooe]

I built TWO kits on an old freezer, I just put an old towel over it, easy fix! I still use the towel on my new proper workbench anyway, to tell the story of all my builds, repairs and mods. For the neck I use a scrap bit of wood that is cut to support the neck (like the StewMac neck supports!)

[gavinturner]

hey Rabbitz, I have mine covered in carpet offcuts. I have seen a few you tube videos that mention keeping your guitar body on carpet while sanding, so that's the direction I went. Those rubber floor mats are also a good choice, and you can cut some off to put in the bottom of your p90 pickup cavities when you need to .

cheers,
Gav.

[Brendan]

Cheapo yoga / sleep mats from wherever you can find them. Couple of bucks and throw it when it's cactus. I add a $4 offcut from Clark Rubber to give a bit more softness and some flexibility in setup.

[TC1600]

I have the old towel same as most by the sounds, and a cork sanding block to support the neck as necessary, I have some car interior carpet (an offcut from when I retrimmed a parcel shelf, so softer and shorter pile than regular carpet) which I was going to cover the top of the bench with, but somehow it ended up being used to sit my amp on instead of straight on the concrete floor lol

[pablopepper]

I have a stack of old blankets on my wobbly (but stable) old picnic table. Tried using that rubber anti slip matting, but it bit into a freshly polished clear coat, so I only use that for sanding now.

[stan]

I have a stack of old blankets. Tried using that rubber anti slip matting, but it bit into a freshly polished clear coat, so I only use that for sanding now.

have experienced exactly the same thing with those....

[dingobass]

Oooooh... Thanks for the heads up on the anti slip matting.
I have a big roll of the stuff that I was contemplating using...

I will stick to my $10 yoga mats from kmart and the old bath towels...