Guitar Stand (Grateful Dead Themed)

Instructions

We used the Shaper Origin to cut a template for the top and legs from inexpensive low-grade plywood, and then a flush cut router bit to manufacture the (4) legs and (2) tops needed for the double thick build. In case you're wondering, it's PLENTY rigid, no further bracing was needed for the 36" span of the top and bottom pieces. If you create a 8" to 10" wide by 4' long shaper tape board (4 to 6 rows) you can cut the legs and the tops without having tape on your actual workpieces and reuse the tape for the whole project. Just press the cut piece tight to the tape board with the graphic oriented sideways, it'll just see the tape on the furthest cuts. We assembled the final build using 1/2" delrin rod dowel. This was problematic as the synthetic dowel material is "too perfect". The dowel fits the 1/2" holes so well that the glue has to escape between the layers of plywood. It took considerable force and coaxing to tighten up our dowel joints, and the glue was coming through any void it could find. If I did it again I would score the side of the dowels to allow pressure release. I didn't cut the dowel holes with the shaper (hence .svgs are sans dowel holes) because we had to place/locate the bottom pieces at the end to accommodate guitar geometry. We just didn't know where they would ultimately land. We made the two inlays 8" tall, and had to "trick" the Shaper for a couple of spots telling it the 1/16" bit had a .05" diameter so it would pass through tight spots. Don't cut the inlays too deep, some of the very fine "islanded" features chip away easier the taller they get (e.g. - white spots in skelton pelvis and skull). In the end we sealed it with a spar urethane which nicely obscured the unavoidable discoloration spots around the inlays from clear filling them.