Body vise

[Andy Bounsall]

Trying to hold a guitar body still to sand the sides or scrape bindings has always been a problem for me. I finally solved that issue by repurposing an unused melamine shelf and a couple of pieces of foam to create a guitar body vice attachment for my workmate. For now it’s just clamped onto the workmate. I’ll create a better attachment mechanism after using it a few times and figuring out the correct positioning for the two halves.

[Clay Schaeffer]

Nice!
Now I know what to do with some oddly shaped MCP shelves I have been tripping over.

[Clay Schaeffer]

Using the workmate as a clamping device for the body holding jig is brilliant! I'm thinking the holes that are drilled in the workmate to hold the swivel pegs could be used to hold dowels attached to the bottom of the jigs and allow them to be installed and taken off quickly. Using a few clamps is no big deal either and may actually allow adjustments to be done easier.

[Andy Bounsall]

...the holes that are drilled in the workmate to hold the swivel pegs could be used to hold dowels attached to the bottom of the jigs and allow them to be installed and taken off quickly.

That’s pretty much what I was thinking Clay. I need to use it a couple of times to figure out the best positioning of the jig halves relative to the workmate holes.

[Dick Hutchings]

Whoa, I love this. Thanks so much for sharing your design.

[Andy Bounsall]

Whoa, I love this. Thanks so much for sharing your design.

You’re welcome. To be clear, the basic idea is not mine. This is just my take on an idea that I saw or read about somewhere else.

[Chuck Tweedy]

that is great!
what type of foam is it?

[Andy Bounsall]

that is great!
what type of foam is it?

Just some medium density foam rubber from a local fabric store. This stuff is about 1.5“ thick but it doesn’t get compressed very much in use so it could probably be thinner and still work fine.

[Michael Lewis]

Very nice idea! You have used some ingenuity to solve a particular problem(sanding) and come away with something even more useful in general repair work. I do have a suggestion to bear in mind; that when clamping a guitar body you can apply clamping pressure along the very edges, both front to back and side to side or end to end. These areas are the safest places to grip the body. Never in the middle of the top or back because you would flex the fragile plates and possibly damage some things. Remember the neck and tail blocks are also very sturdy areas.