How to Make a Folding Guitar Stand

In my old office, I had my guitars hanging on the wall. In the new house, I didn’t want to lose that wall space so I wanted to make a guitar stand that was functional and portable.

I started designing the stand in Illustrator so that I could get an idea of how big each piece needed to be.  The sizing and geometry is important because I wanted the stand to hit hard stops when it was unfolded without having to add any additional fasteners.

Unlike most of my woodworking projects, I used the Illustrator template to make a prototype out of some scrap plywood. I was very happy that I did, because my geometry was all wrong and I would have wasted some expensive hardwood. After a few iterations I had a working model and transferred the new design to some pieces of walnut. I used brass hardware to contrast the dark wood and even had to make a custom latch out of a brass sheet.

I used The Wood Whisperer Thread Taps to tap holes directly into the rotating legs so that I didn’t need to use a nut on the outside. This choice helped keep a minimalistic look to the whole project and lets the beautiful walnut take center stage. I CA glued thin strips of EVA foam to the surfaces that would touch the guitar to prevent scratching and I finished the whole thing with two coats of Danish oil.

This stand is sturdy and elegant enough to show off my favorite vintage guitars and will add a custom touch to my new music room!

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