What are you putting on your bench top?

[Gerry Hayes Haze Guitars]

I used linoleum for ages. It’s fine as long as you don’t forget and leave a nitro-finished instrument on it for a week (I suspect the same might be true for many yoga mats). Never cared for towels/carpets as they have a habit of collecting debris.

Bought one of the music nomad mats a while back and like it a lot. Planning to get more but would really like it if some enterprising person started selling it by the yard/metre.

[Paul M]

My bench top is oiled MDF. I’m leaning towards just using that with no buffer. There’s something that feels weird about not putting something down but I can see that all the other options have flaws.

One thing I learned from Sergei Dejonge was taking a really stiff scraper (he makes them out of bimetal automatic hacksaw blades) and running it over your bench top before you work. It is sort of a simultaneous glue bugger detector and destroyer.

Thanks for the thoughts.

[Dale Hyldelund Clipper Guitars: Repair & Restoration]

I have some cheap carpet lining my entire bench which I can replace easily, and directly next to my bench is a Dyson V10 cordless vacuum which makes quick work of all debris. I like it because I have a few jigs with velcro on the bottom and they just stay where you put them, no clamps required.

[Bryan Parris Parris Guitars]

We use the stewmac mats and really like them. I’ve gone through a dozen or so on the five benches in four years. They get kinda yucky from cleaning chemicals I suppose and kinda turn a booger green after a while. lol. But I love the weight and texture of them. Kind wish they were black, but they say the color was intentional. I tried the music nomad ones and they are too thin. Carpet traps little pieces of solder and wire that can scratch the guitar. So for me, butcher block and stewmac mats.

[Peter Morande]

In my personal work, I had used the StewMac Guitar Bench Mat (very yoga mat like) and carpet off cuts.

At Bourgeois, we used off cuts of med. length carpet and had to vacuum and replace them quite often.

[Ian Davlin The Looth Group]

I picked up this habit from my days at Breedlove

• The top of the bench is made with particle board capped with melamine
• 3/4” foam wrapped in flannel just barely big enough to hold a guitar, but too small to put parts or loose sandpaper on.

[Doug Grainger Custom Fretted Instruments]

Bench is plywood. Carpet on top of that, cotton towel or old t-shirt on top of that which gets tossed when all sides are unsafe for nice Instruments.

[Carlos Urquidi Urquidi Guitars]

Bench top is Plywood, then I use a DIY wooden neck jig, Maybe 6″ in height, topped with a anti slip mat like the ones used for the kitchen. @patreon_72919244 Miguel turned me into that material, I like it because you can use it also on top of the instrument to guard against scratches.

[Andrew M McWilliams]

Hello Carlos! I find your bench set up really intriguing and may try to recreate it! Is the jig/workstation fastened down at all or do you just let gravity keep it where it is?

Also wondering what the butt end looks like or if the + is all that makes contact with the bench.

Lastly Im guessing the pole is a light or phone holder?

Thanks in advance!

[Iñaki Font Guitar Tech Caracas]

I use a thick yoga mat and a thick fabric on top,. Cheap easy I wash it every 2 weeks and if it gets ugly i throw it away. I have a brush to keep it clean on a daily basis

[Doc Rathwell]

I use the Hosco workbench mat. They’re pretty cheap, don’t effect any finishes, have a decent weight and two little magnet areas in the far corners (I position the magnets far left and right as I look at an instrument on the mat) to quickly place screws so you don’t lose them during a quick task. I’m pretty happy with them.

Doc

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[Paul M]

that’s pretty nice, have you had glue drips on them? Do they just fall off?

[Doc Rathwell]

I get at drips pretty quickly so I don’t have an issue with them per se…I’m not sure that they’d fall off it they were left to dry however.

Doc

[Paul M]

my question might have outted me as a slob.

[Deleted User]

Either a plush bath mat or a towel. They wash well.

[Doug Proper Guitar Specialist]

I use PU (polyurethane) “leather” desk pads

Here’s the original post I did about them:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLn0l67sgF7/?igsh=b2JiZHh5MWQyN2x2

instagram.com

Guitar Specialist on Instagram: "I Hate Carpet!!! Today's shop tip is brought to you by a question from Grace @guelphguitarrepair. A couple of others have asked about this as well so I thought it would make a good shop tip. Grace asked about the top guard she noticed in the double hammer fretting video I posted. I'll start by repeating, I hate carpet. I used to cover the benches in our old shops with carpet as many of us do to have a soft bed for guitars to rest on while working on them. I've always hated how they trap everything. Wood dust, feet dust, glue, dirt ... you get the idea. No amount of vacuuming can pick up all the fret dust we generate. So when we moved into the new shop with our wonderful new benches I searched for some alternative. I struck gold. I found these "PU leather" desk pads that can be bought pretty inexpensively. They're the perfect softness and thickness to protect the guitar from hard benches. We spend an inordinate amount of time and effort protecting our customer's guitars from us. As soon as we got some for the benchtops I realized they were also perfect for lots of other uses. They're easy to cut into any shape and make perfect top guards for guitars. We call them guitar bibs in our shop. They're great to protect guitars during fretwork, bridge work, at the electronics bench from spitting solder shooting where you dont want it. I even save the little pieces to protect pegheads from a runaway nut file. They even make great protectors for clamping cauls. They're better than suede because that stuff still picks up all sorts of nasty stuff that can scratch up a customer guitar. They wipe perfectly clean with a little soap and water and dry in seconds. If you're not choosy about the color you can get them for less than 10 bucks, sometimes a lot less. A really huge one can often be found for 20 bucks or less and you can make lots of bibs out of them. Try it out and let's get the carpet off our benches! 🙃 #guitarspecialist #guitarrepair #guitarrepairshop #guitartech #luthier #luthiersofinstagram #whatsonyourbench #guitar #fretwork #fendermustang #frets #techtips #shoptips"

330 likes, 47 comments - guitarspecialistinc on February 22, 2021: "I Hate Carpet!!! Today's shop tip is brought to you by a question from Grace @guelphguitarrepair. A couple of others have asked about this as well so I thought it … Continue reading

[Jason Anderson Northwest Music]

I have about 5 of these ultra-large desk mats that cover much of the work surface: https://www.amazon.com/YSAGi-Leather-Protector-Non-Slip-Waterproof/dp/B0BMTSL48B/ref=sr_1_7?sr=8-7

For more delicate items, I also use a microfiber padded dish drying mat. Similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/Microfiber-Absorbent-Drainer-Countertops-Draining/dp/B0BRP2MKFV/ref=sr_1_6?sr=8-6

So far, no chemical reactions on painted surfaces from either product. Plus, they’re cheap enough I can replace them as often as needed.

[Karl Borum – Borum Acoustics]

I used the rubber waffle weave anti-slip mats until I noticed they left residue on bare wood and marked up lacquer. I used felt for a while but its splinter loving so nix that. Currently I’m using the SM pad with super cheap bath towels on top. The bath towels are cheap enough (buy them in sets on closeout) to rip into “grease rags” after a build or two. I’ll even lay the towels on the radius dish when carving braces over the dish.