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Lean-Back CBG Rack Design

First off, I'm still a newbie 'round here and not sure if this should be a blog post instead. This is my first time starting a 'discussion'. I figure it's easier to reply here if someone has a question or new idea. So anyway...

I'm a tinkerer. I can't help it. I built one of the PVC racks that was posted here where the guitars sit on top of a dual rail with the necks hanging down. It worked great, but after a few months I wanted to try something different. Yesterday I was looking at it and thought, hey I could convert that to a leaning rack like 1 of those travel guitar cases. So today I went at it. I'm sooooo happy with it! Thought I'd share in case it helps someone else. If you build one, you don't have to follow my dimensions exactly. Do what's right for your needs, tweak it, make it better... But to get you started, here's the design I used.

Notice the front lower rail is higher than the back lower rail (only by 1 inch), but this makes the guitars lean back against the top rail. This is key! The gap between the 2 bottom rails allows your neck through tail to hang down.

At first I did a quick assembly without the elevated sides (they look like arms on a chair). It worked great, but I decided to put the sides on to prevent a cbg domino slide onto the floor if my crazy dogs rammed into it while wrestling.

The whole thing's made from 1/2" PVC. I inserted a 1/2" aluminum tube inside the front lower rail which bears all the weight to keep it from bowing. Works really well & keeps it light. I tried a dowel, but it didn't stop the bowing.

I ended up with a lot of extra PVC vs where I started from with my original hang down rack. Like I said, I liked that design, but I'm a tinkerer and wanted to mix it up. I have a feeling a lot of people around here are tinkerers too! :)

Hope this helps!

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Permalink Reply by Janis Wilson Hughes on April 19, 2016 at 10:48am

It's funny, my dad claims to like the smell of acetone, but not me. I have some not so fond subconscious associations to a particularly tortuous Organic Chemistry lab I took yeeeeaaars ago whenever I smell acetone. But really, it's a very useful solvent.

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on April 16, 2016 at 10:16am

practical design . good stuff . ;-)

(almost said nice rack too ) but im a lil younger , so prolly wouldnt get away with it. .

nice bongos tho ;-}

:-o

wait .. ahhh .. (runs away )

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Permalink Reply by Janis Wilson Hughes on April 16, 2016 at 11:06am

Hahah, thanks Pick! :D

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Permalink Reply by Greg Thompson on April 16, 2016 at 1:52pm

Cool!

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Permalink Reply by Frank Carr on April 17, 2016 at 2:13am

I looked at the Home Depot site and it looks like it would be possible to build this design using copper pipes. It would be pricey though as compared to PVC and it would probably be heavy (not necessarily a bad thing for a guitar stand). I guess you could blend copper, PVC and even wood to get an interesting look.

For painting a PVC pipe creation, it looks like the way to go is Krylon Fusion Paint for Plastics. Most paints won't stick well to PVC, BTW.

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Permalink Reply by Janis Wilson Hughes on April 17, 2016 at 10:46am

Frank I agree copper pipe would look great! It might be worth the bucks if it brings you joy for years using it, ya know? I have a good bit of pipe and conduit around that I got for other purposes and haven't used. I'd have to get fittings though. Maybe at some point...

I looked into paint too and found the same answer. I think I'm just gonna paint the PVC. I may add some dowels to separate the necks as suggested.

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Permalink Reply by Janis Wilson Hughes on April 17, 2016 at 11:10am

Now that I have it worked out I'd love to make one from, um, classier materials at some point for sure! I hope you'll share pictures with me if you make a wooden one. I look forward to seeing the design. I'm sure I'll learn a few things from it.

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Permalink Reply by Janis Wilson Hughes on April 18, 2016 at 12:44pm

That's awesome!

You've got me digging into translating this into a copper, conduit, or dowel version. I'd love to use up the spare 'piping' I have laying around instead of buying new materials. We'll see. I'll keep you posted. In the mean time I've got 2 gitty builds in progress. Gonna take a bit to finish them.

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Permalink Reply by Bama Hound on April 19, 2016 at 10:21am

When you said copper, it got me to looking at doing a patina on copper. you tube is full of ways to make some great (to my eye anyway) different looks from green to blue to fire and ice. I wall hang my gits,but I am just about to build one of Janis' guitar racks,even if I don't do anything but hang laundry on it. (;-D)

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Permalink Reply by Janis Wilson Hughes on April 19, 2016 at 10:32am

Try it, you'll like it! ;D

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Permalink Reply by Janis Wilson Hughes on April 19, 2016 at 10:30am

Oh yeah! Way & Hound, you guys got my wheels turning! I'm gonna do some sort of industrial/steampunk metal version. I really want to use up my conduit, Trouble is only fittings I see online that'll work are those Kee Klamps (I think that's what they're called) that are crushingly expensive. Maybe a trip to Lowe's will yield a different solution. If not, I'll probably go copper with painted PVC fittings.

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Permalink Reply by Janis Wilson Hughes on April 20, 2016 at 3:30am

Can I use the copper fittings just as press fittings or do I have to sweat them? I was assuming they need to be sweated to hold (I know it's bad to assume things). That's the only reason I was thinking of using PVC fittings with the copper. All copper would clearly look better...