2010-02-01

Home-Made Guitar Work Mat

I made a guitar work mat for about $6 and ten minutes' work. It works perfectly, so I thought I'd share it here.


From Mat

While I was at the grocery store one day, I saw a small selection of shelf/drawer liners. They had a rubber webbing liner, and a self-adhesive cork liner. I bought one of each, I think the cork was $4 and the rubber was $2.




The rubber roll was 12" x 5', and the cork roll was 12" by 4'. 12" is too narrow, so I used two rows of each. I laid the rubber down in two 2' rows, then adhered the cork to it in two perpendicular rows, so that each side would hold the other side together. So far it's been fine, but if the layers start to separate I plan to seal around the edges with tape, probably electrical tape.


This picture shows how the seams on each layer run perpendicular. Half of the mat is rolled up so you can see the cork side against the rubber side.


Advantages:
  • Rubber bottom provides traction on all surfaces -- I have a glass work table and it's rock solid.
  • Cork top provides good traction for your guitar body, but will not mar or scuff the finish in any way.
  • Both the cork and the rubber provide some level of impact protection; a regular cloth doesn't protect your guitar from the hard surface underneath, while the rubber and cork will.
  • Rolls up for easy storage.
  • Costs less than a store-bought guitar work mat, which will probably not have the nice non-skid surface. Cheap & easy to replace if it gets lost or damaged.
If you try this out yourself, please let me know in the comments how it worked out for you!