What to consider when building a luthier workbench?

[Jack Camino]

Hello . I will appreciate your help in this subject: I am getting closer on starting to build my own guitar. Actually, it will take a few more months because I need to start by building a luthier workbench for building classical/acoustic guitars so, I would like your feedback about sizes and dimensions and vises and even species of wood you know are the right and how to determine it, etc.
At this moment for budget and because until I have my own feedback I won't build a Roubó, yet.
I've done some research and I've gathered at least 3 ways to determine the height of a workbench and the problem I found on it is that it would range from 31" to 35"; depending if I consider the knuckle of my pinky 31", the down-turned palm 33" or 7" below elbow 35.25". I am 5'6", then, which height between 31 or 35.25 or different that that should I choose and why? Also, I am thinking on the dimensions of the top to be 21" by 72"; is it too narrow or too short?
About the vises, I would like to build a wagon vise but, the only reason is just because I like how it looks; I actually don't know if a vise like the wagon would be useful or not. What kind of vises do you use and when? Also, do you have a separate bench or with just one is enough, how about the height of this other bench, how tall is it?
Do you work with holdfasts and/or benchdogs?
Also, what is your opinion about casters, I've found that many say they don't like casters when they are building furniture. Now, I believe lutherie is something different than ebenisterie so, in this case would it be OK to have casters or would it still be wrong?
Thanks.
Jack

[Charlie Schultz]

"It depends". There are a lot of variables here. I'm about your height, my bench is 34" high (wrist high for me), 24" deep and 90" long. If I had it to do over, I'd make it another 3" deeper. I have a woodworker's vise on one end. The bench is long enough that I can have a CG workboard set up at the far end pretty much all the time. I also have a "guitar repair vise" aka carver's vise, and that sits up another 10". It's good for working on frets and stuff, but too high for me to do anything that requires a lot of leverage. The bench itself is simply a bunch of pine 2x4s glued together sideways, so it's about 3.5" thick, nice and sturdy. When I'm bending sides, I clamp a heat pipe to the top of the bench and that works out to be a good height too.

I spent a couple weeks making a guitar with William Cumpiano, his main bench was carpeted. He had a couple other benches/tables that just had a laminate covering and holes for the "repair vise" to be mounted. In fact he had various side profiles marked on these which was kind of handy.

[Jack Camino]

Thanks Charlie, your answer is helping me a lot to decide. If you had to do it over again but, only for planing, you would still make it 34" high?

[Charlie Schultz]

Hi Jack, I don't think I would change the height at all.

[Jack Camino]

Great!!

[Arnt Rian]

The type of work bench you need depends a lot on how you work. If you plan to use bench planes a lot, a low, heavy bench such a traditional Scandinavian planing bench is great, for detail work a higher bench is better. Same with the table surface; I prefer a solid hardwood surface for general woodworking, but a smooth, white HPL surface is better for other things (like anything involving water). Some say they like "disposable" tabletops of plywood or MDF, that they can screw, drill and saw into without worry, and then change them out when they become too chewed up. I do most of those things on my low cost (IKEA!) 40mm solid beech tops, but I fill unwanted holes or dings with leftover epoxy, re-level, wipe on another coat of Danish oil, and I'm good to go.

I'm not sure what some of those benches or vises you mention are, if they are aimed at more general cabinet making, they will probably be of limited use for instrument making. I prefer different benches for different tasks. My main one is an island bench that is large enough for different tasks to be going on on different sides simultaneously, wall mounted benches are for specific tasks, glue-ups, plans, parts etc. My most frequently used vises are a gunstock vise and a guitar body vise, but i have several others that are better for some things.

I recently did a "shop tour" with pictures of most of this stuff, I'm going to post it in a separate thread (some of you have probably seen it elsewhere, but what the heck...)

[Jack Camino]

hi Arnt. I don't plan on using bench planes a lot, just what is needed in lutherie but, I want to consider this precise task like when planing a soundboard or a back when deciding the height. When you plane the tops and backs, do you go to a lower bench? what is the difference on height comparing the bench where you plane and the bench where you have the gunstock vise? Any experience whit casters? Thanks.

[Fred Battershell]

Quite some time ago, Taunton Press published "The Workbench" book. Many different types and styles are covered including several benches designed and used by some famous,well known luthiers. Perhaps your local library has a copy or can get it for you via inter-library loan.
Good luck with your quest!
Fred

[Charlie Schultz]

Fred, please note that we require the use of real (first & last) names on your registration- please PM me or one of the moderators with your name and we will correct your registration. Thank you!

[Clay Schaeffer]

If you are only going to have one bench, you may want to make it a height that is comfortable to work at both standing and sitting. For me this is between 32 to 34 inches high. It varies a little depending on the type of chair or stool you prefer.
A variation on the disposable top idea is to build a bench with a heavy hardwood top, but have additional work surfaces that can be placed on it to provide a better surface for different tasks.

[Allan Mackay]

When I was researching workbenches I came across this.

http://www.michelinie.com/luthiersbench.html

[Simon Magennis]

Hi,

to be honest I think spending time think about a "luthiers workbench" is a total waste of time until you have built a good number of instruments. If you already have some tools and some sort of workbench or a stable kitchen table, just go ahead and build.

Once you have some experience you can build your ideal bench if you plan to continue. If you want to do everything efficiently and comfortably you need a number of different workbenches as each job has its specific requirements. You can't really say what you need until you've done it a bit.

The "luthiers" workbench in Allen"s post is smallish very nice version of the standard European woodworkers bench. You can probably get a made in Indonesia/Malasia version for about $140-$180 new in any big box do-it-youself store worldwide. I got one in Germany in that price range. It has two decent vises, one on the end and one on the side, and little cupboard underneath. The vises are nothing special but the work well. Height is generic works ok for lots of things. I do other stuff on the dining table, protecting it with a plywood board if necessary.

Now, if you get a kick out of building benches, that is a different story. There a bunch of bench building books (some mentioned already) and loads of on-line info, and there are always benches of every size shape and price for sale that you could study.