What a unique and fun way to display your knick knacks.  This DIY guitar shelf is a one-of-a-kind project.  If you don’t have a guitar look through the want ads, craigslist, or a thrift store.  It doesn’t need to be in perfect shape.  Feel free to give it a coat of paint and stencil on a design.  Thanks Budget Girl for the idea.

How to Make a Guitar Shelf

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Tools & Materials:

• jigsaw
• electric sander
• sand paper (for the sander AND regular fine-grit paper)
• polyurethane or polycrylic
• acrylic paint (3 kinds)
• paint brushes
• wood filler
• wood glue
• 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick wood (2 pieces or 1 piece to cut–we used this and cut it up)
• clamps (didn’t have these–really could have used them…maybe something like this?)
• decorative guitar picks (12)
• string (yo-yo string is the closest I can find online to what we used. It was only necessary because we were inexperienced with a jigsaw and wanted to cover up our sloppy cutting job)
• Elmer’s tacky glue
• super glue

Step 01: Here’s Big Mistake #1 (yes, already): The first thing we SHOULD have done was remove all of the screws and tuning pieces from the headstock. But we didn’t because we weren’t thinking. Do this first and save yourself the heartache of losing your tuning pieces. The vibrations from the jigsaw and sander were enough to shake the screws right out of place and I did wind up losing some tuning pieces.

Step 02: The first thing we actually did was outline where we wanted to cut the guitar. We outlined about 1/2 an inch inward. In hindsight, we should have gone in another half an inch or so. We didn’t realize there were studs and stuff inside the guitar, which caused a problem. Live and learn.

Step 03: One the center is cut out, start sanding down the rough edges where you cut. Once you’re satisfied that you won’t cut yourself on sharp edges and splinters, start removing the finish from the guitar.

You can actually stop here and leave the wood bare (in which case, move on to Step 5 and then jump down to Step 8), but I really wanted to paint it.

Step 04: The areas where the guitar’s body curves inward were difficult to sand with the tool, so we did those by hand. We also worked a bit more on some edges we couldn’t get with the sander.

Step 05: While we still had the extension cord plugged in, we took the wood plaque that I wanted to use as a shelf and Brittni measured and drew on it for me. Then we cut it. We made sure they fit in the guitar before setting them aside.

Here’s Big Mistake #2: One of the pieces wouldn’t go in (the top shelf) because of the way the guitar curves, so we cut it in half with the intent of putting it back together inside the guitar. If I could do it again, I would have cut the edges off instead of cutting it through the middle. That way, it would be less obvious.

Step 06: Once the guitar was sufficiently sanded, I wiped it down so I could paint it. I painted the inside King’s Gold (I needed two bottles), the outside Beachcomber Beige (one bottle), and the neck Black (half of a bottle). All are Apple Barrel and you can get each of them for less than $1 at Wal-Mart.

Step 07: After the last coat of paint, we let it dry overnight. I then added another coat of beige to the back of the guitar, let it dry, and then Brittni sprayed the whole thing down with polyurethane.

Images from Budget Girl.

For full instructions visit Budget Girl.