Anyone made their own arm rest?

[joeguam]

Got any info? Build pictures? Advice? Lessons learned? Threads? YouTube videos?

I searched quite a bit but couldn’t find anything substantial or of effective quality. To clarify, I’m referring to the piece that’s added to the top of the guitar and not a bevel that’s built into the guitar.

[Jcamp]

I think I’ve seen some for sale after market. If you really want to build you own you can decide where you want it in the curve of your guitar. Use a piece of paper and trace the outside edge of your guitar for that section. Design it as wide as you want it. Then find you a piece of wood around a 1/4 inch thick and cut it out. You could use a router or rasp to put the desired edge on it then hand sand and finish.

[yellowesty]

I built an arm rest a few years ago to easy playing a guitar that had a fairly sharp edge on the top. I made it pretty much as Jcamp described, by tracing the guitar edge and cutting a piece of walnut that, when finished, was about ⅜" thick, about ½" wide, and about 6" long. I used a roundover bit in my router to fully ease the edge, so it was a gentle as it could be at ⅜" thick. I attached it to the face of the guitar with double-sided tape.

I was not particularly happy with the result and removed it after a couple of weeks. It made the guitar bulkier and, while it prevented the crease in my arm, it wasn't significantly more comfortable. If I were to make another arm rest, I would use a piece of wood ¾" thick and rout out the backside to fit "around the corner," with no more than 3/16" protrusion on either the top or the side of the guitar.

[joeguam]

Thanks for the replies.

@yellowesty, do you have a visual of how you described you’d do it if you were to make another one?

[yellowesty]

No visual -- but visualize this: a piece of ½" x ½" angle iron with 3/16" thick sides that's bent so that it conforms to the curve of the lower bout where you want the arm rest. Then the sharp point at the outside corner of the angle iron would be rounded as much as possible without breaking through to the interior of the angle. A ⅜" radius might be suitable.

The reason for this approach is that the curve possible with an arm rest that sits only on top of the guitar is not adequate to effectively soften the feel unless it is quite thick. And that may make the guitar itself feel uncomfortably thick/deep. YMMV.

In any case, I'm not going to make another one.

[BT55]

OR you can look into the growing number of guitars available with built in armrests

[Quickstep192]

Just throwing this out there...

I think if I were going to make an armrest, I’d form it out of a chunk of dense foam and wrap it in leather.

[fazool]

I made one from The Tree. I simply copied the profile of my other ones.

Honestly, they are so afforable your best bet is to buy one from John Pearse directly. super cheap.

I only made one of my own since they don't have this particular piece of wood.