How to DIY a Home Studio

[Warmart]

Just when I think I've been blown away, I get vacuumed up and blown away again! You are the man!

 

[93studiolite]

Very nice job with the shelves. I have a quick question though, Where did you find the sapele? I’ve been doing some amateur wood working around the house and would love to be able to find something other than pine, oak and poplar. I made an amp stand out of some left over pine and just painted it black. Some sapele would’ve look pretty sweet.

 

[DougUSMC]

Very nice job with the shelves. I have a quick question though, Where did you find the sapele? I’ve been doing some amateur wood working around the house and would love to be able to find something other than pine, oak and poplar. I made an amp stand out of some left over pine and just painted it black. Some sapele would’ve look pretty sweet.

Hey, man. Sapele is actually the "cheap and easy mahogany". There are several varieties of the wood species, and this is the most "affordable". Personally, I'm cool w/that because I love working with it and it has great patterns when finished naturally. Around me there are a couple of hardwood shops, and TBH I can get the woods pictured above anywhere. None of them are particularly hard to come by. That pic has some maple, sapele, cedar and walnut (with prices increasing as you read those 4). You won't find any of those (real wood) at Lowes or Home Depot, you have to go to a hardwood store.

If you get your hands on some, you'll need to get it finished. Most hardwood is sold rough cut, and it really IS that. I'd say it took me longer to prep that wood than it did to size, cut, biscuit, and glue up the shelf. If you don't have access to a shop, many places that sell it will plane and join it, but it will really impact the price.

Your question was actually great timing, b/c I made a run this morning to pick up the rest of the material I needed to finish the projects for the room. Here's my most recent load:

That's a LOT of sapele (170 bf) and maple (60), S3S. The "S3S" is key.

When you look at a piece of material, it has 6 sides: top, bottom, left, right, and two ends. When you buy rough cut, it has no sides cleaned up, or "surfaced". In order to build, you need 90 degree corners, parallel top and bottom, the correct thickness, width, etc. All of the pieces that were glued up into that shelf were S6S: top and bottom perfectly planed to 3/4" and parallel. left and right edge joined,parallel, and 90 degrees to the top and bottom. Both ends cut to length, parallel, and 90 degrees to the faces. Doing all of that prep work takes TIME, and a lot of expensive equipment that most DIYers don't have.

That pile of wood you see is S3S: Top and bottom perfectly planed to 3/4", one edge joined. I can now determine how I want to use the pieces in my builds. I'll run it across a tablesaw to get the width I need (S4S), then clean up one end (S5S), and the other (S6S). Getting that pile to that state where it's all S3S is a couple of hours of work.

Why did I go through all of that explanation? Because I just want to point out that if you call shops, you need to make sure you order the right stuff. If you tell them you want 20 bf of sapele, it'll be rough all around. Oh, and board feet (bf) aren't linear feet (lf). If you buy a 2x4 that's 8' long, that's only 2ish bf.
One 12" wide, 12" long board that's 1" thick is 1 bf (1' x 1' x 1"). The same board that's only 6" wide is 0.5 bf. Get it? Oh, and rough lumber isn't measured by inches for thickness, it's measured by quarters. A board that's about 1" thick is 4/4 (pronounced "four quarter"). 1.5" thick is 6/4, 2" thick is 8/4, 3" thick is 12/4, etc. BTW: that 12" wide by 12" long board that's 12/4 is now 3 bf, b/c it's 1x1x3. Each of my boards that are planed to 3/4" started live as 4/4 stock. 4/4 lumber will always (usually) make you a 3/4" thick finished board, but almost NEVER make you a 1" thick one. If you need 1" thick finished material, you need to start with 6/4.
Starting to see why PRS guitars, made with solid wood, get so expensive??

Having them S4S the wood is necessary, but makes the prices higher. I'm trying to remember correctly, but I think that Sapele was ~ $4.50 per board foot rough, but around $7 if it's S4S?

Phew, this is turning into a lecture, so I'm going to stop. Let me know if I can help clear anything else up though, and thanks for the props!

 

[93studiolite]

That was an excellent explanation. All of which I didn’t realize or know before hand, so thank you very much! I’m going to print out that post for future reference.

I have a table saw, planer, compound miter saw and a few other tools. My next purchase will be a biscuit joiner. Currently I have some rough cut white oak and cypress. I also have one piece of rough cut black walnut, but I am unsure how much board feet I actually have.

I’ll have to look around and see if I can find a local lumber yard where I can get some different species.

You did some amazing work in that room. I’m very jealous of it. Nice job man.

 

[DougUSMC]

That was an excellent explanation. All of which I didn’t realize or know before hand, so thank you very much! I’m going to print out that post for future reference.

I have a table saw, planer, compound miter saw and a few other tools. My next purchase will be a biscuit joiner. Currently I have some rough cut white oak and cypress. I also have one piece of rough cut black walnut, but I am unsure how much board feet I actually have.

I’ll have to look around and see if I can find a local lumber yard where I can get some different species.

You did some amazing work in that room. I’m very jealous of it. Nice job man.

It sounds like you have a ton of what you need. If you're not worried about super tight tolerances, the planer can be used on both faces. Uber-purists will tell you that you should use the joiner on the first face, then a planer on the second, but I don't think that's always true. There's been many a time when I've alternated faces on passes through the planer, then used the joiner on the short edge before using a table saw to true up the last.

For the record, I don't own all of the big machines. There's a "new thing" called Maker Spaces. I put that in quotes b/c I don't know how long they've been around, they're new to me. Basically, they have a bunch of workshops (woodworking, blacksmithing, metalworking, 3d printing, CNC, etc), varying by location. You sign up for a membership, take classes to learn how to use the equipment (or check out on it), then pay to use their stuff. I generally grab a bunch of lumber, then head over to one here to get everything S4S. I'll do a lot of the prep there, then come home (usually) for the final assembly.

Speaking of: Two shelves done. Yesterdays is done, the second is glued up. Tomorrow I'll take the belt sander to both, then orbital. Then cut the ends to finish length and see how the whole thing comes together.

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Doug...This journey has been great!!! Thank you.
And did I mention...Nice Job!!!

 

[DougUSMC]

Another project checked off today, the shelves are done!

After unclamping the second shelf, there was about 2 hours of sanding. First I sanded all the glue off, all the joints even, and a nice level top with the belt sander. That was about the first hour, working across all 4 faces with 80 grit. Then I took out the orbital sander, and removed the scuffs and ugly spots with 110 grit. One last time over everything with 220, and it was time to seal them.

I used a Krylon spray lacquer, which I've used on other projects. It's not as good quality as say what we guitarists get from Stew Mac, but it's a good even spray. I think it's faster, more durable, and gives a "speckled, almost satin look" that I prefer on things like this. It's also easier to get local, which is a plus. I was spraying the first board while finishing sanding the second. I can get a coat every 15 minutes, which makes it not that bad to get 2 coats on each of the 4 sides.

First, here's the second shelf (left) getting ready to be sprayed, where the first shelf (right) has its second coat applied. You can see that it darkens it up just a little, while really bringing out the grain:

Next, both shelves, two coats. I could go more, sanding in between, but this is more about protecting the wood than anything. These will be used shelves, so the finish isn't as important. I picked the side of each that I preferred, and made that the visible, then I picked my favorite of those two, and made it the top. It's really too high to see where it's going, but if I ever use it in a different place that may matter. I prefer the movement in the one on the left, so that ended up being the top.

In the garage, final assembly. It was pretty simple with these legs: set it up, sharpie through the pre-drilled hole in the steel legs, pre-drill, screw. You can't tell scale in this picture, but that's 24" by 58", by almost 18" tall.

Brought it downstairs, put it up on the safes:

Then, if you look above, you can see that the tops of the two safes are no longer even. The difference is the height of the casters that the larger one is on. The shelf was made modular so it can come down, the safe can be rolled out of the way, and the door opened. That door is the secondary entrance to the utility room. It's never been opened in the 6-7 years we've been here, but may be in the future.

Simple solution: Take a piece of scrap wood that's 24" long, 3/4" square, and slide it under one side of the shelving. It's just sitting there, keeping it level, unattached. Again, if I ever put this somewhere else, that scrap piece isn't permanent:

Finally, checking storage capacity with a 5 y/o:

The shelves look tiny in the pics, until you see how large she is. For scale perspective, I think I could put 4 full sized heads on the top shelf, with room to spare. The bottom shelf will MORE than fit my entire pedal collection, shoulder straps, strings, etc.

Pretty psyched with how this came out. Now I have to get motivated to take the high shelves down, sand each, spray them, and get them all back up...

 

[DougUSMC]

Making great progress, I started moving things into the room. Some may stay, some will definitely go. I dig the carpet, but it looks a little drab in here, so it may go back up into my office. The table seems to be a good fit, but the sofa has to go. It doesn't match anything, and it's way too big. I planned for a 6' in here, and that 8' definitely doesn't work.

Other than that, the layout seems to be working. I'm thinking the heads will move to the large shelf, and the smaller will be repurposed for pedals. The high shelves need to be lacquered, that didn't happen today b/c I didn't have enough. I need to start on the case this weekend, and hopefully the desk soon after. Definitely coming together...

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Looking really good Doug

 

[kipkohl]

Man, that is 10/10! What a great place to hang out and jam out.

 

[DougUSMC]

Thanks everyone!!

Making progress on that lacquering. Some of the shelves and the built-in trim.

 

[DougUSMC]

I was given some time on this most special of days to play a bit, so trim went back up and the lacquered shelves are going back up. This time they're "really" getting installed, screwed to the brackets, and with the pieces that connect them to each other. The screws and connectors are largely cosmetic, but I LOVE the way they're looking.
Just working my way around the room, putting them up as they're ready and dried:

The trim back up on the shelves, which I decided was a good place for the pedals to start going. The trim matches like they were built at the same time, and I'm thinking I need a box or step on this shelf for the pedals...

 

[bodia]

I was given some time on this most special of days to play a bit, so trim went back up and the lacquered shelves are going back up. This time they're "really" getting installed, screwed to the brackets, and with the pieces that connect them to each other. The screws and connectors are largely cosmetic, but I LOVE the way they're looking.
Just working my way around the room, putting them up as they're ready and dried:

The trim back up on the shelves, which I decided was a good place for the pedals to start going. The trim matches like they were built at the same time, and I'm thinking I need a box or step on this shelf for the pedals...

Dude, you’re my hero!

 

[ViperDoc]

THIS IS AWESOME.

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Looking awesome, Doug...Love the shelves. You could sleep up there!!!

 

[RickP]

Yes sir, I have live in many houses that could hold a candle to that space! Incredible woodworking skills too. I enjoyed the wood measurement primer you gave a page or so back. See? You can learn something on a forum!

 

[DougUSMC]

Lol, thanks everyone!! Finished the shelves yesterday, I think they're really bringing in the rustic feel:

Another look at the final set of shelves, installed. Again, they're not as crooked and weird as they look, that's my terrible panorama picture taking skills. The next pic will show how dead straight and level they are:

Lastly, moving the occupants back to their new home:

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Your basement is nicer than my entire home.

 

[DougUSMC]

Your basement is nicer than my entire home.

Lol, thanks, but it's really just paint, wallpaper, and a bunch of elbow grease!

 

[Tucson Thump]

Lol, thanks, but it's really just paint, wallpaper, and a bunch of elbow grease!

You could put up a sign that says "Others Envy This Space"