New Fabric!

Here's an updated picture of a completed rack with the new Velour we are using!

Thanks to Kauer Guitars for the loaner guitars for this picture!

Much over due update

Quickie update, something new. Our racks will all feature a textured velour now that is the same material that most hardshell cases are lined with. We're excited, should have a bunch of new pictures here in a few days!

2tier Rack In Use...

We got these pictures from one of our customers of how his 2Tier Case Rack worked out for him. All of us here at DRS and our customer couldn't be more pleased!

First a picture of what he was working with... a closet PACKED with cases, guitars, ect.

Just exactly how much stuff was sitting in that closet!

2Tier rack assembled, moved into the closet and loaded up.

There we go! How cool is that!

When one is not enough

Hello everyone. Time for some new updates! First, at some customers requests we've designed a modified version of our Racks for storing instrument cases. We all know what a major pain storing a dozen or so cases can be so we came up with a solution. Using the same sides as our instrument racks, the case rack has a different back. Instead of a fixed wood "comb" the back is slotted and uses plastic rods that can be slid left to right and then locked into place. This allows for any dimension case and provides a space between each case. The best thing is because of this, you can remove one case at a time and the entire stack doesn't fall over.

We also had a request to make a 2 level high case rack. So we mocked one up in the shop yesterday with a guitar rack on top. This can be configured for case OR instrument racks. The best part is this entire two level rack will fit inside of most closets (and will clear the closet doors).

Plus it just looks awesome! Check back in a couple days to see the full production versions.

this just in...

Today we got the first batch of Solid Rustic Alder Racks back from the finisher. HAD to snap a picture!

always improving

We're perfectionists around here and there had been an issue that's been bugging us for a while. Even though you can't see the bottom OF the bottom once the rack is assembled, the seam wasn't as clean as we'd like. Well a friday brain storming session came up with this answer and now the felt on each rack is sewn and then slipped (pulled really) over the bottom leaving a perfect seam. Huzzah!

May fever!

Its a nice sunny day to roll some stuff out of the spray booth...

First here is a good shot of our different material options. L-R: Mahogany, Oak, Walnut, Cherry and Maple

Performer18 in Walnut

Lastly some snap shots of the racks we custom stained for Nick Greer.

Rustic Alder...

So every once in a while we'll hear about something interesting through the grapevine... this time it was one of our lumber suppliers. Turns out they had glued up and surfaced a large order of Rustic (aka Knotty) Alder and while they were doing it the customer went out of business.

So they called us and asked if we were interested. Turns out they glued them to the exact size we needed and frankly Rustic Alder is pretty much our favorite wood out there. I'll be honest, we are wood FANATICS and the grain, knots and other "imperfections" in Rustic Alder is right up our alley. Well it came in today from Eugene Oregon so we wasted no time cranking out a set of sides.





We were able to get enough planks to do 25 racks. Check it out in our Web Specials

Roll Out....

Something new we cooked up today. This is a super rough mock up but it conveys the idea. Same pinned system as our Pedal Display Rack but with a roll out shelf instead. This is ideal for people who already have pedal boards and just need a place to store them or lots of cables and miscellaneous items. Production models would match our racks and would have a black shelf and black drawer slides.

Oak!

Snapped a picture of a set of racks we custom stained for Nick Greer of Greer Amps. Its one of the few times that Oak makes me drool....

Assembly Guide!

Alright time for an update... took pictures as an assembly guide and I took some pictures of the new cherry racks.

First, this picture. I wanted to show you WHY I build these the way I do and how strong they are. Remember these are just screwed together, no glue.
We didn't have a dirt bike to park on top so that'll have to do!

OK- assembly guide. Honestly, you pretty much can't screw this up but here goes.
This is what each kit will contain. 2 sides, 2 bottoms, a top, a brace, 16 screws and cover caps.
I like to start with the "comb". Here you can see the screw hole and its matching boring in the brace.
I suggest running that screw about 2/3rds in. Leave it loose to allow some wiggle room when assembling the rest. Once its all done we can finish it off at the end.
Assembly tip- we run the screws through till they are just poking out. That will help line up the matching pieces.
Run them in. The goal is to sink the screws flush or just below the surface.
The bottoms have a heavy round over on the "inside" of the brace. We bore these off center so that they will only assembly (correctly) one way.
Go ahead and screw those in.
Then just start the other side.

Once the rack is completely assembled tighten the brace completely.
and install the caps!

Thats it. I PROMISE you it took longer for this post to load then it does to assemble the racks. About 5 minutes a rack or less is all it takes.

new racks, new stuff

Pretty busy day... cut out 12 racks, started felting again. Cut Walnut, Rift Sawn Oak and Mahogany. Sent those down to the finisher, Im hoping monday I'll get those plus my Cherry ones back.






OK, so here's something new I drew up.
I dont know how well they show up but there are 4, 30x5mm pins with one in each corner.

The Start of DRS Racks

Hi everyone, some of you may be following my other blog over at Doug Kauer Custom Instruments. If so you've probably seen the roll around rack we built to store guitars in progress.

Well a certain friend of mine on the east coast has been bugging me about doing some racks like my roll around but out of a nicer material. So I kind of put it on the back burner for a while because I wanted to make some improvements and I woke up one morning with some solutions in my head (kind of my MO it seems).

My roll around worked great till you put strap pins on a guitar... then the guitars pivoted on the pins and crashed into each other. Also, it was bulky, heavy and the guitars were to cramped. Good shop rack, not a good personal rack.

My main goal was to build a rack that would assemble with 1 tool, ship in a flat box and look great in the house.

So here's the progression. This is the first rack.



This rack was pretty close to being what I want. That material is a "cherry" melamine we had laid up over procore Plywood (aka 3/4" thick baltic birch ply) that we use for the interiors we do for Invincible Gunsafes. Its extremely strong, the rifle racks we make out of hold up extremely well.

So I made some tweaks, mostly in the spacing again. I wanted to make a variety of different sized racks with spacings for deeper bodies. So wrote some new programs and finalized the spacing. I also had an idea when I woke up that morning for a real space effective rack... came up with these


Now the corner unit is my absolute favorite... so much I made one for myself!



So Im really happy with how the spacing is working out.

Next up is working on the bottoms. The plan is a thin layer of foam/batten material wrapped in felt. That way I know it'll be safe with Nitro and it'll also really help keep guitars from moving around. So far every shape Ive put in there (parkers, SG's, lp's, strats, ES's, firebirds) have fit fantastic and dont move around. I even left the rack next to my stereo and bassman with both cranked and none vibrated around at all.

I want to do more interesting linings for the bottom eventually but for now this is a good start.

the really cool thing is I can do a bunch of different prefinished materials (cherry, oak, maple) or Melamines (nice thing about melamine is its cheaper and indestructible). I can also do just about any material and have it stained and sprayed to match someones preference (like if they want to match some cabinets it would go next too).

Then from there I can also do all solid wood ones, can do ones painted in fender colors ect ect.