Jarick
Rock Star
- Messages
- 3,344
Had an incident over the weekend which luckily didn't do too much damage, but did prompt me to redo my home office/studio desk setup.
I have a big shelf full of books and some other stuff that came tumbling down and crashed onto all my stuff on my desk. Was EXTREMELY lucky that it did almost no serious damage to any of the expensive gear. My monitor speakers, display monitor, computers, interface, and all that were right underneath but the only thing that broke was the monitor arm. Then I had a bunch of glass shatter and spray across the room, but it somehow completely missed all my guitars, modelers, pedals, and everything.
I had been thinking about redoing my desk setup anyways so I got a few supplies. A few months back I built a custom desktop shelf for my Axe FX 3, but then I found I didn't have enough space for the computers and other stuff, and it got really crowded. Also, my cheap Ikea desk top was bowing in the middle as it's made out of basically cardboard with a wood veneer and that also needed to be replaced.
I got a new solid wood desk top from Ikea that should be more durable, and is compatible with the adjustable legs I already have (I like my desks a little lower than average). Then I picked up some supplies to build a new monitor shelf/riser: some adjustable legs, a nice pine board, and a can of water based poly.
Managed to get everything done in half a day, including cutting the shelf to size and doing a full poly finish. The Minwax polycrylic is super easy to work with, has almost no fumes, very fast dry times, and easy clean up. I managed to do 2-3 coats of poly then wet sand and buff it to a really smooth satin finish in just a few hours. It turned out much nicer than my last attempt with an oil based stain.
Here's the finished project. I can keep both my computers (Macbook Air for personal use and Dell PC for work), my interface, and my hubs under the riser and out of the way. On top I have my 28" 4k monitor, Genelec 8020 nearfields, and will set up a couple things like a phone charging dock and pick bowl and all that stuff.
It's a little smaller than the old desk which is fine. I can bring more stuff in on the sides if I want. I may put my big 6.5" JBL monitors on stands on the sides at some point too.
To my left I've got a wire rack shelf with the Kemper, Axe FX 3, and some headphones and cables. It's really nice to be able to tweak the Kemper knobs and buttons on the fly. Can do the same with the Axe 3 but I prefer the software for that.
On the right, I've got the Boss Katana Artist along with my little HX Stomp board. Behind that is the Blackstar HT-5 and my other studio monitors.
Off to the side is the wall of guitars:
And in the corner is the island of misfit toys, my bass leaning up against the clearly not fully setup drums:
I have a big shelf full of books and some other stuff that came tumbling down and crashed onto all my stuff on my desk. Was EXTREMELY lucky that it did almost no serious damage to any of the expensive gear. My monitor speakers, display monitor, computers, interface, and all that were right underneath but the only thing that broke was the monitor arm. Then I had a bunch of glass shatter and spray across the room, but it somehow completely missed all my guitars, modelers, pedals, and everything.
I had been thinking about redoing my desk setup anyways so I got a few supplies. A few months back I built a custom desktop shelf for my Axe FX 3, but then I found I didn't have enough space for the computers and other stuff, and it got really crowded. Also, my cheap Ikea desk top was bowing in the middle as it's made out of basically cardboard with a wood veneer and that also needed to be replaced.
I got a new solid wood desk top from Ikea that should be more durable, and is compatible with the adjustable legs I already have (I like my desks a little lower than average). Then I picked up some supplies to build a new monitor shelf/riser: some adjustable legs, a nice pine board, and a can of water based poly.
Managed to get everything done in half a day, including cutting the shelf to size and doing a full poly finish. The Minwax polycrylic is super easy to work with, has almost no fumes, very fast dry times, and easy clean up. I managed to do 2-3 coats of poly then wet sand and buff it to a really smooth satin finish in just a few hours. It turned out much nicer than my last attempt with an oil based stain.
Here's the finished project. I can keep both my computers (Macbook Air for personal use and Dell PC for work), my interface, and my hubs under the riser and out of the way. On top I have my 28" 4k monitor, Genelec 8020 nearfields, and will set up a couple things like a phone charging dock and pick bowl and all that stuff.
It's a little smaller than the old desk which is fine. I can bring more stuff in on the sides if I want. I may put my big 6.5" JBL monitors on stands on the sides at some point too.
To my left I've got a wire rack shelf with the Kemper, Axe FX 3, and some headphones and cables. It's really nice to be able to tweak the Kemper knobs and buttons on the fly. Can do the same with the Axe 3 but I prefer the software for that.
On the right, I've got the Boss Katana Artist along with my little HX Stomp board. Behind that is the Blackstar HT-5 and my other studio monitors.
Off to the side is the wall of guitars:
And in the corner is the island of misfit toys, my bass leaning up against the clearly not fully setup drums:
