Every try to build a guitar on a shaky desk?
Harbor Freight 60″ Wood Work Bench Review
It’s remarkable I get away with building and repairing guitars in my lousy little apartment at all, but even more remarkable that I did it so long on a POS computer desk… So… There was this Harbor Freight coupon for a 60″ oak 4 drawer work bench that came in the mail… Less than $150… So I bought one.
Having already read the reviews from Harbor freight’s website I kind of, sort of knew what I was in for… A “B” Grade light to medium duty work bench imported from China… There were complaints about it being difficult to assemble but I’m here to tell you it was way harder to unpack it than actually putting the MoFo together.
“Solid” oak my A$$ but it is fairly “solid” finger jointed wood with an acceptable finish… The drawers are mostly constructed of HD press board though.
Right off the bat… You can pretty much throw the instructions away.
No, not really… Don’t throw them away, but they are kind of useless because the images are just B&W square blobs. This isn’t a big deal considering that if you are buying a workbench, you are probably skilled enough to figure out how to put one togeather.
Assembling the Work Bench
Space in my apartment is at a premium so you may have a better time at it if you have some room. My one recommendation to you that is not included in the instructions or the hardware kit is glue… The joints and pilot holes are very accurate and it all comes together pretty darn tight but I’d still use a little tightbond to keep it solid over time.
The door sliders are pretty cheap but they do work and are tough enough to do the job
My one and only big a$$ complaint:
This little hex key supplied with the hardware kit is only good for making your fingers bleed.
Good Enough and the price is right
Over all the quality is not bad the finger jointed wood top is solid, the joints and fasteners all line up. The drawers are pretty solid and the sliders work okay…Now the “vice” is a tad sloppy and not really a vice, but a clamping device, but it works.
60″ is a good size bench for most of my luthier projects and it is plenty solid for the kind of guitar work I do. This bench is stable enough for things like routing, pickup or control cavities and inlays etc. and pretty much a perfect work surface for setups.
So… For a low buck “B” grade work bench even at it’s imaginary list price of $229.99… (If you pay more than 144.99 you’re a retard… Harbor Freight coupons are everywhere) So I’m going to give this light duty work bench grade “B” product an A .
