Bench height and design questions

Hi all,
I'm in the process of setting up a small shed for ukulele building rather than using my kitchen table.
I'm about to design my main workbench and I have a few questions on what sort of bench set people use or recommend.

I'm limited for space so the bench will run wall to wall with a wall behind it (so I will only have access to the front). It will be 2.2m long. I'm thinking of a face vice and using bench dogs with a veritas wonder pup (or similar) for clamping on the surface. Does that sound sensible? is there a better vice/clamping setup? This bench will be the main assembly and hand tool bench, the other side of the shed has the power tools, pillar drill, belt sander, bobbin sander, router, jointer planer and bandsaw.

What height should I make the bench top?
I've read a few comments where people have preferred a higher than normal bench height.
Does anyone work seated or on a stool?

Thanks for any comments.

Mine is 34" high which is the standard bench height. You might want to make it 32". I found this as a "rule of thumb":

To select a height to match your stature, use this “rule of thumb”: Make your workbench height the distance from the floor to your first thumb knuckle, with your arms hanging relaxed at your sides.

I work a lot sitting down. Especially for inlay and detailed work.A nice, well padded drafting seat, they have a lot more height than regular office types, with a hydraulic lift is the ticket. Not cheap, but very nice to work from.I'm on my second one in about 20 years and I'd buy another 1 today if the lift gave out.--Bob

My under-bench area is occupied by flush-mounted drawers, so sitting at the bench is not practical.
I am 177cm tall (5'10”) and my bench top comes approx. halfway up my forearms at 94cm (37”).
This would be too high if seated on an average stool, but I never need to sit at the bench.... I do all of my hand sanding (wood dust aversion) and finishing at an outdoor setting, under a pergola, in all but the worst weather.
If you intend doing intricate and precise (time consuming) decorative work while seated, you should tailor/modify your bench height to suit that purpose. It is also nice to be able to take advantage of natural lighting if that is at all possible.

Apologies to BG for being repetitive, I did a copy and paste dump before reading your post.

See here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx94zSkRWBU

However you design it, make sure your strings clear the ramps. It's a fault I see far too often.

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

However you design it, make sure your strings clear the ramps. It's a fault I see far too often.

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I think you posted on the wrong thread Chuck ..this is about bench height not slotted headstocks

I have a number of benches and they mostly store work in progress. My sitting bench has a large aux top to raise things for intricate routing. I have just enough room to push it back in order to clamp a birds mouth to the main bench top when I want to look straight down on the work.

Almost all standing work is done at the deck of my table saw because it is dead flat. I also have a few little aux tables that are very handy for clamping up small stuff, then moving them out of the way while the glue sets. I can't over-emphsize how useful the little tables are. Another larger, padded aux table bolts to a main bench for doing set up work on guitars.

Most of my recent jigs and fixtures are free-standing. I move them to the saw deck to use them, then hang them back up on the ceiling joists.

Certain tasks require different bench heights. I have always wanted to build an adjustable height bench utilizing the bases of barber chairs.

surfifty said:

Certain tasks require different bench heights. I have always wanted to build an adjustable height bench utilizing the bases of barber chairs.

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Adjustable/ standing height desks are all the rage in office furniture.
Some are coming up in ex government surplus sales around here.
https://www.exgovfurniture.com/home/2019/7/30/select-beech-adjustable-workstations

Unfortunately they are office furniture not work benches so may be a little wobbly for some tasks.