Has anyone tried any of the phone/guitar mounts out there? Obviously, the Magnet is a great idea, but plunking down $200 is a bit steep. I saw some things like this on Amazon:
It unclear is the arm is bendable, or even how well constructed it is, but I wondered if it’d be an ok alternative, especially if it’s not something you use a lot.
Hmm haven’t tried one like this. Looks like the arm is bendable, so may be able to get a similar angle. Questionable suction grip aside, this probably works great for the “tiny music stand” use case…but I think the main issue here for filming is that you’ll likely get a ton of vibration / shaky footage.
For our recent Andy Wood mandolin stuff (example here) we used the GoPro Jam, mounted on the headstock with the longer segment of the arm removed. Pretty sure this gives a more solid mount than the adjustable gooseneck type would, but even in this case we had quite a bit of camera shake we had to reduce in post.
So almost certainly will give you lower video quality than you’d get with the Magnet, but…possibly good enough for occasional use? Not sure. Maybe worth a try for only ~$11 though!
I have one of those but it was labeled as a car phone mount. The arm is bendable and the connector at the end of the arm can rotate to any angle. It works great as long as you have room on the horn to place it. There’s no room for the mount on a Les Paul with a pickguard but you can mount it on a desk or table for a halfway decent angle.
Hmmm. A major problem I have is my phone is pretty large (Samsung note), so I am wondering if the suction would be strong enough.
Samsung note won’t be a problem, just make sure to get the one that fits larger phones. The suction is really strong, I’ve mounted a Canon Ti on a desk with it.
Would you think that a LP without a pickguard would have enough mounting room?
I have a desktop tripod mount but I just can’t get a close enough shot of the picking hand.
The horn isn’t big enough even with the pickguard removed. The plastic piece around the neck pickup is still in the way.
Thanks…it looks like an interesting and inexpensive solution to the magnet. I guess I’ll keep shopping for something else!!
The lo-fi (possibly the lowest fi) method I use is to rest my phone on a high table or desk with the camera end peeping out over the edge.
I stick my guitar vertically and adjust my position until what I need is in frame. Far from perfect but at least its a start.
The biggest problem with that is you can’t effectively take a slo-mo vid because you need to use the front camera (on an iPhone). There’s no way to monitor what the phone is “seeing”. At least no way that I know of.
One idea would be to get a small tripod like this, for easier, more consistent positioning:
https://smile.amazon.com/Manfrotto-MTPIXI-B-Universal-Smartphone-Adapter/dp/B0751J149H/
You could place on a chair or something and with a bit of testing you can probably get the framing right. Trickiest part may be locking in focus/exposure, for that you could try e.g. putting the guitar in a stand in a close approximation of where it’ll be when you’re playing, locking focus/exposure and hitting record, then getting back into playing position. Or if you could rope someone in to help start recording, even easier 
But just doing it by trial and error can certainly work.
THats exactly what I have. It does work but as you said, there’s a trial and error aspect.
So, I posted my first video yesterday using my own cheap ‘n’ cheerful Magnet alternative. Although I did actually by the plans for the magnet a while back the cost of getting someone to make the form for me killed the idea. I ended up making this alternative for exactly £0 as I had everything I needed lying around. It is far from perfect but it did the job this time. I plan to improve it slightly by jointing two clamps together to significantly improve the stability and will make the over hang below the clamp bar smaller to give better camera clearance.
I’ve got a few of those clamps around the house too!!
You can’t go wrong with those although they aren’t the most secure on their own. I plan to join two together for added stability later this week.
I made the big ugly wooden bit because the only magnet I had lying around was the mobile phone dashboard holder and needed a big hole. I plan to pickup some magnets with screw holes this week and mount them directly onto the clamp bar too. Should be a much better solution.
Cool. Let me know how well it sticks to the electric and if you think its stable enough for a heavier Galaxy Note phone.
Works great! Brilliant on the acoustic and works well on the electric. Only thing problem factor would be flat surface area on your guitars. Works fine on my superstrats but anything archtop or with a pickguard in the way won’t work. This one has a clamp that makes the suction really tight so I don’t see weight being an issue. There are probably a hundred of these clips on Amazon so I would measure your phone and see what’s out there.
Test clip on my San Dimas
Is this the one from the link above? I know there are a slew of these things out there.
Ill try and track down the link to what I got. The one in your first post looks like more of a cradle, like you’re supposed to use it to read music or tab while playing or something. Mine is more of a spring-loaded clamp. To hold your phone on the inside of your windshield for GPS while driving, sorta thing
