Low Tuba Stand

[tubatodd]

I have 2 DEG tuba rests, 1 is 25+ years old and 1 is a year old. They both do the job, but I wish I could put the stand at a lower setting. My Rudy Meinl tuba sits fairly tall. As a "vertically challenged" individual, it's a bit of a struggle to get the horn where it is comfortable for me. I feel like I am craning my neck.

This ergonomics issue should be something I can easily remedy. The options as I see them are...

a) Get a new stand. But which one?
b) Modify the stand(s) I already have to allow for a lower bottom setting.


It looks like I could remove the piece with the height adjustment screw (bottom screw is securing it to the main tube) and cut the main tube and cut some of the tube that has the rest part. I never use the stand for anything other than a sitting position. This option makes sense to me.

c) List the horn for sale/trade (which I have already done )
d) Get the leadpipe lowered. I don't think I'd really do this, BUT it looks like Willie Clark (or a previous owner) did this to his Rudy 5/4 CC.


Thoughts?

[the elephant]

Cutting the stand is the best option for several reasons. I would try that first. A new stand may or may not fix the issue. I would not alter the horn when two "non-invasive" options have yet to be tried.

[sweaty]

The K&M 14952 is made low enough for children.

[bloke]

People roll their eyes at my suggestions...so here I go again:

I REALLY like my solution (one particular tuba) for sitting on an adapted (foam pad removed) portable "X" keyboard chair, sitting on it SIDEWAYS (90 degrees from the intended design) on (what becomes) the BACK of it, and resting the tuba on the FRONT of it...

...but my solution will NOT be low enough for what you're seeking.
...so I might suggest an 8" x 8" x 'X' height wooden box (with a barely-padded vinyl FLAT top) and with a 10" x 10" (flat-on-the-floor) 3/4-inch plywood base (possibly with some screw-adjusting feet to allow for crappy uneven stage floors), and made (otherwise non-adjustable) to the VERY SPECIFIC height needed.

tripod "cup" adjustable tuba stands: (why I just don't like 'em)
- the cup (yes, even with the rubber in the cup) concerns me (possible bottom bow dents) and I have to be TOO careful placing the tuba in the cup and removing it (as I really don't wish to keep the tuba positioned in it for an entire 30-minute symphony or 30-minute concert half).
- the tripod base: When standing (quickly) to receive applause, the legs of the base present (at least) me with a serious tripping hazard (and while I'm holding a $XX,XXX piece of equipment).

[Grumpikins]

My buddy uses a stool like this for his 6/4 tuba.

https://a.co/d/2V1zfWl

I'm not sure if this is the exact one, but he loves it.

[dsfinley]

I use a cheap Gibraltar drum stool. It goes pretty low.

[tofu]

Raise yourself. Here is a cheap & easy solution.

Lightweight as well - even a cut out handle to carry it.

Instructions:

Place horn on stand
Place kneeling pad horizontal on top of seat
Place butt on top of pad.

Instant 1.5 inches added to your sitting height.

$6.99 on sale every so often for like $4.00 they also usually have monthly coupons for 20-30% off on top. I paid $2.75

Simple is often the cheapest & best solution

Purchase here:





https://www.harborfreight.com/foam-knee ... 56572.html

[bloke]

Raise yourself. Here is a cheap & easy solution.

Lightweight as well - even a cut out handle to carry it.

Instructions:

Place horn on stand
Place kneeling pad horizontal on top of seat
Place butt on top of pad.

Instant 1.5 inches added to your sitting height.

$6.99 on sale every so often for like $4.00 they also usually have monthly coupons for 20-30% off on top. I paid $2.75

Simple is often the cheapest & best solution

Purchase here:





https://www.harborfreight.com/foam-knee ... 56572.html

I bought one of those. It absolutely WOULD work for that.
Don't expect it to be soft. It's not. barely softer than a wooden board. ....softer than a hard flat chair seat by a little bit.
You can cut it if you need to, in order to make room for the tuba to fit on your chair seat while leaving enough room for your own tush to sit on it.

Keep it away from your cats. They might like to tear off little edges of it.

I like solutions like this that aren't gadgety... like Mr tofu said: a simple solution.

[Mary Ann]

Raise yourself. Here is a cheap & easy solution.

Lightweight as well - even a cut out handle to carry it.

Instructions:

Place horn on stand
Place kneeling pad horizontal on top of seat
Place butt on top of pad.

Instant 1.5 inches added to your sitting height.

$6.99 on sale every so often for like $4.00 they also usually have monthly coupons for 20-30% off on top. I paid $2.75

Simple is often the cheapest & best solution

Purchase here:



https://www.harborfreight.com/foam-knee ... 56572.html

This is what I do, but i have a butt pad with custom height. I cut up a yoga mat into a bunch of butt-sized pieces, and I can stack them (inside a pillow case to keep them together) to accommodate whatever height / shape chair I run into. Since the padding on chair seats varies widely, I found that the variable height of my butt pad works well for unknown venue situations. I do note that those whose butts take up the entire chair, are not going to fit both a butt and a bow on the chair at once.

I bought a kiddie-sized tuba stand when I was using a stand, because the bow needed to be a couple inches below the chair. The leadpipe angle of the 183 was sufficient that I didn't have to put it on the chair with me. Since I got the pad idea, I haven't needed a tuba stand at all, and it is just so way easier to cart around.

[tubatodd]

Update: I am definitely going with this option.

b) Modify the stand(s) I already have to allow for a lower bottom setting.


What I did notice is that there are some limits as to how much I can shorten the pipe. When the legs fold up, the center piece goes upwards. On my new DEG stand, I have about 1-2" before it will bottom out on the retaining piece. The older one, appears to have at most 1" to play with. I mean, I can lower it as much as I want, but it will effect how much I can collapse the legs. I guess that is more of a convenience thing more than anything.

@tofu I like the foam pad idea. In my practice room, I do sit on top of an over stuffed small pillow to get the added height. I have a couple of those foam pads in my garage. With my weight, I am thinking I will simply squish the foam. I will certainly weigh (no pun intended) my options.

[Snake Charmer]

I use the Hercules stand, which has an unobstrusive tripod and is only 16" high in the lowest position. It has the cradle type top with an additional flat insert. They ar both a slippery so I used some shelf liner with it. Meanwhile I installed the stool top from the very heavy home-use Wessex stand. Flat surface and no slipping, works great.

[2nd tenor]

So many good suggestions already, it’s hard to add anything useful.

I’m not sure whether Hercules is a well known brand in the USA or not but the products of theirs that I have used have all been well designed and well made. It’d be a darn site cheaper to buy one of their stands than have your Tuba altered. You’d likely take a big loss on selling your Tuba too.

If a couple of inches of height difference is all that you need then four cubes / pieces of wood might work, say 2” a height gain and a smallish dimple in one face (of each cube / piece) to seat the chair legs in. Maybe not the best of solutions but it’s still: inexpensive, simple, not too bulky and worth a try.

It might be a case of using two or more suggestions together, to achieve cumulative gains.

A BBb playing pal of mine brings his own folding chair to all rehearsals and engagements, the chair has a shelf attached (to the underside of the seat) for the Tuba to rest on - works for him.

[tadawson]

While I don't use a stand, I suffer from a different seating height related issue. The typical, craptastic folding chairs I get stuck with a lot of places cause my knees to be so high that the combination of hip pain and the horn sitting stupid high is untenable for me, so I have taken to carrying an Adjustrite musicians chair to ensure that I don't have the issue, and the adjustability of same would solve the seat height problem here as well.

Not a particularly cheap option, and one more thing to carry if your venues already have chairs (we are about 50/50, esp. at outdoor performances).

[ghmerrill]

While I don't use a stand, I suffer from a different seating height related issue. The typical, craptastic folding chairs I get stuck with a lot of places cause my knees to be so high that the combination of hip pain and the horn sitting stupid high is untenable for me, so I have taken to carrying an Adjustrite musicians chair to ensure that I don't have the issue, and the adjustability of same would solve the seat height problem here as well.

When I was playing tuba (which I don't really do much any longer), I made my own adjustable "sit on" stand out of plywood and some PVC pipe. I'll omit the details here because it doesn't address the OP's problem and was designed to support the tuba in a higher position than directly on the chair.

But I do have the seat height problem (common to a lot of people over 6' tall). My sit-on stand addressed that by having fairly thick cushion on top of the plywood sit-on base. With the trombone now, I instead simply use a "throwable flotation" or "marine emergency flotation" cushion so that my knees are not above my waist when seated. It goes in my large "accessories" (mutes, tablet, mute stands, etc.) bag, and I don't have to lug my own chair to every practice or performance. If necessary, you could "tune" one of these for height since it consists of a number of layers of the flotation foam encased in a nylon liner. The one I have, I've been using for about 10 years -- and I think it's time to replace it. In the interim the cost seems to have gone up from ~$15 to ~$25, more or less. I also have a black stretch cover that fits over it so that the cushion color isn't an issue in performances.

[tadawson]

The other thing (I'm not proud to admit) is that I'm a fairly big guy, and some of the folding chairs we get offered to use (and on uneven ground) seem on the hairy edge of collapse, and I just harbor no desire to crash and burn a chair *and* ride it in with my horn . . .

(Went to vote last year, and my knee was bugging me, so they offered me a stall with a chair. Well, I sat (I thought gently) and it just kept going . . . . You could hear a pin drop in the room after the crash, and me on the floor with the "rekitted" chair . . . )

[ghmerrill]

The other thing (I'm not proud to admit) is that I'm a fairly big guy, and some of the folding chairs we get offered to use (and on uneven ground) seem on the hairy edge of collapse,

For many years I played in a local village band that did one concert a year on the lawn of an "historic" house. The lawn was significantly sloped in some areas, and the tubas always ended up in one of these. There were a couple of other venues where there were similar issues of uneven ground. For outdoor concerts, I used to carry a set of 6"x6" (some 3/4" and some 1/4") plywood "shims" with me so I could level my chair.

[tadawson]

It's not so much the ground, but the untterly craptastic chairs . . . (although the ground doesn't help . . . we tend to be on the flat, but it can have soft spots and you then sink/lean . . . Yeah, wood would help, but if the chair goes, one more thing to land on . . . .) And I'm likely carrying *a* chair and stand in from somewhere whether I own it or not . . . . and I play better with the higher/more consistent chair as well. My embochure kinda hates "working uphill" these days.

Cheap or ideal? Not necessarily, but it works well for me.

[ghmerrill]

And I'm likely carrying *a* chair and stand in from somewhere whether I own it or not . . . .

Yeah, for outdoor performances I used to lug my own chair (a solid folding plastic chair I got just for that purpose). Sometimes, for that venue I mentioned, this meant having a big BBb or compensating Eb tuba on my back, a gear bag (music, sit-on tuba stand, tuba stand, shims, etc.) in one hand, and the chair in the other -- up hill for a couple hundred yards. I liked doing that performance, but not getting to it.

[harrell]

When I used to teach beginner tuba students, I used the Baltimore Brass tuba stand(pic below) and could cut it down to get it low enough. It doesn’t have the extra collar and such, and the legs fold differently which allows you to do that. Of course you’d have to buy another stand…

https://photos.app.goo.gl/U5ivKjJfRzp8DnwHA