Your favorite music stand?

[ole_irgens]

What is your favorite music stand?

I guess we all have broad experience from this arena, ranging from the flimsiest 2$ stand to the sturdy, german-built rock-solid holder for your precious music sheets.

My favorite, for the time being, is the K & M 10065 stand, built in Germany, with u-profile legs and cross braces. It is black, not silver, and you can attach a tray to it, for all the small necessities such as lubricants, refreshments, mobile phones etc. It is a bit more heavy than the previously mentioned 2$ stands, but we carry heavy instruments, and a couple of grams extra does not make a big difference.

I have also tried the Jazz stand from RAT stands, but it is to big for a carry-on stand, and is now used for rehearsing at home.

[Mark]

Manhasset Voyager

[Rick Denney]

I have two regular Manhasset stage stands at home that I’ve owned for many decades. Schools can kill them, but I can’t.

My portable is a folding Peak stand. It has real legs, a solid desk, locking settings, small folded size, and has proven to be light and durable.


Rick “the Peak lives in the car” Denney

[the elephant]

For work, I have used a König & Meyer 10065 since about 1993. It is just now starting to wear out. The plastic knob on the leg lock has finally died. I think I will replace this stand at Christmas this year if K&M cannot sell me replacement parts.

For at home (or for gigs where the book is large and heavy) I use a Manhasset 48 that I bought in 1998. It still looks new despite my having tossed it into my car hundreds of times for gigs over the last 23 years.

I have never needed anything more than these two stands.

Prior to 1993, I used a so-called "wire" stand, also made by K&M, that folded up into a tiny, complex little monster that was a PITA to set up and take down, but it was an excellent product. I found it at a yard sale in San Antonio in 1978, and it was decades old back then.

I wish I still had it.

[GC]

Old style Manhasset metal stand, one that doesn't sink when I put a heavy folder or book on it.

[Three Valves]

I have two regular Manhasset stage stands at home that I’ve owned for many decades. Schools can kill them, but I can’t.

I used to lose my keys and break my glasses all the time too!!

May have been the...

[matt g]

I have a Manhasset Voyager, the K&M 10065, and a Wenger Bravo (the heavy one with the extra lip or whatever).

I’ve hauled all of them out to gigs.

The Wenger is nice on paper and is very stable. But, even being privately owned, the desk is a little looser than I’d like. The height adjustment is fine. Regardless, these always seem to suck after being in a public school for 5 years or more.

The Manhasset is really nice for indoor stuff since it has a normal desk size. But it’s kinda tipsy in the wind because the base is a little too light for the desk.

The K&M is far more rugged than it looks. Great for most outdoor stuff since the desk is light and the legs cover a good bit of area when fully extended. The origami top can be a bit much, and it needs some clips to really hold music well, but it’s an understood compromise. The fully folded package is reasonably compact.

I have a couple of the cheap folding ones tucked away as well from way back when, but those haven’t seen use in probably 20 years now. They suck compared to the Manhasset or the K&M for travel and they suck even in a place with no wind, like a practice room.

If I were pressed to buy another music stand, I’d probably buy another K&M.

[bort2.0]

My 6 year old likes to hold music while I play it. That's my favorite music stand.

Otherwise K&M foldable..it was a gift, and it is pretty nice

[bloke]

If they are supplying it:
the standard Manhasset
If I am supplying it:
the tiniest folds-into-nothing little black K&M101.
I used to use a K&M 65, but its bulk made me decide to sell it and just use my old 101.
If the shelf on a K&M101 is too narrow for the folder, the folder has too much crap in it (certainly compared to what’s going to be played on any gig).
Anything larger than a 101 won’t fit in the side pocket of a bag or in the gutter of a hard case.
I just can’t do the “community band“ thing, and drag in (multiple trips, etc.) a whole bunch of paraphernalia - even when I park by the stage door.
…wind issues…???
Most any stand can be blown over by a medium strong wind gust. I have plexiglass music clips and cinderblocks - sitting in the carport, if I’ve got some outdoor quintet (etc.) gig on a windy day.

[tofu]

.

[ronr]

Manhasset all the way. I’ll do anything I can to avoid using a Wenger, and I grew up 15 miles from the factory!

[Rick Denney]

I’m so over wire desks. I hold a tuba with my hands—playing with half a dozen clothespins or trying to turn pages behind a sheet of plexiglass with no place or time to set the tuba down—been there, done that.

For outdoor gigs, I now scan the music into Forscore and use an iPad Pro. The first July 4 gig I did with the iPad converted me forever.

But I’m not putting my iPad on a flimsy stand, nor am I putting it on any wire desk, no matter how reputable.

And, with all due respect to Bloke, I’ve never yet had to make two trips from the car for a community band thing, even when carrying two tubas and a playing stand.

Rick “brings paper but just as a backup” Denney

[bloke]

It’s not uncommon for me to use two instruments in a concert (today: three), so - if stuff doesn’t fit in some instrument’s case or bag, I’m not particularly excited about schlepping it.
Typically, the only times I’m needing to supply my own stand is at privately-contracted outdoor brass quintet gigs, and - these days - those are rare.

[scottw]

Best stand I ever used was the OLD Desca; definitely NOT the new models, though. This folded down to 4"x4" by @22", easily fitting in my carpetbag where I keep my BB playing stand and assorted junk. Sadly, after about 10 hard years use, the end of the shelf blew out when I dropped it. I tried several replacements, but the closest I came is the Nillsen Magic stand. I really like to use a stand with a shelf underneath, to hold a pencil, lip moisturizer, clip, tuner, etc. This one is extremely light, folds up to half the size of the desk and also fits in my carpetbag. Sets up in literally 10 seconds and is quite stable---indoors. Outdoors, it's best feature--[the light weight]--makes it blow over in the wind. I then use my Peak stand, which is heavier. I sure do miss my Desca--if anyone has Bob's old model for sale, I'm a buyer! Or, just the top section. The base is the same as the BB playing stand--a tank, which never wears out.

[humBell]

I feel like i should have an opinion here, but i am not sure i do... Maybe since my needs are usually supplied by others, i have made do with whatever, and perhaps having strong opinions might come across as ungrateful...

In the covid era, i actually use my stand for video calls, and the time i used a wire stand without an adjustable tilt meant my friends could only see the top of my head if i leaned back.

So yeah. I like being able to set tilt...

I also am an upright bassist, so i want full extension to use standing up.

But yeah, i haven't paid attention to which makes give me all that, and a bag of chips.

[Bob Kolada]

I bought a fixed Hamilton maybe 15 years ago; it's the best not-an-instrument musical item I've ever purchased. My band was playing by a gazebo in Chesterton Indiana, right next to a train track. Every now and then a train would roll through and everyone would suddenly find themselves about 3 hands short. I stuck a foot on the base, held the music down with my left hand and kept playing. Glad I was that I was not playing bass trombone that day.

[bloke]

Curious if anyone might have one of the really old Hamilton stands with an oak desk (hinged music rack) and a cast fancy tripod base?

[hup_d_dup]

No doubt that the Manhasset regular stands are great. They can still function well after 50 years of normal use.

The Manhasset Voyager is an OK stand, but the carrying case is not well thought out, and mine is beginning to wear at stress points. I think for my next portable stand I will look for a folding desk that fits in a more compact case.

Hup

[the elephant]

The Manhasset Voyager is an OK stand…

Yes, it is, but mine is actually a good bit heavier and more cumbersome to carry around than my trusty, old model 48 Manhasset. I bought a Voyager in 2005 or so but stopped using it after about ten gigs. My wife adopted it and has used it ever since. She has never collapsed it and taken it to a gig — again — because it is heavier than the model 48 and cumbersome to carry.

… the carrying case is not well thought out, and mine is beginning to wear at stress points.

I had the bag. It was useless and it tore along a seam after a few uses. I tossed it after about ten gigs when I "retired" the stand.

My wife uses a K&M 10065 folding stand on gigs, like me and most of my MSO colleagues. She never transports the Voyager. It's a nice, well-made stand, but it does not work well as a portable in my experience.

The one time I have liked the Voyager was when a community group (that had hired me to come read an outdoor concert) used a full set of them that they transported in some slick, custom Anvil-style cases. They had separate cases for the desks and for the bodies. Since these have wider legs than the model 48 they are less tippy in a breeze. In this case, with a large ensemble providing them, they were quite nice. I just don't care for mine if I have to schlep it around myself. I wonder if those transport cases were sold to them by K&M or if they were just repurposed (used) rock & roll road gear. If I had to load a truck up with chairs, and a sound system, the Voyager would be a no-brainer if you had the cases for them.

[bloke]

I too actually like the 65 over the 101, but personally decided that the incredible portability of the 101 overruled the superior features of the 65.

I’ve seen a whole bunch of people on the Facebook tuba place, this tuba place, and the old tuba place talk about buying a different tuba – because they are older and are looking to reduce the carrying weight by 2 or 3 pounds (if that much). Well… The 101 reduces weight (every little bit counts) without having to toss a tuba, and buy a lighter one that I don’t like as much.

On rare occasions - when I had to supply my own stand, and knew that the outdoor venue was going to be very windy that day, I just tossed my Manhasset 48 in the back (along with two cinderblock halves).