The last several years I’ve been using GC Proline Conductor music stands in my practice room. This is a great heavy duty stand but after a couple of years, it starts to suffer from clutch fatigue and either slowly lowers itself or just dumps stuff to the floor. no replacement parts so I spend another $69 dollars every 5 year or so.
Now I am willing to admit I load up that poor stand. Not with sheet music but with and iPad. And clip tuners and capos clipped to the edge. And a magnetically enhanced altoid tin of picks and pencils and paper sheet music. I currently have a power bar velcro’ed to the bottom-most stem to charge iPads & iPhones (yikes). I am willing to admit I am probably abusing the poor thing.
Is there something heavier duty that you might recommend? Is it reasonable just to fork out $69 bucks every 4 or 5 years? Until the clutch fails I am usually happy with these things.
I don’t how ended up there, but watched a YT review of various stands and the Hercules stuff was well liked. I have one of their floor stands and it’s really sturdy.
I’ve had this one for 6 years and it still performs the same as when I first got it.
I jam every week and I see most people still go for the cheapie, flimsy $20 stands. It’s not worth it and if you ever play outside in the wind you will really appreciate a sturdy, perforated/ventilated stand.
I know I have a problem. When I saw the Stagg stand, immediately thought “with all those holes that would make an interesting pedalboard and put the ipad on the left side and on the right third I can tie a drop pedal, tuner pedal, and maybe a looper (for practice)”
Big fan of the Manhasset brand music stands. These stands are made from heavy gauge steel and built like a tank. They are the stand of choice for grade school music programs across the United States for a reason: they can hold up to decades of abuse and unintended use by school kids. All parts of the music stand can be bought separately as replacement parts, if needed. More expensive than most music stands, but will likely be the last music stand you’ll buy. Amazon usually has the cheapest prices for them.
The standard Manhasset stands can hold up to 8 lbs, no sweat. There has always been 3-6 lbs of music books on my stand and it has not budged in the 23 years since I purchased it. But, if your needs are more demanding, you can buy a $13 USD shaft lock that will allow you to hold up to 75 lbs (!) on your stand.
Pro tip: consider getting a clamp-on shelf to store accessory items, like the power bar, pick tin, and utensils. Attach it to the base shaft of the stand, not the stem that moves up and down.
I got my youngest son one of the Manhasset music stands when he was still in high school, learning guitar. I find he mostly uses it to store music song books, but I will think seriously about getting that shaft lock, considering the weight of his two Beatle volumes:
(I’m sure that little rug pulls it all together, lol)
I also noticed the floor protectors for the Manhasset stand’s feet, which I’ll keep in mind to get if he ever moves the stand to a room with wood floors.
I’ve never had issues with mine but I’ve only had it for about 3 years and I loosen the tightening bolt when I need to adjust the tilt angle. Have you tried taking it apart and maybe rough sanding the sidewalls of the rubber spacer to increase traction? It’s probably buffed itself to a slick surface with use.
I absolutely agree, 