DIY walk up performer stand. Design input and suggestions please!

[solo4652]

Persistent neck and shoulder woes mean I've decided to try to make a walk up performer stand that fully supports the bass, thus taking all the weight off my shoulder. There is/was the Mbrace, but it's no longer made: https://www.imuso.co.uk/itm/mbrace-stage-guitar-stand 

 

I've made am Mbrace-like back plate from MDF and covered the front face where the bass will be with carpet. Don't laugh - I know it's a bit thick and heavy, but it's the only suitable material I had. Besides, it's a prototype and will surely be hacked about and drilled. I'll cut some slots at the ends for an old bass strap to feed through and tie across the back. This should hopefully produce a secure back plate to carry the bass. 

 

 

Next issue is how should I mount the back plate, complete with bass, onto some sort of stand? I was thinking about a cymbal boom stand, with the back plate positioned over the cymbal stand/boom junction, so as to get the full 3-plane adjstment from the boom clamp. The back-plate could be fixed to the boom with cable ties or bolts. I did consider a mic boom stand, but decided it wouldn't be strong enough. An alternative might be a boom-less cymbal stand with the back plate fixed on to the vertical pole with cable ties or bolts, but you wouldn't get the adjstment afforded by the boom.

 

Drummer in my band has a garage full of old stands and he has very kindly offered to lend me anything that might work to cobble together a working prototype. I'm going round in a couple of days time.

 

I'll stop there. All design suggestions gratefully accepted!

[solo4652]

Possible way of securing back plate to a mic stand or cymbal stand with no boom. A length of plastic pipe is cable-tied to rear of back board. An arc of holes is drilled through the back board for the lower cable tie, to allow for some tilt angle adjustment at initial experimenting stage. Plastic pipe than drops over at strong mic or cymbal stand without need for a boom. As seen from player's viewpoint, from the rear:

 

[Happy Jack]

Do you need a strap if the bass will be mounted on a freestanding tripod?

[solo4652]

There will be a strap to secure the bass to the backboard, if that's what you mean. Strap attaches to usual strap pins on bass and feeds through holes in backboard, then fastens across the back, as per the original Mbrace design.

Edited April 11 by solo4652

[pete.young]

I built one for a  bouzouki once out of 1/4" perspex and clamped it to a mike stand with a couple of U-bolts. Weight is a lot less than a bass though.

 

Flatback, not roundback in case you were wondering.

[tauzero]

You'll need to establish the centre of gravity of the bass as that will need to be within the triangle of the stand feet, when viewed directly from above. The orientation of the bass relative to those three feet may also be significant, but as I haven't any experience with such a stand, I wouldn't like to speculate how - it would be something to consider when experimenting.

[Paul S]

I googled 'Playing Guitar Stand' and it looks like there are a couple of off the peg stands aside from mbrace.  K&M, for example, but BAX shop do one for under £50.

[pete.young]

This guy has some interesting ideas. Don't bother with the back plate, just replace the strap with a bit of sturdy rope and make something to hang it on that fits on the top of the stand.

 

 

Thinking about the one I made, I used a 2-way Hercules guitar/bass stand and removed the clamp at the top. The base is a lot more sturdy than most mike stands or cymbal stands.

 

 

 

 

[solo4652]

On 11/04/2024 at 17:04, Paul S said:

I googled 'Playing Guitar Stand' and it looks like there are a couple of off the peg stands aside from mbrace.  K&M, for example, but BAX shop do one for under £50.

 

This one? https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/guitar-stands/dimavery-acoustic-and-electric-guitar-performance-stand?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=17858053119&utm_term=&adgroup=&creative=&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI16-_ms26hQMVRJBQBh2uJQqUEAQYAiABEgLqzPD_BwE

 

I did see that but there are two problems: 1 - it's designed for an acoustic guitar, so the clamps are wide. You have to pad them for a bass, which would mean the bass could easily topple out. Also the rear clamp may well interfere with the knobs on the bass. 2 - The curved cradle beneath the bass may well cover the jack socket - it would on my bass that has the jack socket on the lower edge.

Edited April 13 by solo4652

[solo4652]

That video is an excellent find. Thanks for that. 

[solo4652]

Here's the first attempt. I borrowed a cymbal stand and used the top clamp to secure a rope strop attached to the bass. Lots of padding on the stand to protect the bass, but also to cant the bottom of the bass away from me a little, so I could see the frets and strings. Whole thing feels pretty secure.

 

A bit of tinkering with stand height, strop length, padding thickness meant I was quickly able to achieve a playing position very close to what I was used to with a normal strap. Interestingly, I seemed to settle on a position with the bass a little further to my right, with the upper strap pin on a line between my left ear and my adam's apple. This meant my left arm and hand were closer to my body. I hadn't planned that - it just naturaaly happened after playing a few songs. Certainly feels different from playing with a strap, but initial impressions are pretty favourable. I played 10 songs without too many bum notes and felt appreciably less tired afterwards. Longer term, I might consider a black stand and black strop and wear a black shirt to disguise the whole thing - we'll see. 

 

Edited April 13 by solo4652

[pete.young]

Excellent job, well done.

[solo4652]

3 minutes ago, pete.young said:

Excellent job, well done.

Thanks for the video link - that was really helpful.

[itu]

I may help you with this, too. I have to write down the history behind my one idea and two solutions. Stay tuned...

[Richard R]

What an excellent idea! And as others said above - well done.

 

[solo4652]

Update.  Have now completed two rehearslas and two gigs with the stand. Very pleased with it, and can't really see me going back to shoulder strap anytime soon. The MK1 model was cobbled together from a silver cymbals stand I borrowed from our drummer. This worked well. I've now replaced it with an all-black new cymbals stand from Gear4music so I could wear black trousers to help disguise the stand on stage. Key points:

 

 - It's easy to find a good hanging position for the bass because of all the adjustments available with a cymbals stand. Fairly quickly I found a position that was very close to what I was used to with a shoulder strap.

 

 - Slight downside is the upright tube of the stand coming between me and the bass. This is less of a problem with MK 2 stand which is slimmer than MK1. Soon get used to it.

 

 - I'm finding I'm naturally adopting a slightly revised playing position without setting out to do so. Bass is a little higher, and I've moved it to my right (I'm right handed) thus bringing my left hand a bit closer in to my body. This is simply a mater of taking half a pace to my left as I stand behind the stand.

 

 - Initial concerns that a silver stand might look a bit odd on stage haven't materialised. See photos. MK2 black stand may not have been needed.

 

 - Initial concerns that I would end up with two stands on stage (including music stand) haven't materialised so far. I did consider clamping a boom onto the bass stand to carry my notes, but that would take up just as much room on stage, I reckon.

 

 - Initia conerns that I'd be rooted to the same spot on stage by the bass stand haven't been a problem. I'm pretty static anyway, and I can move away from the stand at various points in songs when I'm not playing for a few bars.

 

So, all-in-all, a success. No weight at all on my neck and shoulder has been a huge relief. Total outlay for MK2 stand is £40. 

 

 

[Happy Jack]

In fairness, with those singers standing in front of you, it would be odd if the audience was fixated on you. 😉

[Baloney Balderdash]

3 hours ago, solo4652 said:

Update.  Have now completed two rehearslas and two gigs with the stand. Very pleased with it, and can't really see me going back to shoulder strap anytime soon. The MK1 model was cobbled together from a silver cymbals stand I borrowed from our drummer. This worked well. I've now replaced it with an all-black new cymbals stand from Gear4music so I could wear black trousers to help disguise the stand on stage. Key points:

 

 - It's easy to find a good hanging position for the bass because of all the adjustments available with a cymbals stand. Fairly quickly I found a position that was very close to what I was used to with a shoulder strap.

 

 - Slight downside is the upright tube of the stand coming between me and the bass. This is less of a problem with MK 2 stand which is slimmer than MK1. Soon get used to it.

 

 - I'm finding I'm naturally adopting a slightly revised playing position without setting out to do so. Bass is a little higher, and I've moved it to my right (I'm right handed) thus bringing my left hand a bit closer in to my body. This is simply a mater of taking half a pace to my left as I stand behind the stand.

 

 - Initial concerns that a silver stand might look a bit odd on stage haven't materialised. See photos. MK2 black stand may not have been needed.

 

 - Initial concerns that I would end up with two stands on stage (including music stand) haven't materialised so far. I did consider clamping a boom onto the bass stand to carry my notes, but that would take up just as much room on stage, I reckon.

 

 - Initia conerns that I'd be rooted to the same spot on stage by the bass stand haven't been a problem. I'm pretty static anyway, and I can move away from the stand at various points in songs when I'm not playing for a few bars.

 

So, all-in-all, a success. No weight at all on my neck and shoulder has been a huge relief. Total outlay for MK2 stand is £40. 

 

 

May I ask why are you hidden away in a corner of the very back, behind the keyboard player?

 

But since you are why couldn't you just sit down on a chair and play?

 

 

Edited Friday at 11:50 by Baloney Balderdash

[solo4652]

6 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

May I ask why are you hidden away in a corner of the very back, behind the keyboard player?

 

But since you are why couldn't you just sit down on a chair and play?

 

 

Because there isn't enough room for me to be further forward, I suppose. Besides, guitarist, lead singer and keys player are more interesting to audiences than I am. I used to stand in front of keys player, but she wanted to dance more and interact with the audience, so we swapped.  For a full discussion regarding pros and cons of sitting down, see this thread: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/492024-playing-gigs-sitting-down-popfunk-covers-band-acceptable/      For me, I don't want to sit down while playing for a dance-oriented pop/funk band. 

 

[PaulThePlug]

UJ type stand fitting - Tom Drum?screwed on thru or welded to the Neck Plate.

[solo4652]

25 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

UJ type stand fitting - Tom Drum?screwed on thru or welded to the Neck Plate.

I'll look at that - thanks. I don't really want to alter the bass at all. As it is, it's simply a matter of un-looping the bass from the stand top, and the bass then goes back in the gig bag, no bother. With the new black stand, and a replacement black strop against a black t-shirt, the whole thing would be virtually invisible.

Edited Friday at 12:31 by solo4652

[Rosie C]

1 hour ago, PaulThePlug said:

UJ type stand fitting - Tom Drum?screwed on thru or welded to the Neck Plate.

 

I note that @solo4652 doesn't want to alter the bass, but for anyone else who doesn't mind a bit of engineering and modification, this is how I did my EUB. The stand was off-the-shelf and has a lot of adjustment.

 

 

Edited Friday at 13:14 by Rosie C

[solo4652]

4 hours ago, Rosie C said:

 

I note that @solo4652 doesn't want to alter the bass, but for anyone else who doesn't mind a bit of engineering and modification, this is how I did my EUB. The stand was off-the-shelf and has a lot of adjustment.

 

 

 

 

Very neat.

[miles'tone]

I'm glad you've found a solution to the problem. That's a beautiful Lakland you have there too!

[rOB]

Nice one, really clever solution.

 

Lovely instrument too.