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The stand construction thread


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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi everyone.

 

I guess this is my first 'real' post on the forum. My name is David and I have written a short introduction of myself in the Introductions thread.

 

This thread has been a great inspiration! Keyboard stands and figuring out how best to stack my boards are a somewhat guilty pleasure of mine, so it's been fun to see what and how you guys are doing it.

 

This is not a stand construction per se, but it is however an upgrade to my stand - a K&M Spider Pro. Up until now I have been using the Spider Pro in conjunction with a tabletop style stand in an L-shape, placing my rack and pedal board in the 90 degree 'corner' of the L. This took up a lot of space on stage and I never felt comfortable with playing in the L-shape.

 

A couple of weeks ago my local music shop sold me an extra set of arms for the Spider Pro for approx. 20 USD. I figured that I might as well give it a try and see if I could fit all three boards on the Spider Pro. I play standing up so the bottom board needs to be relatively high.

 

And it worked! I know that the picture isn't that great, but it does give you an idea of how close I have been able to stack the three keyboards, while still having access to the knobs on the Nord Lead in the middle. The sliders on the PX-5S come out under the left end of the Lead, so they are easy to, well - slide. I primarily use two presets on the Casio (rhodes and wurlitzer), so I don't need great access to the Stage Setting buttons on the right.

 

Furthermore I have been able to fit my pedalboard with effects and a sustain pedal under the legs of the Spider Pro - and my rack I place standing up next to me. The result is that I use up approx. 50% less space on stage + I find it much easier playing with the three boards stacked like this instead of the L-shape.

 

Success! :)

 

http://oi60.tinypic.com/4g3p61.jpg

David Dyrholm - Copenhagen.

 

Rhodes MK II, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Moog Sub 37, Roland Juno 6, Casio PX-5S, MBP w. Mainstage (+ lots of fx pedals).

 

Endorsed by Casio.

 

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Looks good. I can't tell - is the new set an additional angled set, or straight, like the bottom ones.

 

Thanks. The set in the middle is straight like the one on the bottom. It makes it easier to stack them closer together.

 

I don't think I would have been able to stack all three keyboards if the two top sets were angled, it would take up to much space and 'push' the bottom board to far down for me to be able to play it without problems. Again, I'm playing standing - if one were to sit it could be done with two angled sets above the straight bottom one.

David Dyrholm - Copenhagen.

 

Rhodes MK II, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Moog Sub 37, Roland Juno 6, Casio PX-5S, MBP w. Mainstage (+ lots of fx pedals).

 

Endorsed by Casio.

 

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I repurposed a Pearl drum rack, and it's become the ideal keyboard stand. I cut and added two aluminum electrical pipes to hold the lower board, and use cymbal booms/arms (coated in plastic) for the upper. I can add a third board above that by using two more cymbal booms.

 

I also inserted aluminum piping into the stand legs as a place to add gig-specific items--my ipad clamp, or a small personal monitor, or my stand light, or even the set list.

 

All the levels are fully height adjustable, and it breaks down in about a second and a half--just pop the quicklocks on the cross bar and it's in three easy pieces.

 

The nice thing is, more stuff you load onto the stand itself, the more stable it gets.

 

I'm going to try to embed a couple of photos, but it's my first time doing so on this forum, so we'll see.

 

This was my proof-of-concept photo when I was tinkering in the garage:

 

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/mathofinsects/stand1.jpg

 

Here are some early photos of the thing in use; I switched the angle of the crossbar after this to line up with the back of the lower board:

 

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/mathofinsects/IMG_2487_zpsu5vnpteg.jpg

 

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/mathofinsects/IMG_2486_zps6ssinklp.jpg

 

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/mathofinsects/IMG_2485_zpsgnql58mc.jpg

 

And here's an action shot taken my someone in the audience at some gig, I can't remember what or where (cropped by me to leave out my ugly mug):

 

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/mathofinsects/stand2.jpg

 

 

 

Now out! "Mind the Gap," a 24-song album of new material.
www.joshweinstein.com

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Very cool use of Pearl components . . . you'll have both drummers and keyboard players envious . . .

 

Gibraltar sure seems to be making more of a move from drum hardware into the keyboard sector: Gibraltar Project Center.

 

Maybe there's something we can learn from drummers after all.

 

 

Kawai KG-2D / Yamaha CP33 S90ES MX49 CP4 P515 / Hammond SK1 / NS3 88 / NS3Compact

QSC K8.2s K10.2s KSubs / SoundcraftUi24 / SSv3 / GK MB112 MB115 MB210 Neo410

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Thanks, Rick. Yeah, if you think about what a drummer needs--fast, light, sturdy, portable, customizable, adjustable on the fly--it makes sense there'd be some overlap.

 

Wanna really geek out on homemade equipment pr0n, though? For organ gigs (about half of what I do, maybe a bit more), I use a foot-switch for the Leslie (sim), like many of us here. Out of habit/necessity, I've always triggered it with my left heel. Whenever I've put it at my toe, even on the left, I've reflexively treated it as a sustain pedal at least a few times during the night. (Too many nights when I was younger sitting at the piano facing out to the audience and using my left foot for the sustain, I guess.)

 

So it sits facing backward, at roughly the distance my heel will be if my foot is on that stand leg (different stand).

 

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/mathofinsects/10891968_10203406746355356_2140721932388480608_n_zpsvw8sa43u.jpg

 

But I have to admit that I miss it sometimes. Then I have to either stomp around a bit or look down to make sure I'm lined up right. I hate that.

 

So I came up with this. It's just a bit of electrical duct bracing.

 

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/mathofinsects/10917437_10203406751555486_3766725038227611156_n_zps0skounia.jpg

 

I velcro the pedal to the bottom. It even has a little channel for the cord to keep it out of the way.

 

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/mathofinsects/10906436_10203406752155501_4271727487041185040_n_zpssbm7tjfb.jpg

 

It straddles the leg of that stand (the one I use for most organ gigs), and stays in place solely because it's ever so slightly too small to fit around the stand.

 

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/mathofinsects/10906384_10203406752675514_4776648730624535678_n_zps5hklideu.jpg

 

Now, wherever I hit that bracket, even if I mostly miss or hit close to the stand leg or just get one of the two braces, the pedal engages. As long as there's pressure anywhere along the way, the rotor switches speeds.

 

http://i850.photobucket.com/albums/ab67/mathofinsects/10896883_10203406753155526_5281596673023347478_n_zpsyijjkxcf.jpg

 

And voila, problem solved.

Now out! "Mind the Gap," a 24-song album of new material.
www.joshweinstein.com

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's aluminum, light as can be. Setup and tear down are literally a second or two each, shorter than my "real" stands. All I do is pop the cross bar into (or out of) the quick-releases on the legs.

 

In terms of ease and adjustability/customizability, it's my favorite stand. But I only bring it to large-stage gigs, since the one factor I can't control on it is the footprint. Once there's any negotiation for space on a stage, it's a needless hog.

Now out! "Mind the Gap," a 24-song album of new material.
www.joshweinstein.com

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Ive been following this thread and seen some cool ideas.

 

I rearrranged my studio last fall to give me some dedicated space for editing and other non-keyboard work (including tasks that turn my studio into a work-cave, not just a music-cave). This translated into me moving my main keyboard (a QS8) onto one side of the room, and my Numa organ onto the other. While its very much like a 70s era live keyboard surround, theyre too far away from each other to do my Keith Emerson impersonation.

 

On my main desk I have a small keyboard controller (Line6 KB37) that I can use for limited performance).

 

One thing Ive always been challenged with is the setup working for each of the distinct jobs I perform at the main (large) keyboard, including:

Performance/Recording: Focused on playing. Need some way to run transport controls, select tracks, and minimal editing (usually through controllers).

Composing / Arranging / Orchestration: I do this by hand, and eventually translate it into Finale. This requires a music desk, and has always been the most ignored portion of my studio since I couldnt come up with a design that had the appropriate footprint and worksurface that I could deal with. I modeled this after a grand piano, with a scoring desk attached (see picture). BTW Ive never been able to use Finale fast enough to capture ideas, so Ive given up, but its a great tool to share and archive.

Programming / Gig Preparation: This ranges from having a place to put a module, iPad, or other controller above the QS8, to a full keyboard.

 

 

I think what inspired me was a Korg keyboard from about 10 years ago (M3 maybe) that had a programmer / display module that could slide one way or the other. To accommodate all of the needs above I decided to steal the idea of having the modules slide on some steel rods. Ill use conduit as its really sturdy but not as heavy as steel pipe. The modules will ride on trucks (built using a friends 3D printer) and can be swapped out as needed.

 

The original sketch has a music stand, but Ill probably have a modules. The conduit and modules will take the rear half of the case. I didnt build them in because Im not yet sure what the right height, distance, etc. will be (thus Im calling it a prototype).

 

This past weekend I took the first step and built the main keyboard surround with a friend, Mike Day, in his woodshop. It looks surprisingly like a cutdown B3 shell. Its got 3 sides, a base, and will sit on a keyboard/DJ table for stability.

 

Eventually (if I ever move from prototype phase to furniture phase) Id probably build nicer legs that match the décor. Heres the rendering I did in Sketchup:

http://www.patazzarello.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Keyboard-Desk-1.png

 

This past weekend I took the first step and built the main keyboard surround with a friend, Mike Day, in his woodshop. It looks surprisingly like a cutdown B3 shell. It's got 3 sides, a base, and will sit on a keyboard/DJ table for stability.

 

Eventually (if I ever move from prototype phase to "furniture" phase) I'd probably build nicer legs that match the decor.

 

The conduit and modules will take the rear half of the case. I didn't build them in because I'm not yet sure what the right height, distance, etc. will be (thus I'm calling it a prototype).

 

http://www.patazzarello.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/WP_20150301_001.jpg

 

http://www.patazzarello.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/WP_20150301_004.jpg

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  • 7 months later...

Quick re-purpose for my Gibraltar stuff. Got enough bits spare to fashion something to take out, I think...

 

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i10/adamburgess2004/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsifbsaf7t.jpeg

 

I thought correctly! Got a nice whole stupidly high standing height stand from the remaining bits. :-) They're both only single tier, obviously, but suiting me at the moment living without my Kronos :-( Never got a pic before leaving my apartment today...

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  • 1 year later...

Zombie thread alert!

 

OK, so for the past few years I've been gigging with a Stage 2 and an SK-1, and neither one wants to be the bottom keyboard, each having a bunch of controls on top. So I added a sliding upper tier to my K&M stand to remedy that issue. It didn't take long to get used to having the upper keyboard move if you applied rearward pressure.

 

Fast forward to now, and I just pulled the trigger on a Mojo 61. Sounds ballsy as hell. So far I like it a lot. It also has a nice blank area on top, and while I've always been used to having the piano keyboard on bottom, I thought I'd try doing something other than the sliding tier thing. These brackets were much easier to weld up than the crazy slidey things. They fit nicely into the stock upper tier receptacles.

 

http://www.oceanbeach.com/temp/mojo0.jpg

http://www.oceanbeach.com/temp/mojo1.jpg

 

This allows me to set the front edge of the Nord right on top of the Mojo, and the new brackets support the rear of the Nord. The Nord keyboard is a little bit of a reach but still manageable from a seated position. It will take some getting used to, but then so did the sliding thing. I also welded up a different mast to put the iPad clip on. That fits into a K&M accessory receptacle.

 

http://www.oceanbeach.com/temp/mojo2.jpg

http://www.oceanbeach.com/temp/mojo3.jpg

http://www.oceanbeach.com/temp/mojo4.jpg

 

While I was at it, I dealt with my missing foot. These K&M stands have adjustable feet, which is a threaded rod with a small ball at the end, and a plastic foot with a cup that fits over the ball and pivots. Problem is these plastic cups keeps falling off. I've been lucky to find the cup several times, but one finally got away from me. Rather than re-order a replacement from Germany - which I'd be sure to lose again eventually - I decided to fabricate something else. I found these plastic spheres at a hardware store. The K&M stand uses a metric (8mm x 1.25) thread, and the spheres have brass inserts that are threaded using Freedom Units. I decided to brute force it, and bought some 8mm bolts, filled the brass insert with JB Weld, and then stripped the bolts in as far as I could, and then sawed the heads off the bolts so they could be threaded into the metric threads on the bottom of each keyboard leg. None of this process was very pretty but I think it'll work.

 

http://www.oceanbeach.com/temp/mojo5.jpg

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Good job! I really should learn to weld some time.
You really should! It's fun and very satisfying, and would go very nicely with your excellent woodworking skills. And unlike woodworking where you often have to wait for glue to set, welding is much more instant-gratification. You only need to wait for the material to cool off to test it out. And steel is super cheap right now.

 

In the past few years I bought a mig welder and a sewing machine, and learned how to use them both. Even with my rudimentary skills, they've been immensely useful. I can't count the number of random projects that I suddenly had solutions for.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 10 months later...

I'm a big fan of rigging my own stuff -- I have a huge pile of the old USS tubes and fittings that I've cut to various lengths and reconfigured hundreds of times over the years (remember when USS offered them a la carte and called them "Thinkertoys"?), but I also have a pile of stands from the amazing to the crappy to the just plain weird. My studio's computer hutch has a tilted copy shelf that I've put various keyboards on, using bent coat hangers to hold them in place. I'm really digging all the great ideas here!

 

While we're bringing this (fantastic) thread back from the dead, has anyone tried any of the new stand lines that are out there in recent years? I am particularly thinking of the new stands that are distributed by Korg, the ultra lightweight ones from STAY in Brazil and the uber-fancy configurable ones from Sequenz? The STAY stands actually seemed really cool when I tried them at NAMM the year before Korg picked up the brand, but I wasn't able to find a dealer that sold them....

 

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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  • 2 years later...

This thread didn't die, it was only resting...

 

...so here's my latest adventure. Nothing as complex as some of the projects above, but still satisfying.

 

I bought a Stagg MXS-A3 keyboard stand last year, mainly because it was available at the bargain price of £40. While Stagg do offer a second tier (KXS-A3 is compatible, although this is not apparent on their website), it has very limited adjustability. Plus I like my "one-and-a-half tier" stands where the front of the upstairs board sits on the lower board, and the rear is supported by the keyboard stand.

 

I started out using a dismantled Quiklok QLX3 for that purpose, but it wasn't an exact fit (the Stagg uses 26mm tubing, while both Quiklok and K&M use 30mm, so I had to finagle a spacer from a plastic pipe coupler, not ideal). The KXS-A3 would fit, but is tricky to cut down (rectangular steel tubing is probably more than I want to get into). I then discovered the KSX2T by Gravity, which is compatible with 25-30mm tubes, and also has a circular upright, so relatively easy to cut with a simple pipe cutter. Admittedly I'm throwing away some value, but it was relatively inexpensive to start with.

 

Here's the Gravity second tier before I chopped it:

51388750808_10817d55e2.jpg

And after cutting down:

51388500101_330903c196.jpg

And on the stand, after I fitted a couple of bungs to the cut ends of tube. (the bungs were supplied with the Gravity tier, but I can't work out why?)

51387740592_7b4a331fd4.jpg

 

I had recently ordered a litle adapter that converts between 1/4in (camera/tripod) and 3/8in (microphone) threads. It's in the middle of the photo below, to the left of a clamp to fit a mic halfway up a mic stand (I've had it for years and never used it), and to the right of a smartphone holder with a 1/4in thread (which came with a ringlight that my employer sent me to improve video quality/lighting when working from home).

51388750438_6930219380.jpg

Assembled:

51389237769_2d100a03e0.jpg

 

I fitted the smartphone rig to one of the cut-down uprights and added my top board:

51389514120_df68161fcf.jpg

I like the clean compactness of the setup, and the ergonomics of the two boards and smartphone placed close together.

 

Regards, Mike.

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Nice work!
Thanks David - not in your league, I'm afraid, but I do get pleasure from tinkering with my little rig.

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

Hey there is no league. Anyone who creates stuff to make their gear do what they want is awesome.

 

:2thu:

David

Gig Rig:Casio Privia PX-5S | Yamaha MODX+ 6 | MacBook Pro 14" M1| Mainstage

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

Team KC, I need your advice once again. I want to mount a mic boom arm onto my hacked-down stand (see this post). Most of the obvious solutions (such as the On-Stage KSA7575) don't have a suitable mounting point. This pic shows what I've got to work with (the top of the upright supports my upper board).

IMG_5210.JPG

 

Years ago I bought a K&M 240/5, which allows a hexagonal bar (with mic thread) to be clamped to a tabletop or pipe, and I'm wondering if this can be pressed into service. However, if I attach it to the upright:

IMG_5211.thumb.JPG.9170c75eb16a04564be8486de7f43795.JPG

there is insufficient grip on the hexagonal bar to prevent it slipping down when supporting weight.

 

If I clamp the base of the hexagonal bar to the horizontal arm on my stand:

IMG_5212.thumb.JPG.c727c0de2b0c7e47ba3ba543398b16c6.JPG

there's obviously a lot of wobble at the top.

 

I would welcome any ideas from the hive mind...

 

Cheers, Mike.

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