Low-cost Tuba Stand

van · Post by **van** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:30 pm

I recently bought a Conn 36J (with no case) on that auction site and I was getting tired of stumbling over it as it lay on the floor in our spare room. I didn't want to invest heavily in a monster tuba stand since I'm not sure I'm going to have a long term relationship with the horn, but I realized I needed to do something to get it up off the floor.
Since I get most of my inspiration wandering the aisles at Home Depot, I went there one rainy day last week. Sure enough after a few minutes I spied the perfect (?) solution. I bought a wooden sawhorse for $13.99, inverted it and used my trusty jigsaw to create a custom shaped cutout in the mid-height 1 x 10 brace to accomodate the body of the horn (see the result at http://xs12.xs.to/pics/05035/100_0310.JPG). The shape of the cutout was not critical as long as it roughly fit the horn. I started deliberately too small and made a few additional cuts to get it "just right".
Some improvements I could make, but probably won't, include adding felt or rubber to the inside surface of the cutout to protect the horn's finish, adding a plywood base to give it more front-to-back stability and painting it a color to match the decor of the room. I also could saw off the legs but then I couldn't use it as a sawhorse when I no longer have the horn.
Any other thoughts on improvements or similar low cost stands?

Lew · Post by **Lew** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 7:32 am

I don't remember seeing that one for sale. That looks like an unusually large bell. Is it larger than 24"?

van · Post by **van** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 3:31 pm

I don't remember seeing that one for sale. That looks like an unusually large bell. Is it larger than 24"?

The bell is 26". I bought it back in early November for a very reasonable "buy it now" price sort of on a lark. It had only been up for bid for about two hours late at night so I don't think many people saw it. Now I need to take it to a repair pro to evaluate it. It plays generally flat and may have a leak. But it plays pretty well in tune with itself (by my amateur ears) and has a very sweet sounding high range. My MW 18 seems like a pea shooter compared to this monster.