Sticky dash pad vs playing stand

[MikeMason]

Slow day on the net. Thought I would share. I've always been a slide puller. I just want to buzz my best buzz, right down the middle, and have the tuba be the right length for the desired pitch,without too much lipping. This means the left arm is minimally available for holding up the tuba. First few 10-15 years of my playing,I used corner of chair,but all chairs are different,and sometimes chair corners"shrink" over the years .i went to a deg stand around 15 years ago and then to a Hercules. Last 5 or so years, my left shoulder has been hurting after long sessions. Just a month or 2 ago I decided to research and try something new. I came across threads about sticky shelf liner. Got some, tried, works good, but I always seemed to be dropping on ground. Ran across another thread about the sticky dash pad method. I guess these were more popular in the early days of cell phones before they all had grippy cases and now cars actually have grippy console areas to keep stuff from sliding around. You can still find them though. Possibly the highest profile proponent of this idea is Chris Olka. I ordered 2 extra large ones on amazon. They are very sticky/grippy, but in a way that leaves no residue. No adhesive needed. Sticks to the tuba where you put it and then to the inside of your thigh. Locks it very firmly in place where you put the tuba. My shoulder angle is much better now and the pain is greatly reduced. I've also reduced weight in my gigbag and prevented future bell dings as I stored the stand inside bell in the deg cone shaped bag,which caused some denting. I'm using the second one I bought around very bottom of bow to cushion when I set tuba there during rests. Very happy for 20$ for both. I actually think smaller/cheaper ones would work very well too. I've learned a ton on tubenet and thought I would pass this tip on. Not my idea,just an affirmation.