Stand for a tuba?

[JALLEN]

I have a King 2341. Due to the ravages of old age and decrepitude, and back problems, I am looking for a tuba stand to set the tuba on while I play. I find I get very uncomfortable sitting in a chair holding the tuba to play, for 2 hours at rehearsals.

I just received a Yamaha Airlift Tuba Stadium stand, which doesn't come close to fitting the King. I specifically asked to be sure the stand was for a King 2341, but it is not. It is going back in the morning.

Are there any stands out there that I can try? We used to have sousaphone stands in high school that were marvels of sturdiness, flexible positioning, lightweight, and on rollers.

TIA

Jim Allen

[Rick Denney]

Are there any stands out there that I can try? We used to have sousaphone stands in high school that were marvels of sturdiness, flexible positioning, lightweight, and on rollers.

Do you want to prop the instrument up so that you can just use your arms to balance it, or do you want to hold the instrument securely without needing any additional support?

The latter needs a Wenger Tuba Tamer. (Nothing light about it, though.)

http://www.wengercorp.com/Chairs/Tuba.html

The former needs a Baltimore Brass stand:

http://www.baltimorebrass.net/index.php?cat=11

Rick "who uses the latter for his Holton" Denney

[ralphbsz]

At my son's recent district honors band concert, one other tuba player had a Hercules stand that held the tuba in place while playing. The tuba was full-sized (a 4/4 St Petersburg, 4 rotaries), not a student model, so that stand should be able to handle a King 2341.

There is only one tuba stand in the Hercules catalog, model DS552B. But I'm not sure that the stand we saw at the band concert it that model; the DS552B in the catalog looks to be too light to handle a tuba while playing. On the other hand, it's pretty cheap (about $50 at Amazon). Maybe worth trying?

[sailn2ba]

The Yamaha stands come in 2 sizes. . . 3/4 and 4/4. ???
I have an ancient stand I got with an old Conn years ago. It holds my Cerv 686 and a 601 very solidly. Unfortunately, it's rusty and I can't tell who made it.

[Phil Dawson]

I got a K&M stand from the Horn Guys in CA. It has worked ver well for me. You can see pictures on their website. Good luck, Phil

[JALLEN]

Do you want to prop the instrument up so that you can just use your arms to balance it, or do you want to hold the instrument securely without needing any additional support?

The latter needs a Wenger Tuba Tamer. (Nothing light about it, though.)

http://www.wengercorp.com/Chairs/Tuba.html

The former needs a Baltimore Brass stand:

http://www.baltimorebrass.net/index.php?cat=11

Rick "who uses the latter for his Holton" Denney

That Wenger is a beast, isn't it? That is the kind of thing I want. It looks like new they are $500+! Yikes! It weighs as much as the tuba.

I have the K&M stand to set it on in between playing. That won't do for my present purpose.

I first bought the Hercules stand. It was flimsy and would not hold the tuba while playing as far as I could tell.

The Yamaha comes in two sizes. I got the one supposedly for a King 2341, a 4/4, piston tuba, but it didn't fit. It appeared to be backwards and flipping it around didn't help. I should have video'd the two hours I spent last night wrestling this thing.... I could have made $10,000 on AFHV! What a fiasco!

Thanks for the replies. Keep 'em coming.

[Gilligan]

I'll recommend the DEG Handy Tuba Rest. It's light weight and easy on the budget at $79 through woodwing&brasswind.

[Elbee]

I've used the DEG for years. Only had to replace the top clamping screw. (beware anything steel with a plastic handle!

[van]

At my son's recent district honors band concert, one other tuba player had a Hercules stand that held the tuba in place while playing. The tuba was full-sized (a 4/4 St Petersburg, 4 rotaries), not a student model, so that stand should be able to handle a King 2341.

There is only one tuba stand in the Hercules catalog, model DS552B. But I'm not sure that the stand we saw at the band concert it that model; the DS552B in the catalog looks to be too light to handle a tuba while playing. On the other hand, it's pretty cheap (about $50 at Amazon). Maybe worth trying?

I used the Hercules stand (DS552B) for several months while recovering from a shoulder injury. I have a 191 clone (rather big around but not very tall) and it worked well with the following caveats:
1. I had to use a 30" stool (maybe it was 27") to sit on rather than a regular chair.
2. There was a specific adjustment in stand height that I arrived at by trial and error to match my lips to the height of the mouthpiece. Once determined, I marked the adjustment shaft so I could repeat the right position each time (for the same stool and same horn).
3. I probably could have left the horn on the stand during rehearsal break but it was safer to remove it and put it on the floor.
4. With bifocals, I had some trouble maintaining the right relationship between eyeballs, small aperture for the bifocal and the printed page when reading the music from top to bottom or on multiple pages. This could probably be rectified by having single prescription lenses (or no glasses). As it is, I'm much better off holding the horn and moving it around as I need to follow the printed page.

Hope this helps.

Bob Van Alstine (getting older and blinder by the minute)

[aqualung]

I had to move down a section and play a couple of brassband concerts on a behemoth 993.

At the suggestion of a section mate, I used an inverted 5 gallon plastic bucket.

[sloan]

I'll recommend the DEG Handy Tuba Rest. It's light weight and easy on the budget at $79 through woodwing&brasswind.

2nd best repair for a DEG stand: replace the clamp with a bicycle seat post quick-release.

1st best repair for a DEG stand: replace it with a Baltimore Brass stand.

[Rick Denney]

4. With bifocals, I had some trouble maintaining the right relationship between eyeballs, small aperture for the bifocal and the printed page when reading the music from top to bottom or on multiple pages. This could probably be rectified by having single prescription lenses (or no glasses). As it is, I'm much better off holding the horn and moving it around as I need to follow the printed page.

I never could make bifocals (now trifocals) work for me. I know wear music glasses. My eyesight isn't so bad that I can't function with those glasses, but the conductor is sort of soft around the edges.

Rick "who has to do the same thing for computer monitors" Denney

[tofu]

I never could make bifocals (now trifocals) work for me. I know wear music glasses. My eyesight isn't so bad that I can't function with those glasses, but the conductor is sort of soft around the edges.

Rick "who has to do the same thing for computer monitors" Denney

What are "music glasses"?

[Rick Denney]

What are "music glasses"?

Glasses corrected for about arm's length--about the distance from my face to the music stand. The whole lens has that correction, so I use them only for playing music.

Rick "who keeps them in his tuba case" Denney

[gwwilk]

What are "music glasses"?

Glasses corrected for about arm's length--about the distance from my face to the music stand. The whole lens has that correction, so I use them only for playing music.

Rick "who keeps them in his tuba case" Denney

This sounds like an effective solution to presbyopia (old eyes that can't focus anymore). My 'music glasses' have my normal correction for high myopia (nearsightedness) and astigmatism (asymmetrical lens) along with a very high, very very large bifocal pane. This enables me to see both the music and the conductor since the bifocal line falls at the top of my music folder on its stand, and I don't have to 'point' with my head like I do with my normal varifocal (no line) lenses. My music glasses are clipped via their soft, open-end case to the bottom of my music stand. When I put them on, my normal glasses go into the case on the stand. I keep my music stand very high so I can see the conductor 'out of the corner of my eye' at all times and use him like a visual metronome.

To get back on topic, I use a K&M playing stand at home and keep a Baltimore Brass Stand in my accessory bag for use away from home. Because I practice while sitting on a Roc'nSoc drum throne with backrest, which is quite high, the K&M stand's height works well there. You can see the setup in my avatar. Both stands adjust easily for use with either of the tubas you see there.

[Rick Denney]

This sounds like an effective solution to presbyopia (old eyes that can't focus anymore). My 'music glasses' have my normal correction for high myopia (nearsightedness) and astigmatism (asymmetrical lens) along with a very high, very very large bifocal pane.

I'm not near-sighted but my eyes are old enough not to be able to focus on their own very well, and I do suffer from astigmatism. I looked into the sorts of glasses you describe, which used to be called "executive glasses" back in the day. But I could not find anyone who would make them. The lens blanks all mold the bifocal/trifocal/progressive close-up magnifiers on the front side of the blank, and the prescription is ground into the back side of the blank. None of the blanks these days have magnifiers that are big enough to do what you describe.

But it's easy for an optician to add the magnifier diopter to the prescription correction to make special "reading" glasses.

Another issue with me is that I can only fuse my eyes into binocular vision when my eyes are point straight or up. When I point my eyes down, they diverge. I need the "reading" part in the upper half of the lens for music. For reading a book through my trifocals, I have to close an eye.

I can see the conductor well enough through them, thought that might be a bigger problem if I was near-sighted.

Rick "whose embouchure has been affected by the need to close an eye--creating a squint--while playing" Denney

[sloan]

As Rick knows - I used to use (and extol the virtues of) "Executive" lenses. Alas, my friendly optician told me that they were getting harder to find, and it was always an adventure trying to explain to the student optician (actually, usually an Optometry student) *why* I wanted the "line" to be above the pupil.

so...I finally gave up, and now use "single vision" lenses optimized for 1 meter. For me, these work great. I have a relatively mild correction, and my main problem is presbyopia.

My normal lenses are "progressive". These work great near and far - but are worst in the middle
distance. I can often read *some* of my music when I forget my "music glasses" - but it's always
a challenge.

Another option: my son needs no correction, per se - but spend a lot of time looking at music and reported that he was feeling eyestrain. His eye doc prescribed lenses that magnify, but don't do any "correction".

My main problem, now, is that I can see reasonably well with *either* pair of glasses, and often forget which one I'm wearing, and forget to change them either before or after playing. The difference isn't really apparent to me until I start to push the limits - and then it's sometimes inconvenient to makd the change.

Given what we pay for instruments, my opinion is that it is short sighted (heh) to not bite the bullet and get a pair of glasses optimized for playing music. For me, that means single-vision
lenses that make the music 1 meter from my head look perfect (and perhaps make the conductor a bit fuzzy).

[JALLEN]

Does anyone remember the sousaphone stands which were on rollers, could be adjusted up down, tilt etc? I used these in school and when I played in a polka band in the '60's. They were tough, relatively light, portable and ideal if I could find the model for a tuba.

I tried the Hercules but it was not suitable. The stands where the tuba merely rests on a padded support aren't either, as you still have to support the tuba from falling over, etc.

I wonder if there isn't a market for a tuba stand like this?

[Wyvern]

What are "music glasses"?

Glasses corrected for about arm's length--about the distance from my face to the music stand. The whole lens has that correction, so I use them only for playing music.

Rick "who keeps them in his tuba case" Denney

That is exactly what I use for music playing also. Mine I have so they tint in the sun, ideal for outdoor gigs without needing sun glasses.

[mcfolks]

I have a 2341, and use the Baltimore Brass stand- it works great. I installed cane tips on the ends of the fold down legs for better stability, and an additional collar with wing nut on the main 'shaft' as a second saftey stop. So far the 'primary' lock knob has held great, but I worry about it failing, and making a sudden drop (which ANY stand COULD do). Actually, I have the BB unit and also a DEG. The BB goes with the horn to rehearsals and performances, and the DEG stays in the practice room always set to the height I use with the same chair- saves set up time!