After a few cheap and cheerful music stands fell apart on me I decided it was time to get something a little more robust. Looking around during my band rehearsals I noticed that although a few people were making do with the cheap flimsy stands most had opted for or a more substantial stand with a big perforated aluminium music desk. I had originally thought of getting one of these non-collapsible desk types but it was yet another big item to find a home for. Instead I decided to seek out a collapsible desk type, but one that had the more solid construction of the non-collapsible desk types. My search led me quite quickly to the K&M 10810 music stand, which I bought in January 2008 for about £40.
The stand has a good height range from 72cm to just over 1.5 meters, which easily covers both sitting and standing situations. Apparently it weighs in at 2.9 kg and is made out of steel that’s been powder coated. The music desk is 50cm by 24cm, which means that it can comfortably handle music that spreads over two or three pages.
The construction is reassuringly solid, it’s not going to fall over or collapse on you. The height adjustment knobs are easy to use, they grip well and don’t need any force to get a good lock, added to which they don’t mark the stand either.
The base has good rubber feet that grip well on all the surfaces I’ve used it on, the legs themselves are substantial and well braced without being cumbersome.
I sometimes load the stand up with a mains powered LED light, a microphone and a microphone boom that clamps onto the stem. The lyre that I clamp the light onto isn't the stiffest thing in the world, and occasionally needs straightening.
I don’t leave my music stand set up so it gets put up and collapsed daily and each week gets bumped around in the boot of my car, no doubt coming into contact with the sax case every now and then.There is however a weakness in the stand that is rather fundamental to its operation, the pivot lock that holds the desk to the stand and sets the angle has over time become increasingly less reliable.
When I first bought the stand it was as reassuringly solid as the rest of the stand and utterly dependable, however it has on several occasions slipped and cascaded all my music onto the floor. Last week for example in a band rehearsal I was flicking through my music folder for the next piece when and the whole desk swung back throwing all the music off the stand and under the chair of the alto player in front of me. Admittedly there is sometimes a significant amount of music on the stand and perhaps I’m not being too fair with this criticism
I can see where the problem is by looking at the pivot point construction, on the stand section there is a grooved domed protrusion of metal that fits into a corresponding cup on the desk part. The cup is made of plastic and originally had ridges that have now, more or less been ground smooth.
Originally the grove and ridges would lock in place but as the ridges have worn away the pivot point lock is now relying on pressure and friction to prevent it slipping. The stand is still usable but I have to remember to make sure that locking knob is quite tight and to rock the pivot joint to ensure I’ve not married up what’s remaining of a ridge in the cup with a high point on the dome protrusion, once this is done it’s fine.
It’s a shame because in all other respects I think it’s a great stand, it has a decent height range, it looks the part, it is well constructed and packs up as small as can be reasonably expected. This joint just seems to be a weak point and has probably been exacerbated by my continual setting up and packing away. The stand still has plenty of life in it and now I know what I need to do to make sure it doesn’t slip I don’t think it’s going to prove anymore of a problem, nor do I think it’s going to get any worse.
All Photographs by Chris98
The construction is reassuringly solid, it’s not going to fall over or collapse on you. The height adjustment knobs are easy to use, they grip well and don’t need any force to get a good lock, added to which they don’t mark the stand either.
The base has good rubber feet that grip well on all the surfaces I’ve used it on, the legs themselves are substantial and well braced without being cumbersome.
I sometimes load the stand up with a mains powered LED light, a microphone and a microphone boom that clamps onto the stem. The lyre that I clamp the light onto isn't the stiffest thing in the world, and occasionally needs straightening.
I don’t leave my music stand set up so it gets put up and collapsed daily and each week gets bumped around in the boot of my car, no doubt coming into contact with the sax case every now and then.There is however a weakness in the stand that is rather fundamental to its operation, the pivot lock that holds the desk to the stand and sets the angle has over time become increasingly less reliable.
When I first bought the stand it was as reassuringly solid as the rest of the stand and utterly dependable, however it has on several occasions slipped and cascaded all my music onto the floor. Last week for example in a band rehearsal I was flicking through my music folder for the next piece when and the whole desk swung back throwing all the music off the stand and under the chair of the alto player in front of me. Admittedly there is sometimes a significant amount of music on the stand and perhaps I’m not being too fair with this criticism
I can see where the problem is by looking at the pivot point construction, on the stand section there is a grooved domed protrusion of metal that fits into a corresponding cup on the desk part. The cup is made of plastic and originally had ridges that have now, more or less been ground smooth.
Originally the grove and ridges would lock in place but as the ridges have worn away the pivot point lock is now relying on pressure and friction to prevent it slipping. The stand is still usable but I have to remember to make sure that locking knob is quite tight and to rock the pivot joint to ensure I’ve not married up what’s remaining of a ridge in the cup with a high point on the dome protrusion, once this is done it’s fine.
It’s a shame because in all other respects I think it’s a great stand, it has a decent height range, it looks the part, it is well constructed and packs up as small as can be reasonably expected. This joint just seems to be a weak point and has probably been exacerbated by my continual setting up and packing away. The stand still has plenty of life in it and now I know what I need to do to make sure it doesn’t slip I don’t think it’s going to prove anymore of a problem, nor do I think it’s going to get any worse.
All Photographs by Chris98
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