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Double Bass Wooden, Cradle-Type Bass Stands

Steve Freides

Former Mannes College Theory Faculty
Supporting Member
Dec 11, 2007
2,576
1,508
Ridgewood, NJ

Anyone used and care to comment?


I'm considering it as an alternative to another one of these ...


... which I bought a few weeks ago from a fellow TB'er and am very happy with. My main reason to looking at the more minimalist wooden bass stand is price.

For a standard size 3/4 bass.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

-S-
 
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Reactions: Don Hergert
I haven’t used it, but shipping anything from Europe that’s over a pound, kind of negates any savings. Looking at that stand, it would appear to be less stable than your current Amazon stand only from the physical height aspect. But might work better with your living room decor. Have you thought about a Hercules stand? Well built. I personally use a K&M double bass stand. Both of these are less expensive than that nice wooden box you already own.

 
I have a K&M and a Hercules.

The Hercules is the most stable (after a room corner or corner between stable cabinet and the wall), but you need to lift the bass up to get in and if your endpin is long outside when you play, you need to get it in a bit before moving it on the stand. No problem with my 4/4 and 172 cm body height.

The K & M is OK, but only if it is at a place where kids or careless people won’t catch the bass by running through or by accident. This is my crowded stage stand, I use the Hercules when I have lots of room.

A cradle stand should have a plank at the bottom in the middle with a hole for the endpin. A bit less easy to insert, but holds it better. You also need to take the endpin in on this kind of stand unless you built one yourself with the height you need and hope that you can still lift the bass high enough the insert the endpin there.
 
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Kids, pets, substance-compromised bluegrass jammers, mindless band members or IEM-clad sound people, etc... They all need to carry Walking-Dead Double Bass Liability Insurance (WDDBLI). I'd add windy outdoor situations to that, because double basses are really just big balloons with less helium.

I have a K&M and I have an Ingles that I've modified to keep the legs apart. I wouldn't use either -- unprotected -- around any of the above mobile entities or situations, with or without the WDDBLI. I do use my Ingles at home, tucked between our piano and a music-stand / mic-stand fence that keeps the cats and little dog away. Our sons are grown and know better. I bring the K&M camping and have used it onstage a few times just to keep my DB upright and more out of the way, but I watch it like a starved rottweiler and the sound people can hear me growl from their perch in the audience if anyone gets too close to it. Unmolested, both the K&M and the Ingles are respectable stands, but neither of them will hold up to a stiff wind or a drunk walking backwards while playing a Dobro.

To me, the best stand isn't a stand -- inside a room or building it's either the floor with the instrument on its side in a protected corner, or it's standing up in that corner itself with a bungee chord safety belt. Outside, it's a large camping table with a towel spread on top of it, and my DB laying on its back on the table and towel with the scroll hanging off, somewhere out of the wind and away from foot traffic. I've also thought about using a handicap Port-a-Potty with the door closed and latched, but those are pretty rare and on a hot day, well never mind.

If this sounds obsessive, it is. Just imagine how much worse I'd be if my double bass was made of wood!
 
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Reactions: Wasnex and AGCurry
Yes, the wall holder is a good solution as well … for home use if it is anchored to the wall very well and deeply.
And you don’t want to restructure the room in this region or move the bass to a different room too much often or for longer time periods (unless there is a free corner).
The wall holder not a portable solution.
 
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Reactions: Tom Lane
Kids, pets, substance-compromised bluegrass jammers, mindless band members or IEM-clad sound people, etc... ...
The elderly band members who have ZERO situational awareness are my biggest worry.

"Jim, you're hung up on a wire."
"Jim, Jim, Jim, look down.."
"JIM!!! WIRE!!!! JIM!!! WIRE!!!"

[cue microphone stands, instruments falling over]

"huh?"

As hard as I try never to run a wire where one of these gents might shuffle into it, sometimes it's just unavoidable. That in itself may be enough to induce me to go wireless, but a toppling mike stand with a heavy mike on it can sure do a number to your double bass, too.
 
Yup... Unfortunately on stage I can be one of those old gents too... Mobility problems anyway, and all kinds of cables on the stage floor. At least my vision is good and I try to watch where I'm stepping.

That is exactly one of the main reasons I've gone wireless with my DB. Just plug in a transmit dongle or two on the DB (I have both a piezo and a mic that are accessed separately), and hand the receiver dongle(s) over to the sound guy. They just work, and then the DB is completely mobile, with less cables on the stage floor. None of our band's other instruments are cabled either, so that helps too.
 
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