Crafty Gizmos Deluxe Adjustable Folding Music Stand with Carrying Bag (Yellow)

This portable, heavy weight music stand rocks! I am a working trombonist in the San Francisco Bay area, and I have very specific demands from a music stand. First, most of my gigs require a stand that can hold a music book with hundreds of charts. Light-weight stands simply cannot handle these loads. This stand is heavy duty and is up to the challenge. Second, many of my gigs are outdoors in windy venues or on small stages where other musicians tend to bump my stand. Again, this heavy weight stand can handle the performing environment without tipping over. Third, I play in the San Francisco Bay area. That means most of my gigs require a nightly commute of 60-100 miles one way, in heavy traffic. Thus, I commute via motorcycle. This stand easily folds into a nice bag that is small enough to strap on to my motorcycle seat along with my horn. In my world, portability is a must, and this stand comes thru with flying colors. Before purchasing this product, I carefully read the background info provided by the Crafty Gizmos folding music stand's creator. He made his intentions very clear - to provide working musicians with a heavy duty stand that is also highly portable and very affordable. In response to that vision, I say "Well Done!!!" My recommendation . . . buy this stand.

I meet regularly with an ukulele club in a local park during the summer. My old music stand couldn’t handle uneven surfaces, wind or heavy music books. After some research, this stand from Crafty Gizmos seemed like a nice mix of features for the price.I’ve had the stand now for several months and used it pretty much weekly. It has met my needs beautifully. I doesn’t blow over in the wind. It can stay stable on grass, gravel and/or concrete. It also can handle a large music book. It has met all my needs for a portable music stand. Several times, my music stand was the only one left standing in our group after a big gust of wind. If I didn’t already have a regular heavy duty music stand at home, this would meet my needs for both.I thought I might have some problems with the latches because I have some arthritis issues and they are well built and a little tight when it comes out of the box. But once I go the hang of how to set it up, I seriously haven’t thought about it since that first day. A younger child might have some problems in this area or if your hands are really weak. I like that the latches hold the stand up the way you want. It doesn’t slip or change position once you tighten everything down.Some cons, small cons for me, are that it doesn’t fold down as small as my old stand. You can see in the picture that it is actually bigger than my ukulele. Also heavier. The latches and knobs might be an issue for some folks but I quickly adapted, even with my arthritis. The clips to hold music can fail if it is really windy. I carry a few extra clips for those rare occasions that the built in ones are not enough. The carrying case isn’t as durable as I would like. The case is already starting to show some wear and the zipper is giving me some issues. I figure I will have to come up with an alternative in the near future. None of these issues make me regret my purchase and I would buy it again.

The two music stands arrived exactly when they were supposed to. Both my son and I like! Nicely finished, no sharp corners, moving and sliding parts slide smoothly with no scraping, hefty without being overly heavy or clumsy, easy to assemble and disassemble, even without the directions, sturdy, and love the wide and deep shelf and full sized back for the music. I typically have several music books plus sheet music, and it is so nice not to need extra spring clips everywhere to hold things -- with my old folding stick stand I would have sheet music flying all over the place every practice session because clips would slip off the bars. No more. Also, I can bump into this stand and not knock it over or have it collapse or get hooked by a metal bar like with the old stand.I can tell a lot of thought and effort went into this stand's design. The legs are just the width of the shelf, so they support the stand very well, but don't stick out far enough to trip anyone. The long upright is very sturdy, and allows the stand to easily extend to a height were I can stand at it, and still support all my music. The upright is also comfortable to grab and hold, being made from wider tube than typical folding music stands. The clips for the music are real springs, and they swivel completely out of the way if needed, or will hold the full thickness of all my music without having to bend them into pretzels like the old stand. The plastic knobs and controls fit my hands well and are comfortable to hold and to use.So the stand is excellent -- five stars. We will see about the bag. Zippered bags make me nervous if the handles don't wrap around the bottom and sides, as with this bag. I suspect it will probably be ok because the stand is not that heavy, but bags usually get mistreated more than their contents. I can see the weight doubling if I try to cram music in with the stand, which will happen, even though I know that is not what the bag is meant for. Also, in my experience, really fine zippers (as used on this bag) get chewed up quickly or pull apart and jam after some use. The coarser, heavier zippers seem to last longer. This is not a complaint -- I have not experienced any issues yet, but the bag makes me just a bit nervous.