My first music stand

[Ollie McDottie]

As I had written in a previous post, there are two definitive projects that I feel are imperative to any fine furniture maker: chair and music stand. Although I made the music stand first, I had just finished my chair last week when I posted it -- I suppose just giddy with the completion. Now I present the music stand. Another work in maple and walnut, with just a touch of ebony. This too was entirely my own design, but obviously drawing inspiration from the obvious folks.

Design choices: no articulating tray and a fixed height. As a musician, I made this stand for myself. I designed and made several prototypes for both adjustable height and tray angle, but I made this for seated guitar playing, and the fact of the matter is that in 30+ years of guitar playing, once I get a music stand, I set in the height and tray angle, then I crank the knobs to nearly breaking them so they never move a millimeter. Also, I wanted to craft something of supremely simple and utilitarian beauty.

Since making it, I often look at it think of the various things it reminds me in its appearance. At first, from the back it looked like a rocket taking off, made me think of Bowie. Now mostly looking at it from the front, I am reminded of a waiter holding a large menu from which I am to select a wine, especially given it's oversized tray -- another design choice because I hated my music, iPad, and pencils, falling off or through.

Overall a fun but challenging build. Attachment 435399Attachment 435400Attachment 435401Attachment 435402Attachment 435403

[Stan Calow]

Thanks for sharing Ollie, it looks great. The first thing that came to mind is that you should make a couple of guitar stands to match.

[Rob Luter]

Nice. Is that a 12 string ES-335?

[Jim Becker]

Beautiful work...the legs are really gracious! Nice music room, too.

[Ollie McDottie]

Wow. Good eye. Indeed it is. Gibson made these in the late 60s. But all they did was take their 335 and double the strings on them. So they were super hard to play. Consequentially, most people who bought them often just converted them to 6 strings. Took them a few decades, but Gibson eventually did a limited one or two year reissue in 2012/13. This time with just a slightly larger nut, which made all the difference. A few years ago, I saw Paul McCartney perform and his guitarist, the brilliant Rusty Anderson, was playing one of these. It sounded incredible, and seemed to play as easy as a 6 string. Took me a couple years of scouring the world until I found a mint condition, nearly never played one just outside of London. Original case, paperwork, everything perfect. Smelled like it had just come off the line. And I love it. Fantastic tone. Lots of interesting electronic options. Low action. Truly plays like a 6 string. And actually stays in tune. If you’re ever looking for an electric 12-string, I wouldn’t even think of anything else.

[Phil Mueller]

Beautiful design and super nice execution. Love the complimentary wood choices. I’ve sometimes wondered when sitting in front of a three legged music stand, if it wouldn’t be better to have the two legs go back and the one leg coming forward in front so the chair can straddle the leg and give more room for feet. Was that a consideration?

[David Eisenhauer]

Nice, elegant, understated - and practical to boot. What more could you ask for?

[Ollie McDottie]

Beautiful design and super nice execution. Love the complimentary wood choices. I’ve sometimes wondered when sitting in front of a three legged music stand, if it wouldn’t be better to have the two legs go back and the one leg coming forward in front so the chair can straddle the leg and give more room for feet. Was that a consideration?

Thank you for the kind words. It was a consideration. When making this thing I had every music stand I own in my shop with me. I sat in front of all of them and experimented for days. Ultimately I went with this design because I also play the trumpet, and am usually standing for that. I realized that I didn't want to have anything in front of my feet to accidentally kick when leaning forward at times to read some note I scrawled on the sheets. Also, in my music studio the music stand sits between my computer and keyboard and the piano. I often hop of one and on to the other -- again wanted the pathway clear.