Could have been worse

[sonia]

As a college student, I took a semester of flute lessons. I didn't continue practicing after that, and eventually I gave my flute to a neighbor when I moved away from Oakland. I still have the Hamilton folding music stand I bought at the time.

I got it out today, and managed to scratch all the way across one lens of my glasses while wrestling to unfold it.
+ At least it was the glasses and not my eye!
- I need to replace the glasses
+ I got them from Zenni Optical, so it's not $500 to replace them
- With my prescription and the frames I picked, it's still around $80
+ I have a stronger and a weaker pair, and the other frames were working better for me, so I can order those instead (in a different color)
+ Also I had chosen the fog-free coating instead of the anti-reflective, and I was getting fog AND reflections. New pair will be anti-reflective.
- The pair that got scratched is the stronger one.
+ I can still wear them if necessary, and at least I have the weaker ones.
- It takes 2-3 weeks to get the new ones from Zenni.
+ I can afford $80, and I could do the whole thing online, so this is an annoyance rather than a disaster.

Possibly I need to replace the music stand to avoid a repeat incident. Or maybe oil the hinges? I'm not sure if this would be a case where the technology has improved, or whether the 34 year old version (!) is better-constructed.

ETA: I wrote to Hamilton Stands this morning since they appear to still be around, if not very tech-savvy judging by the website. We'll see if I get a reply about lubrication or replacement.

Comments

[silveradept]

Folding stands, for me, have always had the problem of being too stiff in the joints until they're too loose in the joints. More solid unibody stands that can't be folded are instead most prone to listing and needing their central column nut tightened. So it's a question of what you'd like to have to deal with and what your needs in a stand are.

[sonia]

This is good info, thanks! So the stiffness is inherent and you wouldn't advise putting, say, bike chain oil in the joints? Seems like that would get messy anyway.

I like that this one folds away completely since I don't use it much. I might leave it up for a while and think about whether I want a more solid one. If I'm not un/folding it this one will work fine for a while longer, I think. Reading Amazon reviews, it seems like this one is better made than its modern brethren.

[silveradept]

I haven't owned a folding stand in my life to get to the point of considering oiling or otherwise lubricating or tightening/loosening things, sorry. But the newer ones I've used are all stiff, yes. Eventually, as they loosen up, the stand starts having problems where it wants to fold past level, which is no help at all when you're trying to put sheet music on it. I don't know how that part gets fixed, since it never really was fixed for the institutions that had that problem in their materials.

[sonia]

Good to know that too stiff is better than too loose. Maybe I just need to work on my unfolding technique!

[silveradept]

I had great technique, but sometimes the stands are just very stiff and will eventually work themselves looser.