# Wenger music stands sinking



## JonasAnderson (Oct 30, 2017)

Does anyone have experience with Wenger music stands sinking? We have about 80 of them and the older ones are getting a bit droopy - the desks on them sink whenever sheet music is placed on them, and there just doesn't seem to be any friction between the parts of the stem.

Has anyone experienced this before? Any solutions or ideas?

EDIT: We're using the Classic 50 stands - plastic desk and legs, metal stem.


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## venuetech (Oct 30, 2017)

Welcome to the forum!
A large binder clip will hold it in place.


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## TimMc (Oct 30, 2017)

JonasAnderson said:


> Does anyone have experience with Wenger music stands sinking? We have about 80 of them and the older ones are getting a bit droopy - the desks on them sink whenever sheet music is placed on them, and there just doesn't seem to be any friction between the parts of the stem.
> 
> Has anyone experienced this before? Any solutions or ideas?
> 
> EDIT: We're using the Classic 50 stands - plastic desk and legs, metal stem.



At the risk of impersonating Mr. Obviousman, have you contacted Wenger? They're usually very helpful with product questions.


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## MNicolai (Oct 30, 2017)

TimMc said:


> At the risk of impersonating Mr. Obviousman, have you contacted Wenger? They're usually very helpful with product questions.



This is my experience as well. While I have no idea who your rep would be down under, if you send me a PM I can put you in touch with my point person there. He's been very helpful in the past getting people in touch with the appropriate person on the inside.


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## MRW Lights (Oct 30, 2017)

Depending on the age, maintenance and use of your music stands there are some parts inside that will get tired and need replaced. Typically with the problem you're describing you're looking at tired / broken o-rings and or these compression slip collar thingys (pretty sure that's the technical term). As mentioned above contacting Wenger for replacement parts is your best bet and then spend some time on the bench taking them apart and putting them back together. The schools I work with will change out stands every several years... new stands for the concert hall and the old stands to the classrooms... that rotation tends to keep things running smoothly for many years.


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## JonasAnderson (Nov 1, 2017)

Thanks everyone. I've spoken to Wenger and their Australian distributor and they assure me that it's a case of tired parts needing to be replaced. I was hoping someone might have worked out a cheap way to fix it in the workshop, but it sounds like there's no DIY solution.

Thanks everyone!


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## TimMc (Nov 1, 2017)

JonasAnderson said:


> Thanks everyone. I've spoken to Wenger and their Australian distributor and they assure me that it's a case of tired parts needing to be replaced. I was hoping someone might have worked out a cheap way to fix it in the workshop, but it sounds like there's no DIY solution.
> 
> Thanks everyone!



I'd rather take the factory parts route. If I have problems I've got the manufacturer's people to assist, there is no worry about parts fitting. It might be more expensive than a DIY kludge but you've got reasonable assurance that the item will work correctly when the rebuild is complete.


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## AudJ (Nov 2, 2017)

Just replaced our remaining Wenger stands of that vintage with a different brand. Someone tried a couple do-it yourself options, none of which were permanent. I think the best was a clothespin on the silver part of the stand, which held up the desk. Really need to order the right parts. 

I haven't seen that happen with the newer ones, which seem to be better. When Manhassett is cheaper, lighter, adjustable, has readily available parts (some at the hardware store for pennies), and recently engineered out the only real flaws, it would be a hard sell for me to use a stand that has unexpectedly dumped piles of music all over the stage during performances in the past. I would stay with Wenger however, if you have windy outdoor performances and the extra weight would help.


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## John Palmer (Nov 13, 2017)

One venue I worked at used hose clamps. Picture below.
Inexpensive, adjustable, and stayed with the stand. They put the hose clamp around the post to keep it from slipping down into the stand.
Good luck.


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## venuetech (Nov 14, 2017)

I think the problem is that the " parts" is the whole shaft, both internal and external not just the clutch like you would find in a microphone stand. Even Manhasset is the same . Did you get a part # and price from wenger?


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## BillConnerFASTC (Nov 14, 2017)

John Palmer said:


> One venue I worked at used hose clamps. Picture below.
> Inexpensive, adjustable, and stayed with the stand. They put the hose clamp around the post to keep it from slipping down into the stand.
> Good luck.


How ironic.

(A bit of history. A long time ago Clancy manufactured hose clamps like these.)


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## Calc (Nov 14, 2017)

For those who stumble on this in the future, I'd like to note that the solution to the above is NOT to order these instead: https://www.wengercorp.com/stands/roughneck-stand.php

In spite of their name, the necks of these are the weakest part. While they do a great job of locking in the height of the stand, the grip mechanism is plastic. If there's too much stress, the bottom of the grip where it attaches to the post cracks and breaks. We bought 45 of them a few years back, and I've had to replace the necks on at least ten of them. This is in a college setting, with biweekly use- I can only imagine what using these in a high school daily would lead to.

To Wenger's credit, they keep shipping me replacement post/grip assemblies without hassle. Still, I'd recommend avoiding these.


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## gafftaper (Nov 15, 2017)

For those of you who, like me, are not exactly happy with the long term reliability of current products and have often wished for something better. I think the "Rat Stand" is worth looking into, they are a European company. We saw Rat Stands at USITT 2017 and @dvsDave and I were really impressed with the quality and cleverness of their products. Note I don't actually own one, I've only seen a trade show demo and played with one a bit there. But I was very impressed. 

The Alto stand is their standard classroom model, If I remember right it runs about $75 in the US. 


They next step up is the Performer stand. I'm not entirely clear on what the difference is (other than about $20). 


They also make some really fancy wood stands, chairs, lights, portable staging, and the coolest portable stand ever... The Jazz Stand


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## Roxie (Nov 24, 2019)

JonasAnderson said:


> Does anyone have experience with Wenger music stands sinking? We have about 80 of them and the older ones are getting a bit droopy - the desks on them sink whenever sheet music is placed on them, and there just doesn't seem to be any friction between the parts of the stem.
> 
> Has anyone experienced this before? Any solutions or ideas?
> 
> EDIT: We're using the Classic 50 stands - plastic desk and legs, metal stem.


Found something at Midwest - cheap and useful - called Standaconda.


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## cfisher (Apr 15, 2020)

JonasAnderson said:


> Does anyone have experience with Wenger music stands sinking? We have about 80 of them and the older ones are getting a bit droopy - the desks on them sink whenever sheet music is placed on them, and there just doesn't seem to be any friction between the parts of the stem.
> 
> Has anyone experienced this before? Any solutions or ideas?
> 
> EDIT: We're using the Classic 50 stands - plastic desk and legs, metal stem.


Look at a product called STANDACONDA = www.standaconda.com - designed just for this problem.


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