Upright Bass stand for a Niece

[grobkuschelig]

My girlfriend‘s niece wanted a stand for her upright bass.
They had seen some pine boxes other people build for stand the bass in.

I looked for inspiration on the web and found a couple of websites and threads for other designs, with some added benefits compared to the „big boxes“:
- thinner shape, less bulky, nicer to look at in my opinion
- less material used (wood and cushion)
- comparably quick to build
- less height to overcome during use (niece is still small)

So I went ahead and got approval for a design change and built the stand below.
First time I inlayed cork into wood.
Wood used: Beech (Body, crossmember and dowels)
Cushion: 4mm cork plate

I made a template to route the shape and a template for the cork inlay. The cork was glued with contact adhesive. Holds nicely and was easy to machine (route/sand).
The hole in the cross member is there to slide in the extendable foot of the bass.

Overall I am pleased with how it turned out (despite some hopefully almost completely hidden marks when I did forget to wait for the router to stop completely before getting into wood-contact again. Stupid me...)

The bass stands nicely in the stand. The niece is happy and the parents like optics.

I wanted to share this, just in case, anyone here might have a need for something similar.

 

[ear3]

Nice call on the cork!  How did you avoid dripping glue on the cork during the glue up?

 

[Vondawg]

Love that look..cork/beech..I think a guitar stand like this is in my future
And I second the glue question and what kind?

 

[NL-mikkla]

Did you inlay the cork?
Also curious here as to what glue you used  [big grin]
Looks very clean, great job!

 

[grobkuschelig]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

Yes I inlayed the cork. I have a top-bearing flush trim bit that fits the MFK700 and makes it easy to clean out the 3-4mm of material when using a template.
The cork was 500mm wide and I used the complete width for the inlay.

After inlaying, I went around the „seam“ between wood and cork with some wood filler. Made a whole lot of difference in the visual appearance of the inlay! Total recommendation!

I used „UHU“ brand (available here in Germany) contact adhesive.
Basically the „fluid“ (not gel) type of leather-contact adhesive which is stated to stay flexible...
Worked a treat. Does not „soak“ into the cork like PVA glue would.

Just put it on both pieces (wood and cork, plus the corners/edges of the inlay), wait 10-15mins until dry, press together, be happy.

For the 30mm diameter dowels, I pre-cut the cork in the length of circumference, same procedure as above.
The „seam“ runs along the dowel and is turned downwards/inwards to be hidden from plain sight.

All oiled with Festool Surfix HD, including the cork.

 

[mrFinpgh]

Very nice. 

I was a professional double bassist for about a decade, and I never had anything as nice as that.  Your girlfriend's niece must be delighted.

One caution I would have is that this type of stand does hold the instrument in a vertical position, so there is always some risk of tipping.  Having seen the results of someone's $30k instrument falling over  [scared] it's worth thinking about adding some kind of strap to the wall that can go around the neck. 

 

[NL-mikkla]

Maybe the hole in the bottom (I presume some sort of stand is placed in there) will prevent the tipping?
Tipping forward may still be an issue.
Attaching a 50cent strap to a 30K instrument is always a good idea IMO

 

[mrFinpgh]

The hole in the bottom is for the endpin, which is usually a steel dowel with a rubber tip on the end.  It wouldn't do much for tip prevention (unless the stand was anchored in place, then it might provide some resistance with the endpin socket mechanically pushing against the walls of the hole).

 

[NL-mikkla]

The hole in the bottom is for the endpin, which is usually a steel dowel with a rubber tip on the end.  It wouldn't do much for tip prevention (unless the stand was anchored in place, then it might provide some resistance with the endpin socket mechanically pushing against the walls of the hole).

Auch, in that case a strap is the way to go I presume