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Very pleased with these music stands. Easy to assemble, sturdy without being heavy, great price!Great when Learning an instrument, and great as a gift.Bought these to add a custom wood tops to for directors gifts. Was afraid they would not be sturdy enough to support the weight given the low price - not a problem! These are heavy duty, high quality stands & the approx 1"thick solid wood top was no issue for these stands at all! These are as good a stand as I have ever seen and all of the very picky musicians involved were thrilled with the outcome. Can't imagine anyone not being happy with these standsLong story short, this stand is worth the money and is preferable to the Manhasset. It is high quality, sturdy, durable, and easy to use. The only problem is the head comes off if you try to extend it by pulling the head. Now, if you are not faint of heart, read on for a thorough review (partially in narrative form)...Growing up, all I knew was Manhasset music stands. They are heavy duty, reliable, and durable (which is why middle schools buy them). A few months ago, I was in the market for 2 music stands so, naturally, I looked at Manhasset. Unfortunately, I would have had to take out a second mortgage to afford a couple of those. And thus began my search for a new music stand.AmazonBasics generally makes solid products. I've purchased a few basic (pun intended) items of this brand before and have always been satisfied. Music stands, however, are things that you absolutely CANNOT have fail. Could you imagine having one fall, throwing your music everywhere while a thousand judging eyes stare into your soul? A nightmare, I say! Price wise, the AmazonBasics Sheet Music Stand is about $5 below the Manhasset. In my case, that was enough of a difference to give it a try.I have been using the AmazonBasics Sheet Music Stand for a few months now and am extremely satisfied. It is as sturdy as any stand I have used and has no chance of randomly collapsing. Once the head of the stand (the part that actually holds the sheet music) is set, it does not wilt one way or the other. The stand is balanced on three legs and does not wobble to and fro. In fact, the stand does not even move when someone unintentionally (or intentionally) nudges it because it comes with rubber footings. This is a huge deal if you set your stand in place before performing and leave it for a few minutes.A few things to note about the stand:1. It does not come assembled. It took be about 5 minutes to put it together.2. The head WILL come off if you try to extend the stand by pulling the head. Pull the silver neck up, not the head. This is the one downside to this stand.3. The head can be put on crookedly (trust me, I did it). Make sure you get a good look at it before you tighten it on.4. It can hold a hymnal without retracting.5. It does not easily scratch (I've loaded it and unloaded from the bed of a truck many times).All in all, this stand is the best on the market for the price. I will be purchasing more, even when I have the five extra dollars to buy the Manhasset. If you are looking for a good music stand, buy this and be satisfied (and support Amazon)!I was almost ready to send this stand back during assembly when step 3 said "Extend the telescopic pole to the desired height." The silver telescopic pole would not budge no matter how hard I tried to pull it up, so I thought it was defective. However, I thought I'd have my husband try it before completely giving up. He couldn't budge it at first either, but then he stepped on the base with both feet while pulling up on the silver telescopic pole with one of those rubbery gripper things for opening jars. Finally he was able to pull it up. It moves up and down a bit more easily now, but is still extremely tight. (I know you don't want it too loose so it will stay where you put it, but it's tighter than on other similar music stands I used to use when I played in my high school band.) I think that either the pole should not be made so tight, or else the instructions should warn you that you may have to use extreme measures to get it to extend, so that you won't think it's immovable and defective. There is also an error on the first page of the instructions where the parts are identified -- oddly, they identify the picture of the base as the "connector", the picture of the telescopic pole as the "base", and the picture of the connector as the "telescopic pole". Somebody should have proofread the instructions! Once we got the stand assembled, I'm happy with it because I will be using it at a certain height and won't be moving it up and down very often.The stand, while still the same basic design, has seen improvements in both design features and the materials used. From the top, going down. The bracket on the back of the desk now has an indent, so if you get the desk screw snug you can raise, lower, or tilt the desk without having it detach. The swivel that some complained was made of plastic is now made of metal it has a rubber washer on either side to provide some friction but sill allow for tilting the desk. The screw that holds the swivel to the pole screws into the swivel. That is a potential problem down the road but will be an easy fix. The immediate problem is it is rather difficult to get tight enough that so it won't pop off when raising the desk. I finally got it tight enough, but I think most women and nearly all children will need assistance to get that screw tight enough. Just wrap a rag around it to prevent damage and use pliers to tighten the screw. The pole screwed into the base very easily. I turned the pole upside down, slipped the chrome fastening ring on the pole and literally spun the base on. The base legs are now welded to the hub across their width; those legs won't be breaking any tome soon now.The one weakness in this stand I have noticed is the desk seems to be a little flimsy. I had planned on using the Manhasset desk extenders with it anyway and once in place this seems to be a non-issue.Easy to assemble, lightweight and sturdy.A great value.Excellent product. Highly recommended.The only negative: it’s kind of heavy but this could be a good thing depending on application.Pleasantly surprised at how solid and rugged it is for a “Basic”. Easy to assemble, vert impressed. My only gripe is that whilst the description says the sheet holder is metal, it omits to mention that unlike every other component it’s non-magnetic aluminium so I’ll have to return the magnetic holders that I bought along with the stand.Good and sturdy for holding more than one music book. I didn't want a folding one as they are often not as supportive, sacrificing robustness for portability and therefore weight. It's an excellent choice with the only adjustable being score holder plane and height. Being heavy makes this less suitable to portability.This is great. Sturdy, stable and a good size. Great value. Recommended.We are very delighted with the quality of this stand, great value and very sturdy and well made. Great cheaper alternative to Manhasset!Pleased with this music stand.
