The Troubles with Trussings

Don't let the Title fool you. This package deal was a massive bargain. I searched high and low for about 6 weeks and the next closest price for the same exact package was about 120.00 more. The next after that was well over 250.00 more. GC did a great job on price and shipped for free in a very realistic time frame as well. As for the product, with bargains also comes minor challenges. The first was right out of the box there were no instructions. If you've done lights before then you can figure it out with a little head scratching. (you can download a manual at odysseygear.com) It's not difficult but there is a fairly large bag of nuts, bolts, and brackets that go with the truss system and making sure you have the them in the right spot and pointing the right direction is kind of pinnacle for heavy things that are intended to fly above your head. Also, the system came missing some nuts and bolts that were were installed (or perhaps not) at the factory. They could have rattled loose to find freedom in the light of day during transport or perhaps they were just an oversight at the factory. Still not to worry. If you tour you must expect and be prepared for it because this stuff is going to rattle loose from show to show. It's physics 101. Do yourself a favor and head directly to the hardware store with one of each item in hand (nut's, bolts, washers, wing nuts etc.) and buy a dozen or so of each of them to keep on hand. There's nothing worse than driving to the middle of nowhere, setting it all up and finding you can't use it because you are missing a .15 cent nut. And... it's all metric and the threading is small on some bolts making them a little hard to find. The big "depot" stores don't carry the replacements for the smaller bolts so don't waste your time. Some of the nuts and bolts are very specific in size to work with the truss couplers. I found them at Ace Hardware. Also, I highly recommend that you invest in a 4$ dollar bottle of "lock tight", take it all apart and use a drop on each of the permanent nuts and bolts. You'll save some hair down the road with this little step. Aside from that the whole thing seems to be a good low cost system. We've used it several times and it's easy to set up, the trusses are sturdy, and the crank up stands are a simple design and easy to use.

Reviewed by Darin Wirth on 8/8/2009 who plays Hard Country.