Health Risk!!

I have purchased several On Stage Music Stands over the past few years from Guitar Center. They were designed well and have held up well. This recent purchase of the very same music stand is a different story. The manufacturer has cheapened several parts of the stand: 1. The metal is lighter gague. 2. The tension set knobs have been replaced with weaker set screws using a plastic "wing nut" type design. Most importantly, the assembly point where the stand's music holder fastens to the pole on the tripod has been cheapened, using two "rubber looking" washers inside the set screw housing. These washers are NOT made of rubber. They are made of toxic compounds which will be fuming as soon as you open the box. If you buy the stand, be sure to replace these two rubber-looking washers with real rubber washers. (Each is about the size of a quarter dollar coin) If you don't, you will find yourself sneezing, with watery eyes, and developing a headache. I have done considerable research on ALL rubber-looking parts being exported from China these days, and the Chinese are using their toxic factory wastes to make thousands of "rubber-looking" parts for a vast array of items, from bicycle tires, to soles of shoes, to washers, grommets, facings etc. These toxic items are illegal to be made in the U.S.A. because they are extreme irritants but they are still imported from China. Take one sniff, as soon as you open the box. Your nose will tell you immediately! It is toxic, bitter, harsh, acrid...it smells more like SKUNK,..nothing like real rubber, and it will fume into the room where you keep your music stand. Spend the 95cents at a hardware store to replace these washers with real rubber washers, and throw out the toxic fake rubber immediately. Then you can enjoy your music stand.

Reviewed by Dennis Edwards on 7/31/2009 who plays Jazz & Orchestral Music.