Guitar stand trivia

[kiramdear]

I'd like to check with you all about my memory of the commonly available, daresay, ubiquitous pipe-style guitar stand. When did these appear on your radar? Were they common in the Sixties or were they a product of the Seventies? For example, I don't recall seeing stands on any Beatles' stages or studios. Am I wrong about that?
Also, weren't the first commonly available guitar stands made more like fan-out sheet music stands, with flat bar elements? I the first one I had was built like that, and it was awful.
Have I got it right?

[cjj]

Yeah, I remember those flat bar type stands, they worked as long as there wasn't a breeze and you didn't actually put a guitar in them...

The first tube-type stand (no, it didn't have to warm up) I had was in the late 70's but I have no idea when they first came out, that's just when I finally decided to give up on the old one and buy a new one (poor college student syndrome)...

[1OUfan]

I believe that the first tubular stand I bought (or saw for that matter) was in the early 1980's. I can remember playing many gigs in the 70's and having to keep my case close by to put the guitar in during breaks. I do have a memory of the Hamilton chrome guitar stand (much like their foldable music stands). They were chrome, thin flat pieces and a flat bar in the back------- very un-stable and flimsy.
Bob

[paologregorio]

They were around when I started playing in the 80s.

[jimk]

That's pretty much the way I remember it too, Kira. Had one of those flat guitar stands. Made by Hamilton, as I recall. And it seems to me they had a tendency to tip over pretty easily, as well.

JimK

[JakeK]

Pete Townshend was using a guitar stand in 1964:


I am surprised that the Stones and the Beatles weren't using them.

[kiramdear]

Nah, sorry, Jake. I don't think that's a guitar stand. A cymbal stand, maybe. If you blow up the picture you'll see the guitar is probably leaning against the wall. I don't think it's on a stand, rather it's just next to some other piece of gear. I'm open to being convinced, but I ain't buying it.

[JakeK]

You're right, the light on my monited sucked.

Pete did start using stands by 1969 when the Who were performing "I Don't Even Know Myself" and that song required a capo'd guitar.

I also seem to believe that George Harrison used a guitar stand at Shea Stadium in 1965 to switch from his Gretsch Tennesean to his Rickenbacker 360/12OS.

[kiramdear]

You know what they say - it didn't happen without pictures. I'm waiting to be convinced about them in the Sixties. I still say mid-Seventies for the tube-style stands, with the flat ones available for only a few years before that.

[deaconblues]

What's holding up the J-160e and the '61 Hofner in the first picture and the 360/12 at Shea?

[JakeK]

The drum riser's holding up the J-160E, Dan. Obviously, John didn't care about what became of his guitars.

Look to the far left, you'll see a spare SG for Pete waiting for him...ON A STAND!

[deaconblues]

The drum riser's holding up the J-160E, Dan. Obviously, John didn't care about what became of his guitars.

In the first one the J-160e (and possibly the spare Hofner) is vertical and there appears to be something holding it up from behind.

[JakeK]

In the first one the J-160e (and possibly the spare Hofner) is vertical and there appears to be something holding it up from behind.

I was talking about the Shea photo. I know a stand is holding up the J-160E and the Höfner in the Paris photo.

[kiramdear]

Here's a blow up:

[kiramdear]

Here you can clearly see one of the old style stands.