Leading manufacturer of concert style music stands worldwide.

Yes, Manhasset is set up to very efficiently powder coat stands in a wide variety of custom colors. Although we don't sell them directly to the retail customers, we have worked very closely with our distributors and your music stores or music dealers to provide individuals and organizations with their own custom colored music stands.

The process we use involves our working directly with the person or organization so that Manhasset can make sure the color is exactly what is desired. If you are interested in getting custom colored Manhasset music stands, please ask your music store. If your music store has any questions, please don't hesitate to have them contact their Manhasset product distributor or they can contact us directly. Our philosophy is "If you want your own unique color, we want you to have it."

The paint that we used for many years was a very good quality baked-on enamel. Even though it was durable, after years of service, the finish could show signs of wear and could be scratched. For these older "painted" stands repainting is commonly done.

Although we do not sell touchup paint or a product to repaint our stands, there are products available for these tasks. We have found (from many music teachers) that Sherwin Williams makes a flat black paint in a spray can that appears to work as well as any that we have heard about.

In addition to following the specific instructions on the can, we suggest the stands be clean and dry (free of dust and oils) before applying the spray paint. We suggest that areas where there are deep scratches be sanded before painting the desks. Depending on the extent or depth of the scratches, it may be necessary to use coarse sandpaper first then feathering the area out with a medium grit sandpaper. Some people disassemble the stands prior to painting; other have done nothing but mask off the chrome portion of the shaft to protect it from over-spray. Since this repainting may make the stands look slightly different than those not repainted, you may want to consider touching-up all of them at once.

By the way, we should point out that for the last several years, Manhasset has been powder coating our stands they are no longer being painted. This new finish is tremendously durable and will far outlast the paint that we previously used.

The stand's Magic Finger Clutch is designed to support about 8 lbs.

If your stand is older, rather than purchasing a new shaft (which is certainly an option), or if you want to support more than the designed weight, we also have a "Shaft-Lock" product that could solve your problem. It allows you to adjust the height, and in the locked position, it will support far above the weight that the shaft itself is designed to do. It may be something you want to consider. You can view this product on our website in the New Product page.

Occasionally, during transit/shipping it is possible for the internal nut (located inside the shaft) to become unseated. If this occurs, it could allow the internal nut to spin when trying to remove or re-insert the bolt used to attach the base. This might prevent the bolt from being properly tightened and thus may not adequately secure the tripod base. If this loose (spinning) tapered nut condition were encountered, it may be easily remedied by doing the following:

With the shaft completely compressed, briskly tap the chromed end of the shaft on a hard floor or a hard surface. You shouldn't have to use extreme force, but it won't hurt to firmly tap it a few times to reseat the internal tapered nut. With the tapered nut reseated, you should be able to remove, reinstall and properly tighten the bolt.

We now have a demonstration video .

Please know that even if this were to occur, it does not indicate the shaft is defective and necessarily unsuitable. The problem may be the result of inner-shaft lubrication not being sufficiently distributed making the inner tube harder to pull out from the shaft's retracted position