Customer Reviews

Petersen Designs P2K Folding Music Stand

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This stand is very durable and very compact. It looks far better on stage than a metal stand. The only reason I did not give this 5 stars was because if you are over 5'5" you can't comfortably use it standing up because it is too short. Great for sitting though...

I have owned a Petersen for about 15 years now. It has held up remarkably well, and is much more sturdy than any wire stand. It is lightweight, packs in to a notebook sized, self-contained unit, and has wings which pull out from both sides to accommodate full sized orchestral scores. As previously mentioned, it is not good for tall players, but can be angled back nicely.

Many of my students and friends have made purchases after seeing mine.

There are a couple of other small, folding plastic stands on the market, but this Petersen is the most compact of all (too small to require a handle or bag of its own, as another reviewer has suggested, though the company appears to make available individual pieces and even a miniature custom-made bag for the stand). But if you have a fairly large gig bag for all your cables, power strips, etc., it should accommodate this stand, which is OK for emergency use. But under no circumstances should the stand be mistaken for a Manhassett.

If you use a music stand on a regular, recurrent basis, and moreover if you place fake books or heavy folders on it, not to mention reading lights, more than likely the Manhassett will still be an essential first-line piece of equipment. What I've found most frustrating about the Petersen design is packing it up after a gig. The 5-6 pieces have to be stored in a precise, exact manner or the box simply won't close. I've spent as many as 20 minutes before giving up the fight. I've even consulted the Petersen site in search of a diagram to no avail.

If, like me, you're an individual who embarrasses himself and provokes his wife (those problem-solver father-in-laws!) every time he tries to pack the car trunk for a summer vacation without wasting a square inch, you just may find the Petersen design more of a hassle and headache than a handy space-saver. I'm beginning to suspect the product is more suited to an engineer's or chess player's temperament than a musician's.

I bought this for my wife who plays the violin. She really loves it and says it's perfect. Except the actual music holder, which folds up to hold all the metal stands is made up of "not so great quality" plastic. And when my wife opened the package, two broken pieces fell out of the box! I'm assuming that happened in shipping, with the metal bars moving around inside. It wasn't a crucial damage if you keep this assembled all the time. But that wasn't the case with us.

But, Musician's Friend was really helpful when I contacted them and they're sending out a replacement unit right away, without us having to send the defective portion back and waiting weeks without a stand. Kudos to them!! Amazing Customer Service!

A friend recommended this to me, because of the convenience of folding away into it's own case. However, it doesn't have a handle, and it doesn't fit into any standard size bag

The music shelf is very flimsy as was previously noted, so I expect to be taking pieces in an out of my big music notebooks constantly. The stand back folds up to become the case, but it doesn't seem to lock when you unfold it, and the screws that tighten it aren't great. You constantly have to watch that it's not going to fold up and dump the music.

I used the stand three times, and the ring that allows the height adjustment just snapped. Not as I was adjusting it, but as I was sitting and playing. The whole group stopped playing to have a laughing fit, but fortunately it was just a rehearsal.

I'm hoping that the merchant will agree to replace or refund this item, but all in all, I am very disappointed in this product.

I was so excited when I found this music stand. It was sturdier than those thin metal folding stands. It was compact when folded up and easy to carry. It was easy to set up. But I've had problems with this stand and am now shopping for another one to replace it.

First, one of the legs was too loose. It slid out each time I moved the stand (and in my flute choir, we move around a lot during performances, so this was not good). So I had my handy husband alter the leg and it was better than new. But then, after a performance one night, I heard a snap as I was putting it away. One of the pieces that the legs fit into cracked - and not one that was holding the "altered piece". After many hours of super glue and tape repairs, I'm giving up on this. We fix the piece only to have it snap again.

My recommendation is this stand is not good for frequent use.

We ordered three of them. They were supposed to be Xmas gifts. It took well over two months for delivery. When they arrived, we discovered that something had been "re-designed" in the legs, which would suddenly collapse in the middle of your playing, no matter how light the load of music was on the stand. I contacted Petersen, which promised us "replacement parts," which were, of course, on back order. That is some two months ago, and there has been no trace of the "replacement parts," and no reaction from Petersen when I've written to complain. The idea of this stand is good, and I have a couple of friends who have older models that have worked very well, but, as of now, I wouldn't buy anything else designed or sold by Petersen.

I have had this stand for 10 years. I use it if I don't have a lot of weight on the stand. It is flimsy and easily tipped. I've had to spray WD 40 on the joints cause they get stuck every now and then.

This product arrived in pieces - the sides of the folding part were all cracked open. It was shipped with no padding in the box, but the plastic it's made of is flimsy and brittle, so I don't know that it would have helped. The shelf that holds the music is very thin plastic and does not lock on tightly, cannot hold books, only sheet music, because it's too flimsy. The legs are sturdy but very heavy, you might as well get a regular metal stand. The stand is very short, you can't use it if you stand to play or sing. The fold out knobs do not lock the stand open, it keeps collapsing. I just threw it out because it was such a pain to use and could not hold my music books.

Petersen has a great idea but the product is poorly made. My stand broke in the first month of use. A plastic piece that is used to lock the telescoping vertical section broke so now I can only use the stand at the very lowest level. Also, I grabbed the stand below the desk to move it on a gig and a couple of the legs on the bottom fell out on the floor while on a restaurant gig in front of an audience and it was very embarrassing. I'm going to try purchasing other portable stands until I find a higher quality stand that works.