Hercules GS414B A/G Guitar Stand

I bought this stand after the weight of my favorite guitar, which is about 8.51bs, broke one of the cheaper, more traditional guitar stands. The sight of it nearly falling to the floor, saved only by my adrenaline infused panic reflexes, was enough to convince me to shell out for a nicer stand. This one fits the bill perfectly.The metal used for construction is heavy and rugged, and the foam is great quality as well. Everything down to the joints and screws are top-notch. I have no doubt it will last. I was heavily skeptical of the mechanism that actually holds the guitar neck, since there is no support at the bottom, where traditional stands have a brace. My worries were immediately laid to rest when I put it together and set my guitar in it. It's an incredibly simple mechanism that just works, and actually makes taking out and putting back the guitar substantially easier. Just grab the neck, pull up, and you're done. No more cheap foam getting stuck and having to shake it off the guitar, no more dealing with the cheap rubber neck brace. The fact that the neck is held in place at all times from all sides is a great advantage. If you live in California or another earthquake-prone area like me, this is fantastic peace of mind that you won't return to a toppled-over guitar after a long trip.If you have a guitar or bass weighing more than 7lbs, you owe it to yourself to get a stand like this. The extra price is completely justified. I'll be replacing every stand I have with one of these.

The Hercules GS414B Guitar Stand safely holds a wide variety of guitars (electric, acoustic, bass, etc.).Use / Operation: To use the guitar stand, the feet must be extended and the neck must be pulled up/out to an appropriate height. When your guitar head / neck is placed in the stand, the weight of your guitar (the head is held by the padded "U") causes 2 small arms to swing up and secure your guitar from falling out due to accidental bumps. The body of your guitar rests on the lower 2 legs (which are very nicely padded).Build: This guitar stand is substantial. Both short-necked and long-necked guitars will fit. This safely holds my long-necked bass with room to spare. The black metal frame is wide and sturdy. The legs are thick and have rubber feet to protect the floor as well as prevent slipping. The two front legs, on which your guitars rest, are covered in foam. The rear leg is shorter and creates a tripod leaning backward to appropriately balance your guitar.Transport: This is not a small stand. Compared to other stands, this is beefy and secure. I don't worry about small bumps knocking over my guitar at all. But the flip-side of this beefiness is a stand that is not compact or super lightweight. If you have a big rig, this will fit in as just another solid piece of quality equipment. If you are looking for an extremely portable stand, you may wish to consider one of Hercules Travlite series (such as the Hercules GS302B Travlite Compact Electric Guitar Stand).

I really feel like this thing is my personal slave, just standing off to the side, waiting to grab my guitar when I hand it off. It is reliable and rock solid. The tripod base has been very steady so far. It really is a great product.The other thing I have to say about this stand is that it has the non-scuff padding on the all the RIGHT places. I bought another stand from another company that claimed to have similar material. And it did, but not at all the guitar contact points.I do have to laugh at the folks here and on Musician's Friend who have given this a bad rating because of the following:1. "It ejected my guitar when it got tilted forward." - The basic idea is their guitar was on-stage, someone pushed the stand forward, the patented guitar retaining mechanism disengaged when the base of the guitar touch the floor on the way to the ground, releasing the guitar and dumping on the floor. REALITY: Let's say the stand held onto the guitar. It still would have hit face first and messed up the guitar. Sometimes accidents happen. Don't blame the stand. Blame the moron who knocked over your guitar.2. "The guitar touches the floor." - It's not supposed to! Try elevating the next, or make sure you bought the model appropriate for your kind of guitar.This stand is worth the extra money over those $15 disasters. Spend an extra $10 and save yourself the headache.

I have two of these single stands and one triple stand and I love them. The stands hold my guitars firmly in place and I have no fear of them being knocked over or the guitar falling out of the stand. I have a friend that has had his guitar knocked out of the cheap "open" stands on three different occasions documented with three repairs to the broken headstock and/or neck of the guitar.Over the past year, I noticed that the grip lock (the "handle" that locks the stand height in place) on one of the single stands and on my triple stand was getting sticky (bad batch of plastic). This past weekend, I discovered that the grip lock on the single stand had failed by exploding apart (it has a spring inside).I emailed support telling them about the issue with the single stand and told them about the sticky grip lock on the triple stand and they provided replacements for both under warranty with no fuss. Within four business days of reporting the issue I had received the new replacement stands.I really like their products and if the products have an issue, the company makes good. My expectations have been exceeded. I won't call him out by name, but the customer support rep that took care of me was awesome.