Designing a stick bench and going down a Bauhaus rabbit hole.

https://mike-hoegeman.github.io/music/music-stool/music-stool.html

I'm still pondering details on it.

some feedback on what seat height people use when playing in a sitting position would be interesting to hear. so chime in on the issue (or any other realting to it) if you like.

For playing Stick I use a drum stool set at 50cm/19.5". That's a little higher than the 16" (same as you!) I use for desk work but still low enough for my feet to be comfortably supported on the floor, while the extra height allows easy movement of the feet to operate pedals & switches.

I use the same 50cm/19.5" music seat for keyboards & hand drum, adjusting the shelves or stands they sit on to suit the seat (which being a drum stool rotates easily so I can face different directions).

Your concept for a combined two height seat that is also an instrument stand and gear caddy seems very neat.

I'm intersted to hear how it goes.

It's a great question, everyone is going to have difference priorities and needs. I generally like to have a lot of freedom of movement as I'm constantly adjusting lights, pedals and other distractions (that I somehow deem relevant to play). I like standing, with sitting as a second more focused position.

For that reason, I use a TAGG mounted to a Gibraltar stand with a lap bar close by. I used a sturdy DW drum throne for sitting at home. This is my perch. Having the perch next to the desk allows me to share a mic in between sitting at the desk and standing at the perch.

I do like your idea of a wooden bench as sometimes the rotating factor on the DW throne bugs. I have adjusted to it, but I can't tell if I prefer it to a fixed position since I have tolerated it this long.

Have you considered making a fold-up stool
that also serves to hold the instrument
when not in use?

i thought about somehow making the Max Bill design foldable but i didn't think of a simple way to make it robust. ( for me personally ) stowing it flat is not essential.

a stool higher up like that wont' work for me also because i use a cello spike on my other tapping instrument

as far as the instrument stand feature goes,, it's simple enough to flip the cube and use it in instrument stand mode (3). and it's more protected by the sides of the stool around it which is essential with a mini schnauzer around

i've also some up with a way to better secure the instrument when leaning against the dowel crossbar. i''ll just get a foam mountain bike hand grip ( thin) and two short lengths of foam pipe insulation (much thicker) , slit them lengthwise , and pop them around the dowel crossbar, thus forming a channel for the instrument (neck) to sit in (see below) i can then slide the pipe insulator "rings" back and forth along the dowel to fit instrument snugly. that way you can use it instruments with wide differences in width

I have a Hercules guitar stand that uses an idea a little like that to space out the guitar bodies at the bottom. It works well.

For myself, I play the Stick laying down with my eyes closed.
I use music as a way to relax and temporarily escape reality.
I bought four zero gravity chairs for $30 each. They are great!

i suspect there will be varying preferences for playing mode height, so you should have it customizable at build time in that dimension ( which it is ) if you need something highly adjustable then this is not going to be good. i'm just the opposite. there are two heights i want. and i want to make it bog simple to switch back and forth all the time with zero fiddling. the two are at odds with one another to a large degree without it getting complicated

i have come to realize that the old time bauhaus guys really were geniuses at their whole less is more design philosophy. the more i play around with the details of the stool the more i come up with ways of making it more useful (for me anyways) with that basic Ulm stool design. In many ways emmett's design follows those philosophies i thnk

i just realized i might be able to also hook up a Roland EC-10M (el cajon) mic processor to it !
it's too thick to work as a real cajon. but the mic processor might be ok with it ( and just turn the natural cajon dial all/most of the way off )

https://www.roland.com/global/products/ec-10m/

yeah the pipe insulators look like that. nice !

In the aviation world, they use wood step boxes
to reach underneath the aircraft wings.

The step boxes are purposely made so that depending
on which way you stand the box, it has three different heights.