Did you find a solution to a removable belt clip yet?

Curious, as I just got a 10-string from a work compatriot, and am having a bit of a time trying to adjust to it AND the upper strap at the same time. I have an idea using a locking guitar strap in place of. Just wondering before I go tearing it apart! LOL

BTW, I think we may have "passed by" each other in Southern Ontario! I happened to ask an old friend about Stick strings. He does some sort of sound things at the Shaw! He mentioned having just worked with a player who played Stick for a play! It was probably you! His name is Fred Gabersek (he also owns Freddy's Frets). He was gonna try and contact you to see where you get strings (in Canada).

Too many weird coincidences with all this Stick stuff in my life! LOL

I'm not captandownbeat, but I'm now a total convert to @WerkSpace's keyhole fastenings.

In my last post where I was negative about them I wrote "If I were to use them I'd wish to add some sort of locking mechanism to the connection, maybe a small thumb screw or hook?"

That idea hadn't occurred to me before that moment. I went away checked up on thumbscrews. I already had some 'inserts' for a thumbscrew to fit into. I got a small pack of thumbscrews and after some tests I now have a design that I greatly prefer to the 'button-fix' connectors. With the keyholes connectors no force at all is needed to make the connection & the thumb screw then locks it into place. Disconnection is so easy, when I take the Stick off the drum stand, I use the removeable mechanism rather than unscrewing the drum stand clamp; that's an improvement too since it leaves the stand set up exactly as it was, with no need to tweak any angle when I re-connect.

The keyhole based mount is now in use on my 12 string Grand. I have pictures, but I was waiting till I'd made some tweaks to one of the mounts to suit my 10 string Graphite (being narrower the pickup block adjustment screws are differently positioned) before posting . The folk on Bob's Saturday Zoom call have already seen my prototype 'on screen'.

More in due course...

@basscapes If you''ve only seen a polycarbonate Stick I'm not sure if that will make sense why that is an issue?

On later Sticks the pickup block height adjustment screws are accessed from the back of the Stick. As well as it being nice to be able to access those screws they also usually protrude a little, so my mount needs cutouts so that it sits properly.

I know that the Ironwoods had a different arrangement, where you needed to remove the block to access the adjustment screws (i.e. the screw heads were in the recess that's cutout for the block).

I'm not sure if the polycarbonates used the same idea as the Ironwoods, or already had the later (& still current) approach?

My 'keyhole connectors plus thumbscrew' design is now in use on two Sticks, each having a choice of using a belt hook or a 'module mounting plate' (for use with a stand).

The design is in two parts, one part mounts on the Stick using only the existing belt hook fixing holes (so no extra drilling & the original state can be restored within minutes), and a second part that has either a belt hook or a 'module mounting plate' (or some other mounting system of the user's choice).

The base part is the same thicknessas the 'flat' belt hook mounts I use, so the original screws could be reused. On the bamboo I used a 'similar to original' but longer wood screw for the third mount point. On the Graphite all 3 the original mounting screws are M5 machine screws into inserts, so for the third mount point was able to use a longer M5 machine screw.

The belt hook is a little further from the Stick body that on the original 'flat' mount, but little further than the 'deep' side of a standard mount. I don't find the extra distance an issue. A better woodworker than I could recess the keyhole connectors (& then not need the lower two screws) and save a few mm if they really wished.

I've made the parts interchangeable, so any of the Stick mounted parts can be used with any of the removeable parts, i.e. I could detach my Bamboo Grand from its stand, leaving the 'module mounting plate' in place, and attach my Graphite to that same plate mount without undoing anything on the stand itself (so the angles remain exactly the same).

Here are some pictures. I don't claim it to be elegant woodworking! Consider it an advanced prototype...











If there's interest I could tidy up my design sketch & post it.

A couple more pictures.

I thought it might be handy to see the 'insert' that the thumbscrew screws into. It's an M6 x 13mm insert, so the thumbscrew is also M6 (its thread is 25mm long). I also included the pack of 45mm x 16mm keyhole hangers.

For use with a stand, I use a Gibraltar Mounting plate SC-EMMP (as have other people here).



The number of possibilites for what to attach to may be approaching infinite? Drum kit bits are very adaptable. I started with a cymbal stand (& some extra adapters), but for playing seated (as I prefer to) I found I could not get as close as I'd wish. It then occurred to me that since my preferred seat is a drum stool, maybe the drum kit bits would attach to that & the answer was yes!

So now my seat is my Stick stand! It also means the feet of stand are right underneath me, so they don't affect positioning of pedals, etc.

Yep, that was me! Fred was super friendly and had all sorts of questions about the Stick. He also managed to fix my bandmate's broken Dobro next in record time

And now my removable belt hook can not only be replaced by a mounting plate for use with a stand, but also with another option inspired by @WerkSpace's monopod idea.

The current (first) iteration of the idea uses bits from a redundant camera tripod, as @WerkSpace does, but for various reasons I opted to use two legs rather than one (duo-pod?).

I've done a couple of seated practice sessions with my 10 string & like the arrangement very much. I didn't need teh shoulder strap. The Stick leant slightly on the front of the seat I was sat in, so it didn't need to rest on my shoulder.

I don't usually play stood up but I did a little experiment & that seemed good too.







A question asked on Bob's Zoom where I showed this yesterday was about the extra weight. Before I got the chance to answer it was pointed out by someone else that it doesn't really matter much since most of the time the legs are supporting themselves. However, for the record this design of duo-pod adapter weighs ~1kg.

There was also a question about avioding 'splay' of the legs since they are held by one fixed point and a pressure clamp. I hadn't experienced an issue with splay but in due course I expected to add a short fixed strut between the two mounts on the legs that originally took a sliding strut to give extra rigidity on the tripod.

However, since then it occurred to me that being able to splay the legs in a controlled fashion, for a wide base, counld be good! So I salvaged that sliding strut fro the tripod and fitted it between the legs of the duo-pod. I needed to move one of the mounts, but that was easy.



I'm now thinking about the next iteration. If possible I'd like to see if I can get the line of support closer to the line of the Stick's beam?

Perhaps I should consider moving all this to a different topic of its own? Multi-mode Stick Mount? MMSM? LOL!

Edited: Spotted a typo.

David, I love your ideas.
They are definitely thinking outside the box.
I'm still using my monopod Stick everyday. It works very well.