Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Larger (and closer) music rest (for Kawai VPC1)

This is a follow up to the user who was looking for closer music rest for his Avant Grant.

https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthre...rtbreak-any-suggestions.html#Post3146346

I had the same issue with my VPC1, which had a tiny music rest mounted all the way at the back of the piano. My solution is to use a monitor arm, and mounting a Manhasset sheet music stand to it. You can buy the top part separately, part is Manhasset 5102.

There are many options to attach a monitor arm to your piano (various clamps, wall mount). I use a drum rack, so all I had to do is clamp the monitor arm to the 1.5 inch post. Here's the original thread on how I made my piano stand, if you are interested.

https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthre...ack-as-a-keyboard-stand.html#Post2364744

Here is how the stand is attached to monitor arm. I just used two 40mm L brackets.



Here's a comparison of the Manhasset vs the original Kawai Music Rest.

Hello,

@JoeF, Thank you for this thread! Your idea has helped me think about a solution for the way-too-small music rest that came with my FP-10.

I was on my way to DIY a ~40" wide wooden music desk, but found that to become too heavy and cumbersome.

I will now be mounting two (cheaper/brandless) rests next to eachother on the back of the keyboard stand that the FP-10 sits on.

So again thanks for planting the idea!

Cheers and happy DIY solutions,

HZ

Glad it was helpful. Please post pictures when you are done!

You can still make a wooden music rest. The monitor arms hold 20 lbs and up, so if you adjust the tension right, you can move the heavy wooden rest around with one hand. Really easy to mount too, just drill out the VESA holes and attach with 4 screws. It's even cheaper because you don't have to buy 2 arms, just use a double wide piece of plywood.

This was my original plan until I found that they sold the aluminum rest separately, so I didn't have to deal with building it.

Currently, I'm working on mounting narrow LED light to VESA mount as a built in piano light. This way, I won't have to adjust the piano light every time I move the rest, as it all moves as one unit. The arms even have cable runs to hide the power cable.

I will post pictures when I am done.

Looks a tad precarious, Joe. My diy one (I've made loads over the years) is fixed to the wall since the EX110 is such a lightweight.

The monitor arms are designed to slide into a 1.5 inch post, and hold a 20 lb monitor at full extension, so that part is super strong.

The piano stand I use is made out of drum rack parts, 1.5 inch steel poles and solid metal clamps, so no issues there.

I guess if you have a shaky X-stand, the stand itself may not be able to hold the weight of the monitor arm and music rest. In that case, I would just buy a wall mount monitor arm, and extend it over the piano.

What I like about using monitor arms to hold a music rest is that they are relatively cheap, super strong, and very easy to adjust.

The hard part is to find a big enough music rest without fabricating it yourself, and attaching it to the VESA mount. I found a pretty neat solution, and thought I'd share it and maybe exchange ideas with other people trying to solve the same problem.

Hello,

I won't be using monitor arms.

Your original post did give me the idea to use an existing music rest instead of the homemade wooden one I planned. To get the width I'd like, I then thought of using two rests side by side, coupled with a little DIYed bracket for stability.

Being on a budget, I ordered two of these:

https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_orchesterpult_deluxe.htm

and will only use the upper section, including the tilt/height adjustment parts. Perhaps I can use the remaining stands for still photography lighting.

My Roland FP-10, used as MIDI controller, sits on a firm M-type stand with some space left behind the piano, that's where I will fabricate a mount to place the music desks.

Once mounted and adjusted (tilt/height), their position will remain unchanged, so a flexible/movable arm is not needed in my setup.

Again, thanks!

Cheers and happy DIYing,

HZ

Do not forget posting a picture of it when ready. I love seeing creative solutions.

Cheers and happy building and posting.

I ordered the "Music Rack for Kawai ES-7/ES-8 Black/Acrylic" from the local store nearby. I hope it's the HM-4 Music rest with another name. xD

Hello,


😄 And thanks.

I'll try to remember, don't expect images too soon; my number of plans accumulates a lot faster than the available time for their actual execution 🤔.

Cheers and a happy day,

HZ

I, too, think that the simplest solution is just a separate stand for sheet music, which allows to adjust the height, tilt and distance. I have one of these stands:
https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthre...MP11,_VPC1_music_holder.html#Post2572389

Although, the size of the stand itself has not been critical for me for a long time, since I completely switched from paper sheet music to digital ones. But it still looks good and harmonious (I confess I haven't seen anything better since then. I love this stand). And anyway, sometimes I need to temporarily put some papers next to the tablet for work. In addition, the correct music rest height (and distance), which is comparable to the height of an acoustic grand piano, will be always very important to me.

I love the idea of the articulated arm for your music stand, but I already have a 4K monitor on a wall-mounted arm behind my keyboard, so that wouldn’t work for me. I am loving a sturdy desk-top music stand from Guitar Center. $24.99. I move it off the desk when I’m using the monitor.

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Proline/PL53-Tabletop-Sheet-Music-Stand-Black-1274228076941.gc?pfm=recs&recs_dtl=item_page.rr1%7CclickCP2

I actually have a 2nd arm with a monitor mounted next to the music rest. That's the best thing about using monitor arms - it's so easily adjustable, you can simply push the rest out of the way when you are not using it.

Because I have the music rest mounted from the side, it's a little too large and cumbersome to push to the side (it's blocked by the table). But it's really easy to pull the monitor in front of the rest.

Here's a picture of it.

@HZPiano, have you considered using a 4ft by 2ft sheet of aluminum? It should be cheaper than 2 music stands if you don't need the stand or tilt adjustment. When I first got the music rest, my first thought was 'They are charging me this much for a bent piece of aluminum?'.

Luckily i got the HM-4 music rest for a bunch of €. It fits the MP11SE as it has the same measures for the music rest like the VPC-1, MP7, ES7 and ES8. Now it looks good.

Hello,


Not in particular (and that would be too large), but as I have too many DIY projects already, I am very happy with off-the-shelf rests that only need a DIY mount to my piano stand, which will be much simpler than making the whole thing myself.

Cheers and happy projects,

HZ