DIY Ultimate Support System Keyboard Stand
Last Update 10-15-2025
About 1992 I added an Ultimate Support System (USS) "A-frame"
keyboard stand to my humble studio. I was never a fan of their
dorky look on the stage but felt they would suffice in the
studio. A few years later I went downstairs to find my Memorymoog
laying on the floor upside down, having fallen from the top tier of
the A-frame. The weight of the rear of the keyboard made the
tubular tier crossbar gradually rotate, causing the keyboard to fall
off the tiers. The Memorymoog survived the fall, but that
episode drove me to abandon the A-frame format. The Achilles
Heel of USS stands are their tubular tier crossbars and the clamps
to secure the bars. With the clamps constructed of polymer,
you cannot tighten them too much or they will split. That
means they will NEVER 100% secure the crossbars from rotating.
That was precisely how the Memorymoog took a dive. I never
liked support tiers on a single crossbar for my keyboards because
they "bounced" too much.
So I converted the "A-frame" to an "R frame" (for lack of a better
word). I saw how the posts on the back could double as a
speaker stand for my studio monitors, so they were re-positioned to
a vertical post. I had decided that I wanted my weighted
action MIDI controller (MIDIBoard) to
rest on tiers with not one but two crossbars (see the detail of the
pictures on the right). A typical USS tier mounts in the
middle - I changed them to mount on the ends. I did have to
drill new holes in the tiers for the new mount locations. The
goal of the new mounting system was a rock steady support for my
MIDIBoard that I could pound like a piano with zero bounce.
The stand is stabilized in two axis. The stabilizer beams that
used to be placed on the front/back legs of the "A frame" are now
placed between the back leg and the crossbar supporting the rear of
the MIDI controller. This provides rigidity from side to
side. The rigidity from front to back is provided by the tiers
supporting the MIDI controller; those tiers are fixed to a clamp at
the back end, while the other has a through bolt/nut that mates with
a clamp as the front end (see the last image on the right).
With the weight of the MIDI controller resting on the tiers, they
never pop out.
There is a crossbar above the MIDI controller with tiers, but it is
not reserved for any particular keyboard and I will only place small
lightweight keyboards on them. They can also be used as a wide
music stand for orchestral music scores, which is another ambition
of mine. A big advantage of the wide space on the floor, where
I could place a bass pedal controller and controller pedals without
my feet kicking any stand legs.
The only downside is that the stand will tip backward if you lift
the weighted action controller while any devices are on the tiers
above it. Also when the stand is assembled, it has to be as
square as possible so it doesn tilt when assembled. This took
me a few tries to get right.
If you are attempting to build one like this, be conscious of center
of mass of the weighted action controller; if it is too far too the
rear and the stand starts to tip when you place a device on the
crossbar with tiers, then move the weighted action controller
forward so that more weight is placed at the front of the stand.
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