The market has been saturated with popular folding music stands but the Capsule Music Stand from KraftGeek is a standout.
The KraftGeek Capsule Music Stand won “Best in Show” at NAMM in 2024, also was a MoMA Design Store selected. It was also an iF & Red Dot Design award winner and claims to redefine the traditional music stand using state-of-the-art design.
Is this music stand worth all of the hype? Read on to find out in our in-depth review of the KraftGeek Capsule music stand.
For more helpful ukulele accessories, read our article here.
15% Discount Code: Use the code MFU015 at either of the following stores:
KraftGeek Capsule Folding Music Stand Review
Overall Look and Design
The Capsule music stand looks and feels high-quality and has a slick aluminum feel to it. You can tell that this stand was designed for travel due to its small size and lightweight. However, it does have enough weight to allow for some wind resistance when playing outside.
The top of the stand has an open design and this allows air to pass through unlike standard Manhasset music stands.
Compared to Other Music Stands
For the longest time (even today), the Manhasset music stand has been the gold standard of music stands. Durable, easy to use, and easy to fix or tighten.
The Capsule music stand has many very thoughtful features that the Manhasset stand and others do not:
Portability
Look at how small this folds up!
As an additional purchase, you can add a carrying case along that includes slots for optional accessories.
The only travel music stands that I have really experienced are the very thin and flimsy stands that are about $10 currently. They blow or fall over easily. From my initial impressions, the Capsule Music Stand may be the nicest portable music stand I’ve ever seen.
Rubber Grips and Clips to Hold Music
The rubber grips are a nice touch and keep the items on your stand from moving around too much. Also, the clips are a great extra feature. For years we’ve had to remember to bring our own clips to gigs to hold down our music.
Options for Proprietary Accessories (Made for the Capsule Stand)
If you plan on using the Capsule stand VERY frequently and will end up needing a phone/tablet or backlight, this KraftGeek stand is a very nice piece of equipment to own.
Hands On
Setting up the Capsule stand is pretty simple and takes about 30 seconds to set up or pack away (without accessories). Explaining how this is done is much easier to see in the above video.
From my initial impressions, I was impressed. Though, there were two things that I had to find out when using this stand: Carry load and annotation.
I often use the Daily Ukulele books, which are quite heavy, and also a dated iPad Pro with a case (also very heavy).
The central post of the Capsule stand does not lock but uses telescoping technology. The stand is essentially held up by friction. After finding this out, I needed to find out if the Capsule stand could hold these items without falling from the weight.
In my tests, I put both items on the stand (separately) to test them and thankfully was able to get them on there without the legs falling. The weight did make the central post bend slightly but still held up well. The Capsule manual says it is capable of holding up to 5 pounds.
Next, I wanted to see if I could write on my music without too much bend from the stand. The only other difference with the capsule stand from a stand like the Manhasset is that when you apply pressure to the upper part of the stand, like when writing on your music, it will make the central post sway back and forth. This is because on most stands, the central post is solid metal whereas on the Capsule stand it is made up of three to four concentric telescoping cylinders that support the weight.
This was a minor niggle but something that separates the Capsule stand from a stand like the Manhasset.
Accessories
There are currently three accessories available for the capsule music stand: the Flexi mount for holding phones or small tablets, the Lumi light for illuminating your music, and a carrying case. KraftGeek were very generous and sent those along for me to review as well.
Flexi mount – Mounts to the trey area of the stand and can hold a phone or iPad mini sized tablet.
Lumi light – Attaches to the top of the stand. Has two brightness settings.
Travel Case – A very nice, small case that holds the Capsule stand, both accessories listed above plus a little bit more space as well.
Price
Most music stands on the market begin at the $10-$40 range. In my opinion, most of these stands are just OK. If you are looking for something that will hold up over time you’ll want a stand that is about $50-$60. The Manhasset music stand right now retails for $57 and is the gold standard in durability (in my opinion).
The Capsule music stand is a premium stand at $85. I believe the price warrants this when you see the quality of materials and the time put in designing this stand.
The extra accessories are nice but are very pricey for what they are. The Lumi light is $30, and the phone/tablet mount is $25. The bag is very nice for protecting and carrying all of these items at $30.
Out of all of these, the only accessory that I found to be essential was the carrying case. However, if you don’t mind shelling out about $170 to have a dedicated travel stand with all its bells and whistles, I can’t recommend the full package enough.
PROS:
CONS:
Conclusion
Overall, the Capsule music stand is a wonderful product. In a world where Manhasset music stands are the gold standard, the Kraftgeek Capsule music stands offer something different that is well designed and carefully thought through (especially for travel and the outdoors).
If you are looking to travel or play your music outside, I would recommend this folding music stand to any music enthusiasts. The Capsule stand is available in black and in white/silver.
Overall rating: 9/10
15% Discount Code: Use the code MFU015 at either of the following stores:
John Allnutt
Writer & Ukulele TeacherJohn has been teaching music since 2008 and resides in Richmond, Kentucky with his wife Laura and dog Sam. In his spare time he enjoys growing and cooking food, roasting coffee, playing board games, and spreading joy through playing and teaching music.
