Hercules GS523B Guitar Rack mod

[Bigguy2017]

I recently bought a Hercules GS523B Guitar Rack for my basses.

It's a well made rack but has, to my mind, an annoyance in that it holds guitars canted at an angle.

With basses (longer necks) the heads project beyond the stand's footprint and make it impossible to place it against the wall.

Some though later and I devised a useful mod.

The lower, rear padded crossbar can be mounted in two positions (there are two sets of screw holes 30mm apart). I drilled a third (6mm) hole, 40mm further back and mounted the crossbar there.

The basses now sit much more upright. Another small gain can be gotten by moving the end stops for the sliding mech to the higher set of holes.

The rack now sits (almost) up against the wall and the basses are more upright. Stability is maybe improved too.

See attached crappy pic...

[Steve Browning]

That's useful Can you post a pic of the exact bit of the stand? I would like to do the mod myself but don't trust myself to just interpret what you've said.

[Bigguy2017]

See attached diagram...

Hercules stand mod.pdfHercules stand mod.pdf

[Bigguy2017]

Angles are approx like this...

 

 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2018 by Bigguy2017

[Steve Browning]

That's brilliant. Thank you.

[41Hz]

On 12/03/2018 at 15:39, Bigguy2017 said:

I recently bought a Hercules GS523B Guitar Rack for my basses.

It's a well made rack but has, to my mind, an annoyance in that it holds guitars canted at an angle.

With basses (longer necks) the heads project beyond the stand's footprint and make it impossible to place it against the wall.

Some though later and I devised a useful mod.

The lower, rear padded crossbar can be mounted in two positions (there are two sets of screw holes 30mm apart). I drilled a third (6mm) hole, 40mm further back and mounted the crossbar there.

The basses now sit much more upright. Another small gain can be gotten by moving the end stops for the sliding mech to the higher set of holes.

The rack now sits (almost) up against the wall and the basses are more upright. Stability is maybe improved too.

See attached crappy pic...

I’ve just picked up the 5 guitar version and thinking of modding.

@Bigguy2017 Before I drill, do you think I could go a bit more than the 40mm gap you suggest to get the basses even more upright or do you think the bars would be too far apart?

 

[Bigguy2017]

Yes you could - how much more? Well, that would depend on the bass body shape; all mine have rounded bottoms and would go an extra 20mm - not sure with a T'bird or other shapes.

If you take the back bar out you can offer it up in different positions to experiment...

 

 

[41Hz]

4 hours ago, Bigguy2017 said:

Yes you could - how much more? Well, that would depend on the bass body shape; all mine have rounded bottoms and would go an extra 20mm - not sure with a T'bird or other shapes.

If you take the back bar out you can offer it up in different positions to experiment...

 

 

Ah thanks, good idea!