On the recommendation of a colleague, I went off to Gear4music to buy a Gravity stand, in order to allow me to use my Gobo projector without the overhead. When I arrived, after a bit of discussion, it became clear that the more expensive model with three mounting holes would be of more use, and that being 35mm diameter I could also put my little RCF cabs on them for certain awkward gigs/crowds.

So, I bought a pair, at a decent enough price, and headed off to use them at a wedding. I was surprised and annoyed to find that a 35mm laptop stand fitting I owned wouldn't fit the poles, which was a shame. Never mind, they did what I wanted, so a good trial run. Andy Neen was good enough to post me some 35mm top hats for the poles, and then the solids hit the air conditioning!!

Nothing at all fitted the gravity poles. Top hats, brackets, and worst of all, speakers. Cue a trip off to Gear4music with a van full of kit, and a less than helpful gent on the front desk. After explaining that I didn't want to return them, I merely wanted something that was the advertised size, I was passed to the warehouse desk.

Absolute star on that desk. What a man. Once I'd explained the problem, out came the tape measure, and off he went. Seemingly, the poles for the cheaper base were the correct size, as we hit the jackpot first time, with a genuine 35mm pole. Sadly, he then had to search through the rest of the stock to find another one even close to 35mm, which he eventually did.

Interestingly, despite the poles being advertised as 35mm, and their own top hats 36mm, the Gravity top hats wouldn't fit the stands I had brought back!! Get a micrometer, Gravity.

Has anyone else found this? Seems my colleague ( who shall remain nameless ) knew this, and advised fitting couplings with a hammer. Stupid boy.