I've followed Jeremy Cucco's advice and simply bought a piece of hexagonal cold rolled steel and used it with the standard Sabra Som bar. There is a discussion of suppliers in the[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.recordin…"] this thread.[/]="http://www.recordin…"] this thread.[/] That probably doesn't help you much as your supply chain is different, but I think the general idea of getting a bar that uses a stock piece of metal as the horizontal member might be adapted.

Thanks for you reply, Bob. I already read the post you're referring to and I like the idea, but the weight and possible breakage has been scaring me off.

The bar needs to be really light-weighted for peace of mind. I heard others about using an aluminium bar and that might be an option.

Aluminum box tube would be cheap enough, light enough and strong enough in the 3' length class. Only thing is if you want to weld brackets to it you will need a tig welder (read professional).
However heavy a 1/2" , 3' piece of cold rolled all American steel is, I don't think it would be a problem. the weight would act to stabilise the system.

When I first got into this, I looked around for a commercially available long bar for A-B microphone work and couldn't find one from a UK supplier. What I use now is actually a standard lighting T-bar and stand made from lightweight 38mm tube. I had to drill the T-bar at suitable intervals to take long 3/8"W bolts on to which screw the standard mic clips or shockmounts. It works fine, and is more stable at 3m+ height than my normal tall microphone stands.

Problem solved! I just found out that the small Sabra-Som ST bars are sold worldwide through audiotoolsshop.com (see http://www.audiotoolsshop.com/st2.html). So I will order the ST2 and go to a local hardware store for a long hexagonal bar.

Thanks for all your suggestions and please excuse me for my overhasty question.

Just a quick note -

While the aluminum rod holds appeal for its weight/mass, it's this reason mainly that you wouldn't want to use it for a mic support.

With the right amplitude and frequency, the aluminum (or other lightweight materials) get very easily excited and start to sing along with the music. This gets right into your mics. Steel does it too, but it takes a LOT more to get it to do it since the greater mass provides greater damping.

I've tried cold-rolled and drop-forged steel. So far, the cold-rolled seems to work best.

Brass works better than aluminum as well, but can be more expensive than the steel.

This is valuable info, thanks. (I read past it in your post in the other thread - {old-link-removed})

Well then, cold-rolled steel it will be. And I will glue the Sabre-Som up before it's first break. :lol: Thanks again.

Kind regards,

John

LOL to the glue...

I would wait until it breaks then use a strong compound epoxy to make it stronger and more flexible than ever before. In fact, you can intentionally break it on the first day by over tightening the nut. Then, glue like mad and consider it a "DIY upgrade."

Cheers-
J.