I came up with an idea for something that will replace the standard VB stand, eliminate the neck problems that are caused by bending over to reach the VB, and also allow the VB to be played comfortably while laying down. Basically what I need is something to mount the VB onto that is sturdy and can hold the weight of the VB, and also something that can be moved to different positions.
Here are two things I have come up with:

1) Get a sturdy swing arm that can be mounted/clamped to a surface, such as the edge of a desk. The same type of swing arm that is used to hold a magnifying glass or lamp, or even something like an LCD monitor. It must be sturdy enough to hold the weight of the VB, which eliminates most of the cheap desk-lamp arms. And I think it would be too expensive to get an LCD-monitor mounting arm. So I need to find something in between, that is cheap, can be mounted to a desk via clamp, and is sturdy. And then I would have to remove the existing end of the swing arm and replace it with the clip mount of the VB stand. Or if that’s not sturdy enough, I would have to figure out a new way to attach the VB to the stand.

2) Get a tripod telescoping microphone boom stand that can be adjusted in multiple axes. Here is an example: Boom Stand
This has the advantage of not needing to remove anything at the tip of the stand, so it would probably be easier to mount the VB clip on the end. However, I would most likely need to make some kind of custom connector, that can be rotated and moved on different axes. Perhaps I could just make it very low-tech and duct tape the closed VB stand onto the end of the boom, haha.

The end goal I have in mind is something I can use to play my VB sitting in any position and then move out of the way when I am done. It would also be possible to use it to play while laying down, since it can hold the VB in place and therefore not press the weight into your face. If anyone has suggestions or comments they want to add, it would be very helpful. Even if I don’t end up building anything, it’s still fun to brainstorm!

I’ve been using my VB “Lamp-O-Tron” for years for playing comfortably while sitting on the couch. It works really well since you can just sit back and relax without any neck strain.

It’s made of a standard cheap desk lamp. Red or black would have been preferred, but orange is what I had handy 😛

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Awesome! How did you actually connect the VB to the arm though? Can the VB adjust at the end of the arm or can it only be used from that position? And do you have a link to the arm you used?

I kept everything from the original stand assembly on it, except for the legs. Then I used the existing nut and bolt of the VB stand to fasten it to the lamp arm through the horizontal holes that held the actual lamp. (I had to bend them outwards a bit to fit the VB stand between them). The VB can be tilted up and down, but not rotated sideways.

I made no modifications to the actual VB stand, so it could be put back in its original form again if I’d want to one day.

I don’t have any links for it since this was just some random desk lamp I had laying around from the ’70s/’80s.

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Do you think something like this would be good enough? It’s cheap, so I don’t know well it would hold up the VB. And I can’t find any large pictures of the part where the lamp connects, so I don’t know if I would be able to remove the lamp and connect the VB connector. Thoughts?

Yeah, that one should probably work. it looks essentially the same as mine where the lamp is mounted. And if it proves to be not strong enough, you can easily replace the springs on it with some stronger ones.

Does yours have a metal or plastic clamp at the base? The one I linked above has a plastic clamp, I believe, and I’m worried it wouldn’t be strong enough. I also found this and this which both seem to be sturdier, but more expensive. I wish I could just pick up the first one but I’m afraid it will fall over while trying to hold the VB. What do you think?

Mine is made of iron and looks much like that last one. The VB is pretty heavy, so it would be best to have one of metal. But I guess it also depends on how it is attached to the table. It’s a little hard to see how that cheap one works, it looks like it just sits against the table top… But if it’s screwed or bolted to the table I guess it could be ok to… Hard to tell from the pic.

The first one (red) is a clamp-on base. But supposedly it isn’t as sturdy as the other two I linked.