Genie Super Straddle

[Zebetz]

We're looking for a lift and one of the situations it needs to accommodate is being used over seating banks on a grade. The only real solution that's not in the >$70k range that I've found is the Genie Super Straddle kit which seems to have been in circulation as recently as 2020, but now seems to have been discontinued. It's weird - there's a freakish lack of info as to why this product seems to have suddenly and completely vanished, or what other alternatives are available to accomplish what must be a pretty common need. Anyone have any insights?

 

[Crisp image]

JLG Toucan? It is what we had for our FOH bar over seats to focus and change house lights. JLG Toucan essentially it is a mast with one extension boom.
Regards
Geoff

 

[microstar]

We're looking for a lift and one of the situations it needs to accommodate is being used over seating banks on a grade. The only real solution that's not in the >$70k range that I've found is the Genie Super Straddle kit which seems to have been in circulation as recently as 2020, but now seems to have been discontinued. It's weird - there's a freakish lack of info as to why this product seems to have suddenly and completely vanished, or what other alternatives are available to accomplish what must be a pretty common need. Anyone have any insights?

As unique as the Super Straddle is/was, assembling/disassembling it was a herculean task I wouldn't wish on anybody. They must have spent years complicating the "design" for it.

 

[MNicolai]

Regular access or occasional?

How high above the floor to what you need to access?

Super Straddles -- by the way, I'm sure you can find on the used market and I'm sure you can also still rent them. Hadn't heard about them being discontinued but I'm sure they're still out there. Now if you're attached to a school district that prohibits the purchase of used equipment, then you may have some complications in finding a dealer with a new one available in their inventory, but as @microstar said, they're a PITA to use and are better suited for the "I need to get up there every year or so" kind of situation and not the everyday type usage.

 

[SteveB]

Have you considered scaffolding with adustable legs ?. What do you need to access and how often ?

 

[Footer]

Buy a aluminum painters scaff. Its way easier then the super straddle. Had one of those way back in high school. Had a failure on it that broke a kids arm. They are a terrible thing.

 

[Zebetz]

Sorry for the delayed response. We have house lights 35' up and most of our house floor is on an incline, and has fixed rows of seating (see floorplan). In addition to using the lift in the house, we would like to be able to use it on stage - ideally, the lift itself can be pushed around/used by one person, and able to fit through a standard doorway (I'm thinking of the Genie AWP-30S). While access to the FoH catwalk and houselights is not super-frequent, it is frequent enough (once or twice every couple of months) that we'd prefer to be able to purchase something. Having had a nose-around of local rental places, I've been unable to find any that rent the straddle kit for this lift.

The trim height for the electrics over the stage is ~23' - for the electrics access it would be regular access - house lights and FoH occasional.

 

[MNicolai]

If you want to buy a one-man push-around lift for on-stage, that's fine. If you additionally want to dig up a used straddle kit to hit your house lights, that's also fine.

Buying enough scaffolding or a boom lift to do this is going to be expensive and with scaffolding, the number of frames you would need would be extravagant and it would take up a lot of space somewhere when you aren't using it -- as well as being a PITA to move around the room. Your best bet is to either:

A) Replace your house lighting with LED fixtures and wash your hands of touching these fixtures again anytime soon.

OR

B) Rent a boom/snorkel lift every 12-18 months and change every lamp whether they're burned out or not. Then all of your house lights will burn out at roughly the same time so you wait 12-18 months until a handful have started to go, schedule another lift rental, and go to town. Compared to $75k for a boom lift or several thousands dollars of scaffolding, a rental is a steal. See rates below for some generic rental place I just found online. You could do the entire room in a few hours and fall under the day rate plus whatever the delivery/pickup fees would be. (note, you would have to confirm a local lift company has such a lift in their rental stock and that it has the horizontal reach at 30ft to get out over your seats from the flat aisles as you may or may not be able to fit it down your aisles and use the lift on whatever slope your seating is raked at).

If you go this route, I would also knock your dimmers down to max out at 90-95% output and set up a timed event in your control system for a warning flash at 2am with then lights out 5min later to make sure the lamps are getting turned off every night.

OR

C) Depending on what type of house lights you have, buy a smaller scaffolding kit you may have uses for elsewhere and get up high enough that you can use a pole designed for changing house lights to grip the bulb, twist it out, pull it down, send up a new lamp, and twist it in. (note: this is the compromise of compromises and using light bulb changer poles is...uhhhhh...an acquired skill).

 

[egilson1]

ideally, the lift itself can be pushed around/used by one person,

Keep in mind that from a safety standpoint you shouldn’t be using the lift alone. I use a few stories of people working alone in MEWPs and being injured, some fatally, in my training classes.

 

[TimMc]

What Ethan said.

NEVER work alone especially at height. NEVER be in/on the work platform when it is to be moved unless it was designed for such use (Genie tower style personnel lifts are examples of "do not do"). Work at height includes ladders. You can be lying there a long time before somebody misses you and comes looking.