Split Back Binder - Buyer's Guide?

[Nicholas Barnard]

Dear Handbell Wisdom,
My old trusty split back binder has died. (Well not died exactly, but its beyond the spot where it'd be acceptable to use in performance, one of the top flaps has disconnected from the spine and now hangs down on its own..) (Also, I know memorization is best, lets not touch that right now.)

I've gone looking the various places for split back binders and I've collected a list of nine different binders. I haven't run into anyone who has compared them. Are there any favorites? Ones to avoid? I'd like to make more of an informed decision instead of just walking into the local music store and picking up whatever they have.

Thank you for any insight you may have,
Nick Barnard
The Resonance Ringers Handbell Quartet
Seattle, WA

The binders I've found:
Specifically Handbell Binders:
http://www.handbellservices.com/notebook-music-stand-1-5-capacity/

http://handbellworld.com/equip/equipPiece.cfm?Piece=6214

http://www.schulmerichbells.com/products.php?prod_id=22554

http://malmark.com/pdf/Malmark_Accessories.pdf (Page 9 of the PDF. Sigh, really this is the best web presence a major handbell manufacturer can do in 2012?)

http://www.heitzhandbells.com/search.itml?Submit=Search&icQuery=binder (I'm not sure if these are specific to Heitz or if they're one of the other brands. Carol or Norm, Do you know?)

Not Specifically Handbell Binders:

http://amzn.com/B00007M9FX

http://amzn.com/B003KPAH82

http://www.discountofficeitems.com/office-supplies/binders-accessories/binders/easel-binders/cardinal-easel-round-ring-binder/p6396.html

http://www.continentalbinder.com/cbs/split_back_easel.html

[nancy tipton]

Over the past 23 years, I have purchased binders from JHS, Handbell Services, and Malmark. I use 15 binders a year at school and 13 at church, so I buy them a lot. My school binders get very heavy use--they're used every day for at least two hours a day by teenagers. The Malmark binders appear to hold up best for us. While I purchase everything else, pretty much, from Jeffers, I will not buy binders from them anymore, because they just didn't hold up. And I was very disappointed with the binders from Handbell Services. Some were actually damaged cosmetically when I first opened the box they arrived in. It's been many years since I bought binders from HS and JHS, so maybe theirs are better quality now? But I've been happy with Malmark, and I will probably just stick with them.

Sent from my iPad

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[Fran Underwood]

Nancy,
Thanks for sharing. I think JHS binders are getting worse. Sometimes they
break in only one year with just once a week use by an adult. Just last
night we had one break that I bought last August or September. I'm going to
check out Malmark's next time I need to buy more, which I guess is soon.

Fran Underwood
Associate Director of Music
Messiah UMC
Springfield VA

[Charlotte McPherson]

In the meantime, I hold mine together with black monster tape. I can squeeze another year or two out of them that way.

charlotte mcp

[Ann Frederking]

For anyone who gets to Germany, you can't beat black Tesa Bond cloth tape for fixing binders to buy time until the have to be replaced. It's good for ANYHTING and comes in other colours too. But I've never been able to get in in North American.

Ann

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[Sue Nelson]

You can get similar item like cloth tape to repair book bindings from library supply houses like Gaylord.  It comes in different widths and colors:

 

http://www.gaylord.com/adblock.asp?abid=17010&search_by=desc&search_for=cloth%20tape&mpc=WW

 

Sue

------------

www.susantnelson.com

 

From: Ann Frederking <viol...@gmail.com>
To: handb...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 1:15 PM
Subject: Re: [HB-L] Split Back Binder - Buyer's Guide?

[nancy tipton]

I buy black book tape from DEMCO, along with other book and library supplies. It works well.

Sent from my iPad

[Heitz Handbells]

Nicholas,

They are the same type of binder as the others.  We just get the basic product though.

Carol

 

Carol A. Scheel, Norm P. Heitz
Heitz Handbells and Music LLC
612-208-1741
1 (877 or 866) 426-3235
www.heitzhandbells.com

From: Nicholas Barnard <ni...@inmff.net>
To: handb...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 2:20 AM
Subject: [HB-L] Split Back Binder - Buyer's Guide?

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[Karen]

Hi Nick,
(a bit off topic)
I wanted to address your disappointment with Malmark's website. You
may not be aware but the website has been totally re-designed and as a
matter of fact it is still under construction. The re-design of the
online store has been in progress for some time and will hopefully be
live sometime in the near future. So... hang on! A new, improved
website is coming and it will be greatly improved and worth the wait
and I"m sure it will live up to Malmark's tradition of quality.

Stay tuned and we'll announce it on the -L when we're ready for
everyone to take a test drive! Thanks for everyone's patience!

In the meantime if you have specific questions, or no patience for a
PDF price list, please give Malmark or your local rep a call - we love
to help!

Karen Eastburn
Indepdendent Sales Rep for Malmark Bellcraftsmen
Texas and Oklahoma

on topic;
P.S. I have a church with 6 different choirs each using their own
easel notebooks/binders so I understand how binders can wear. One
thing I have observed is that if you fill it to the gills it wears out
way faster than if you keep it only modestly full and file non-current
music elsewhere.

On Apr 10, 2:20 am, Nicholas Barnard <n...@inmff.net> wrote:

> http://malmark.com/pdf/Malmark_Accessories.pdf(Page 9 of the PDF. Sigh, really this is the best web presence a major handbell manufacturer can do in 2012?)>

[Nicholas Barnard]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts on this.

I'm going to take a peek at the Malmark binders that we recently bought at my church to review their construction. But one of the things I noted today in borrowing an old Malmark binder is that they stand up a little more vertical and take less table space than our current JHS binders. That extra inch of table space might not seem like much, but it helps a little bit with quartet ringing, where we need to put bells in multiple rows.

The one thing I forgot to mention is that my handbell binder lives in my book bag, so given that its had a year and a half in there, its held up reasonably well.

Nick

[Ann Frederking]

I believe that our old Malmark binders were adjustable as to how
vertical they would stand. Not sure about the new ones - I'll take a
look tomorrow.
Ann

--

[Karen]

Ann,
Malmark's binders are adjustable via vlecro so you can have a folder
stand upright or more angeled as you prefer. It's funny, because one
time I had a customer come up at an event and complain that the
folders she just purchased were so upright they didn't work for her
group... I flipped on the notebook and ripped apart the velcro. She
was quite surprised!

Happy ringing,
Karen Eastburn
Plano, TX

[Mark Arnold]

I'm late to the party, but I've ordered from Marlo Plastics a few times
(https://marloplasticproducts.com) - not sure the binders are any better
than other sources, but the colors available make it easy for me to tell
different groups' folders apart...

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: handb...@googlegroups.com [mailto:handb...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Nicholas Barnard
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 12:31 AM
To: handb...@googlegroups.com

Nick

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