<HTML style="FONT-SIZE: x-small; FONT-FAMILY: MS Sans Serif"><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1251"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2873" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <P><FONT size=3></FONT> <DIV><FONT size=3>When tuning big uprights, I have the option of sitting (where my arthritic shoulders get really sore) or standing (where my back starts barking at me from the kidney areas). I usually alternate positions to even out the pain. </FONT><FONT size=3>When standing, the "Extenda-Hand®" devices, i.e. homemade thumpers/wangers, do help but it's still an awkward lean-in.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3>Has anyone tried using those back support wraps that are sold in drug stores, or the commercial "lifting belts" the guys and gals at Home Depot, for example, wear?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3>I think tall tuners suffer more than others. O, Woe. Maybe I can become an avant garde poet, or use my rapier wit and become an on-guard poet, or more likely, get into the government's Witless Protection Program. On the other hand, SHORT people are generally the last to know it's raining and the first to drown. But that's another story. (Are flame suits necessary in the rain?)</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3>Okay, there was a serious question in the second paragraph. Thoughts?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3>Alan Barnard</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3>Salem, Missouri</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV> <P><FONT size=3></FONT></P></BODY></HTML>