How high should a busker's table be?

I had a oversized tv-tray style table that went up to 28". (It's turned into a side table. I have to buy a new one now ) I'm curious as to how high your tables are on the average?

I use one Pro table base it easy to carry and is very adjustable so you can try all heights. For busking in find it hard to get the right high. Its a balance between not to high so kids cant see or to low so everything is happening around me crouch.

This stand is solid and well wearing. It fold down and is carry able. Also I kike the flange which with four screws you can attach any top you like. I use a small round wooden choping board. This make the table very small to move around. It dose not block you and dose not get in the way.

All my props. water bottle, salad, sunscreen and the table top fit in a shoulder bag. The stand fits on top so I can carry my whole rig hands free.

Also with four bottles it can be held to hold a small case. Which is great for a side table in my palour show.

Here is a link http://themagicwarehouse.com/TA9521/Pro-Table-Base.html

Hope this helps

It's a trade off Ed. If you are doing a table show, you want it low enough so the audience can look down sleightly onto the table....but not so low that you are awkwardly bending over.

For average height people this is around 32".

Most TV Tray tables are (28") too low.

One trick that will allow you to use a seightly higher table top that is viewable by the audience, is to prop up the back legs. Simply putting a deck of cards under each back leg, makes the table top much more visible from afar. Of course, this is for magic happening on the table, not just using the table as place to hold things.

I do this.
Stand straight put your hands palm down on table then ad 2". That is my ideal height.

Yellow your promotion of your table did not tell me how tall the table was.

Robert, how high is the surface of the table you add 2” to?

Zanier, thanks. I suppose I could strap 4” extenders to the next tray to bring it up to 32”.

Ed...It's not relevant how tall that Robert's table is! Just follow his directions. For most workers, his idea, is practical.

A lot of buskers do cups & balls. So, they need a "working surface", upon which to do the trick.

I do NOTHING that requires a working surface. ALL OF MY PROPS are for TRICKS that are done with the props in my hands. (I still have a Disecto (since 1946). It need s a table, so, it's only used, OCCASIONALLY.) It travels in its own custom made, "attache" case, which also contains a "Star" aluminum tripod base, table.

All of my props are in a "fat" attache case (13" x 20" x 8"). EVERY prop, is taken out, the trick performed, and, the prop is put back in its own place in the case. I NEVER "unpack". I can open the case which sits on a waiter's tray stand, then do a 2-3 minute or less, "set up", and, perform. At the finish, I close the lid, and leave.

If you had read my book, you would know all about this! If you plan to work the street, you don't want to be assembling props, and taking them apart for packing. My criteria, which is in my book, makes this kind of $HOW BU$INE$$, practical.

I see what you meant, Dick. His advice is sound. My apologies, Yellow. I would prefer a table I could just fold flat, without having to remove the top from a base. I’m certain it’s perfect for him.

I envy you and your structured, tableless show. I’m not very structured even WITH a table. If your book is still in print, a link would be nice. (Assuming at some point, I can buy it.)

Thanks.

Ed, the height of your table will be dictated to some extent by what you perform and how you perform it (your performing "style"). By how/style I simply mean do you tend to stand upright/straight when you perform or lean/hunch over the table.

The table top dimensions (length and width) will be dictated by what you perform. A Chop Cup routine takes up less a tabletop than a full on Cups and Balls or even a Three Shell Game routines.

Here is a start point for you. Stand up straight and take a measurement from your navel to the floor. That's your start measurement (and pretty close to the measurement you'd get if you'd use Robert Blake's formula above). Now adjust up or down a couple of inches to find your comfort zone for performing whatever it is you perform on a tabletop.

A table top that hits about your waist or a little above will be above your pouch (if you wear a pouch while performing).

An easy way to help you decide your comfort zone for performing standing behind a table is to buy an "Eureka" magic table base and put a top on it. Then adjust the top to your start measurement and practice your routine. Then adjust the top up and/or down until you find the height that is optimum for you. Use that measurement to build your table. You may find that the Eureka base and table top is all you really need.

Sound advice. I used to have a Eureka table. I would use it when the Dragon was too much to carry.

My table has always been between 36-27 in based on my height and where the lip of my pouch reaches. Its all calculated for doing the final loads for my C&Bs. THe rest follows from there
Bruce

I don't use a pouch, so that won't be a factor for me.

NO pouch, no worry. Posture and comfort are your main concerns then. It will be a bespoke table (as all should be).

OK, thanks!

Ed everyone has his own height. So that's why I give no measurements. But I think you now know how I mean it.

This table is totally adjustable between 27-47 inches.