guitar strap how too

[MADMAX22]

Hey guys I have scene sceral guitar strap adjustment types looking thru the web. I am a little confused how the adjusting portion works.

Ive scene some that look like they are sewn in and are adjusted by going thru the slots punched in the strap more less times to change the length. Other ones dont seem to be sewn but look like they are just threaded thru the slits at which ever position gives the correct length.

I have found a few guides to making them but none that talk about the construction portion.

Thanks for any help.

[rdb]

Those adjustment billets have a tab on the end, with a slot. Push the billet through a slot on the strap body from behind and then come back through, into the tab slot, then back into the next slot in the body...ta da. Hope I explained that right.

I have no way to draw it for you right now, just Google some pictures and you'll see what I mean.

This method is kind of standard. Tandy sells a strap kit that uses this method. There are many ways to add adjustment to a strap, using buckles, buttons etc. I've tried many of them, some good, some not so good. For a first strap, this would be a good learning way to do it.

[BradB]

The benefit of doing it the way RDB describes is that there is no metal on the strap that will scratch the finish of the instrument. I just finished one (pictures posted on this site) and that was a requirement of the customer, no metal as it was going on a mint vintage instrument. My best advice is to go to a music store and look at what they have. I bought a cheap leather fender strap for $12 and used it for my main pattern and changed a couple of things on it. hope that helps.

Brad

[MADMAX22]

Thanks guys, sounds good

[Lu Von B]

Thanks guys, sounds good

I went ahead and took a scan of one of my straps. This one doesn't have any metal hardware on it.

Here is a picture of the assembled strap. Very crappy res, but you get the just of it.

Here is a close up scan of the disassembled parts:

The skinny piece then weaves through the big piece like so:

..And back through itself like this:

It's quite a simple way to make solid, adjustable straps. Viva la friction!

Here is a pattern I made, which has contours to make the strap flow better. One can see how that would be helpful with heavy/rigid material. This is only the fat part of the strap, of course, but Im sure you can see how it correlates with the previous images and adapt it to your own uses. Im around 5'10 and 150lbs, and that particular contour works well for me. The image is fit to print out on a legal size sheet of paper. Just set the page size to 8x14, and the page margins as small as you can in your image software when you print it out.

Edited July 24, 2010 by Lu Von B