finished the guitar strap

[Micah]

This weekend I finished the guitar strap I've been making for a good friend. I now have 3 more to make and think I will keep one of those aside for myself, given how pleased I am with the results of this first one! This was surely an educational process and I'm gonna miss this strap after it ships Tuesday.

Anyway, the low-down...

• ~8oz veg lined with 1.5oz velvet pigsuede
  
• dyed red (Fiebing's pro oil dye) with black borders, Chinese writing ("fire horse"), and spattering, then shaded with more black
  
• Artist signature done with a Sharpie
  
• neatsfooted (new verb?)
  
• grooved, thonged, and handstitched
  
• slicked, dyed, and burnished edges
  
• sealed/finished with Resolene
  
• hand-distressed zinc/nickle roller buckle
  
• hand-brushed nickle/steel rivets
  
• black latigo lace for acoustic guitar tie
  
• adjustable between 38"-53"
  

[Beaverslayer]

Great job there Micah, I love that color.

Ken

[steveb]

that is one beefy strap!

i like the color - and antiqued look -

hmmm

that big buckle never better come near the body of the guitar when its on a stand - that could get ugly

no straplocks?

I usually ask the musician I make a strap for to use straplocks - even if they dont normally

its a good idea, we've all dropped our pride and joy if we didnt use 'em

and it makes for a much better guitar to strap to person connection when they are installed

steveb

[Micah]

he already knows the risk of the buckle, and he uses straplocks, but those are good points to mention (I wasn't aware of those problem areas in the beginning). I jammed around on it with my $1500 all maple/ebony (heavy!) guitar for an hour, serious, hardcore jamming and the strap performed great. I wanted to make sure it would handle some abuse (with my most prized possession!) before I would feel comfortable sending it to him. I was concerned about the beefiness of it until I tried it out, I love it w/o a doubt now. He had also complained about the flimsy leather straps most places are selling these days, so I think he'll like this :D

thx for the compliments and feedback guys! I learned a lot from this project that will make my next one better

Edited October 15, 2007 by Micah

[ClayB]

Micah,

No wonder you are pleased with the first one. That is really looking good. The color is really rich looking. I bet you will be making a lot more of these once people start seeing them.

Clay

[abn]

Micah, that's one of the nicest projects I've seen posted recently. The color is absolutely brilliant. The combo of red, black and some spattering leads to a real unique look. Congrats!

[Regis]

Great work. Did you airbrush or apply the dye by hand (somehow)?

[Micah]

thank you all! the color really loves to play in the light (made it a real trick to take its picture, too). Indoors under ambient light, it is very dark maroon, but put a light on it and it springs to life!

Regis, all dye work was done by hand using wool daubers (and a toothbrush/needle for the spattering). I wish I had an airbrush, the shading would have gone a lot faster! Instead I built it up gradually from the edges with a lot of rubbing, but you have to give the dye in the dauber a few days to dry out first or else it goes on too heavy.