[Swansea Hackspace] Attaching Rubber (or other leather alternatives) to Straps

[Andy Rush]

Hey Matt!

At last, a question I know something about.

Well, there's a couple of options.

If you want to go with complete DIY, split rings are an effective-ish way to hook a strap onto a strap post. I say effective-ish, because the larger diameter of the split rings compared to the average post mean that the only thing really holding the guitar on is the weight of the guitar itself. If you've got a lightweight acoustic, move too often and it will fall off. if you've got a solidbody electric, it'll hold, unless you're doing Van Halen/Angus Young/any 80's lead axeman type energetic stange antics. You could mitigate that by adding a flat strap lock (I reccomend 3D printing one rather than getting Schallers, they look fancy but are a PITA long term. Thingiverse has a few designs <https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=strap+lock&dwh=275b70107a7b864> you could use https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=strap+lock&dwh=275b70107a7b864)


Alternatively, if leather doesn't work for you, try pleather. Most cheap/beginner's guitars come with PVC leather bits for the straps. they're usually really poorly made and can be made to collapse by glaring in their general direction, but that's mainly down to poor/cheap construction rather than the material itself. if you reinforce it properly, PVC leather is as good as leather itself for that job.

If DIY doesn't appeal to you, there's a fair amount of buying options. just google Vegan Guitar Straps or Leather Free Guitar Straps, there's a fairly wide range out there, from custom etsy stuff to high end straps from California. price range is anywhere between 15-100 quid.


Hope that helps

Andy (lightsabers)

________________________________
From: Hackspace <hackspace-bounces at swansea.hackspace.org.uk> on behalf of Matthew Daubney <matt at daubers.co.uk>
Sent: 12 August 2018 10:01
To: Swansea Hackspace
Subject: [Swansea Hackspace] Attaching Rubber (or other leather alternatives) to Straps

Hello!

I'm still on a bit of a crusade to not buy/use leather and other animal derived products and have been looking around at guitar straps. Most of them have a leather piece where the guitar attaches to the strap, and since they seem relatively simple, I'm trying to make something without the leather piece.

The leather piece has to take the strain from the connection to the guitar. By default these are basically button holes, but I'm not averse to replacing these with some "proper" strap locks if necessary (see https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Schaller-Security-Strap-Locks-Chrome/dp/B000L3FPUG/ref=lp_1652465031_1_1?srs=1652465031&ie=UTF8&qid=1534064399&sr=8-1 ).

I'm guessing fairly firm rubber would be ok for this? Are there any better materials around? If not, can I "just" attach rubber to straps by stitching?

Thank you :)

Matt Daubney
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