Tales from.. ..The StrapLab!

[TVvoodoo]

Today I completed a custom for Al who is a brother I met on social media elsewhere...

Al is in the process of building a barnwoodish- black limba Vee for his friend as a surprise and asked me for a strap to match that that would offer sort of an aged/relic'd vibe but also a little metal badass - besides - He mentioned any possible antiqued brass, skulls, and maybe some sort of nod to bats would be ideal. Bats? I guess his buddy is REALLY into bats for some reason.
And, it had to go as long as 62 inches, as he's a big big fella.

Anyway, I've had this gunmetal/brass pyramid studded belt standing by waiting for years to be made into something, so I put together a No Prisoners style custom based on some old crackle leather I had safely stored in my "Leather Library" that I think is entirely suitable for this.

Skull - CHECK! Brass - CHECK! Badass pirate/biker grommets and leather lacing... CHECK! CHECK! and CHECK! I even worked in some bat-shaped elements in the nose and tail ladder. A bit sad that my my sewing machine dented up some of the pyramid studs... but that's also the relic factor... it does appear to have lots of miles on it with that crackle/worn distressed leather look.

This one will be headed to where it needs to go tomorrow. Todd out in Ontario got his custom.

Happy Tuesday!

 

[TVvoodoo]

Today I'm experimenting in the ComfortFlex realm... I got more booty band in... this time I got some of the stuff that is "Mid Strength" instead of the heavy. I would say this stuff would be far better with anything that is less than 8 lbs or it gets into bowowow, boingy-woingy territory pretty fast. And, the black leopard pattern changes colour when it's under that eight or nine pounds stress... is it the first colour changing strap ever?

This stuff is 3" wide, thick, THICK elastic made for resistance training in fitness centres and such. It also has two bands of latex woven into the underside which makes these thing magnificently non-slip too. You can do all the moves because of the flex, and you don't need the strap slipping around to do so.... it automatically goes back to home position!

Again, I'm prototyping... a set of three of these in the light weight with black leather will be completed tomorrow. I also got some of this same stuff in "heavy" weight too, that'll probably be Friday's job.

Remember this one?

I made two of these, also ComfortFlex. I put one in my Reverb store (still there), and the other I handed off to my dude "Pepper" who runs the local music shop, plays in local bands etc.. - I told him to to test for a couple nights, then put it up for sale in his music store, tell me what he thought.

Messaged him last night, after looking for him at the store on Saturday, missed him unfortunately. I noticed he hadn't returned it into the store inventory. His message back to me: "THIS ONE IS NEVER LEAVING MY HOME!"

Believe me brothers! They are that good! I'm going to be working on a lot of these over the next week or two, outside of any custom work that comes in.

One last thing for today. Stitching at stress points. I try to do this semi-religiously, so much that it is now becoming second nature, even if it does slow my production down. It's called the "backstitch" or some call it reinforced straight stitch, or the "bar tack" stitch. Basically it's using the same holes but going back and then ahead again for three, four or even more stitches, effectively tripling up the thread for short sections of the piece being stitched.

I do this at key points in most of my work. And with the very strong thread I use, it makes a Well-Hung strap extra heavy duty. I don't really see too many others paying much attention to this kind of detail, but I feel it's important.

OH, and don't forget to check out the cool Poker chips in the Well-Hung Reverb Store

Happy Hump day, hope you will!

 

[TVvoodoo]

It's not very often a breakthrough happens in the guitar strap world, but I think I'm onto one with this ComfortFlex design. I completed six of these today, three in Middleweight, (for instruments 6-8.5 lbs) and three in Heavyweight (8.5- 12+ lbs).

The all look the same, the only difference is there are two strengths of athletic resistance band, medium and heavy, both in this black leopard pattern, 3" wide. It's very strong too!

Different from other versions of this is I left the interior of the band as-is - that is, it's got two 1/2" strips of latex
woven right into the underside. Pretty dang cool, right?

Effectively, this adds a rather extreme amount of grip. Enough that you can ride your strap gunslinger style, on the wrong shoulder with quite a lot of confidence and security. No kidding!

But what is really great about this strap when worn normal style, it returns back to home position very reliably, after you do any showboat, hot-doggin' moves. The elasticity is not too much, boinging all over the place, but it still allows you all kinds of freedom to move. And when you're done? BOOM! ComfortFlex just goes back home to where you had it in the first place, no thinking, slipping, shifting or whatever. It's a rather unique guitar playing experience that I hope some Gear Forumites are willing to try. Even just normal play action, the shock absorbing effect is very noticeable, and negates all the hammering on you those poly straps love to do.

We all come here to these forums often to be influenced by gear choices others make ... This is your opportunity to be an early adopter on something quite fresh, and I hope you after you put one to work, you will quickly see fit to influence others with your wise choice!

One last thought on this. A couple months ago on a "favourite strap" thread, not sure if it was here or elsewhere, I saw a lot of posts noting they liked a particular strap because it was compact and folded up nice to fit in a case. To me that's the absolute WORST reason to choose a strap, but I'm only one dude here. I man if you're willing to suffer for hours during AND after your gigs, rehearsals or play sessions, for this one small convenience, that's totally your own business. Well-Hung warriors understand that generally, my straps are too padded, and a little too robust to fit inside most gear pockets. They have a little body to them (but they'll never get all twisty-uppy either). However.....

This one? It'll fit in your case, and offers amazing player comfort and guitar security. Plus, the shock absorber effect, AND the return-to-home feature ta boot. That's why I feel it's a game-changer.

I have some of this ribbon in regular leopard too, and the more ComfortFlex design with hootenanny style ribbons in a few different colours and patterns are on the way as well. I'll show them probably next week.

 

[TVvoodoo]

We suffered a loss in our family this week.

Wednesday night, I was watching a little playoff hockey, and got the bad news. A faithful friend,
my favorite a long time, probably near 20 years now, just plain gave up the ghost.

Perhaps I was getting a little exuberant with the game and all, well, the back on my old rocker/recliner just let go with
a CRRRRAAAACKK! And near dumped me out the backside. Quite a surprise! Didn't spill nothing though.

Yesterday I took some time to have a look to see if it was reparable, and well, sadly I thought not.
So, I stripped that sucker right down to the bones. Wasn't 100% leather, just the human touch points,
the back, the seat, legrest, the arms - the rest a very closely matched vinyl.

Salvaged what I could, this leather in spots with a very desirable patina, enough to make a few straps, and then some. I'll Probably use the rest as reinforcement, or backing. I get a lot of asks for worn, or "relic'd" leather. Never had much success with faking it. The honest way seems best, just like with guitars. Very nice milk chocolate brown, now with fades, creases, stains and crackles.

20 years of beer and gas passin' and popcorn grease and all that... I did take care of it, I conditioned it a couple of times over the years... It didnt' look terrible outside, but inside? It's time was up. Maybe that's the best way for all of us to go LOL!

Anyway, this chair.... MY chair, No... my THRONE whereupon from which I have ruled my castle, has served me so very well. Together we enjoyed many a game, movies, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Ozarks, and family gatherings like Christmas... quite a lot of chair guitar too.... all that.
Very sad to see it go. I'm sure many of you appreciate and understand.

Here's what broke. Solid steel. Probably just too many times flopping in, the way I did. It was very ploofy, overstuffed, inviting an entrance of that sort. A friend to the very end, even in it's dying gasp it sent me a helpful message: You gettin' FAT Bro!

From the leather, today I made two straps... My old chair leather was deserving of my premium Class Act format.
Lightly padded, with high quality western buckle hardware. Go 44-58" with a heavy upholstery fabric backing.

Beautiful straps, with a heavy seam utilized down the front. If you like "patina" you'll really dig this one.
Not in the store quite yet, will be over the weekend, with more pics.

Happy Friday my brothers, appreciate your old chairs! They don't last forever!

 

[ᛗᛜᛜᚺDᛜᎶ Ꮤᛨᚳᚴ]

We suffered a loss in our family this week.

Wednesday night, I was watching a little playoff hockey, and got the bad news. A faithful friend,
my favorite a long time, probably near 20 years now, just plain gave up the ghost.

Perhaps I was getting a little exuberant with the game and all, well, the back on my old rocker/recliner just let go with
a CRRRRAAAACKK! And near dumped me out the backside. Quite a surprise! Didn't spill nothing though.

Yesterday I took some time to have a look to see if it was reparable, and well, sadly I thought not.
So, I stripped that sucker right down to the bones. Wasn't 100% leather, just the human touch points,
the back, the seat, legrest, the arms - the rest a very closely matched vinyl.

Salvaged what I could, this leather in spots with a very desirable patina, enough to make a few straps, and then some. I'll Probably use the rest as reinforcement, or backing. I get a lot of asks for worn, or "relic'd" leather. Never had much success with faking it. The honest way seems best, just like with guitars. Very nice milk chocolate brown, now with fades, creases, stains and crackles.

20 years of beer and gas passin' and popcorn grease and all that... I did take care of it, I conditioned it a couple of times over the years... It didnt' look terrible outside, but inside? It's time was up. Maybe that's the best way for all of us to go LOL!

Anyway, this chair.... MY chair, No... my THRONE whereupon from which I have ruled my castle, has served me so very well. Together we enjoyed many a game, movies, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Ozarks, and family gatherings like Christmas... quite a lot of chair guitar too.... all that.
Very sad to see it go. I'm sure many of you appreciate and understand.

Here's what broke. Solid steel. Probably just too many times flopping in, the way I did. It was very ploofy, overstuffed, inviting an entrance of that sort. A friend to the very end, even in it's dying gasp it sent me a helpful message: You gettin' FAT Bro!

From the leather, today I made two straps... My old chair leather was deserving of my premium Class Act format.
Lightly padded, with high quality western buckle hardware. Go 44-58" with a heavy upholstery fabric backing.

Beautiful straps, with a heavy seam utilized down the front. If you like "patina" you'll really dig this one.
Not in the store quite yet, will be over the weekend, with more pics.

Happy Friday my brothers, appreciate your old chairs! They don't last forever!

Well I certainly hope you keep at least one of your "old friend" straps for self! It would be a shame to send the old mate out the door all together ;~)) Sorry for your loss but great that you can make the most of it!!

 

[TVvoodoo]

I have like 15 gats and over two dozen straps already. It's really hard to keep more straps at this point. I don't think I've ever even picked up a guitar for three weeks. Sad.
I need to make time again.

 

[TVvoodoo]

Today continuing on in with the continued improvements on my invention in the "ComfortFlex" vein i that is powerful and strong athletic resistance training banding, at 3" wide, with hootenanny ribbon that also has elastic properties. The whole dang body flexes, probably better'n yours! Better than mine for sure!

I think this tried and true 2" wide age old hootenanny ribbon style works very well on the 3" wide black base. On this set of three, I just have to make some tail straps first thing tomorrow, and I'll take photos and put a listing up on reverb. I'm going to name this configuration "TV Yellow" because as I see it, pretty much ideal for that sort of vibe.

On this set, just like the Black Leopard version made last week, I am leaving the woven latex strip interior which offers quite an amazing amount of grip to this strap. While the elasticity of this banding is nowhere near enough to allow even the heaviest neck dive, the grip factor also works to keep this strap in place. However, there will be an option to have me pad this strap and add a stretch lining. The strap still retains approx 2/3 of it's stretch properties, but padding and lining does take some of it away. I'm still trying to figure out which one I like better. the unpadded one seems so easy and simple, and stows easier too. And it's plenty comfy with that 3" wide footprint, but the padded version is more like a Cadillac, versus a Cutlass Supreme, if you get my drift.

The amazing freedom of movement will this "heavy" banding is perfect for any instrument between approx 8-12 pounds, anything lighter, the shock absorber effect is still there, but minimal. In that case it will only flex when YOU choose it too, and will wear mostly like a wonderful 3" wide strap.

I hope a few of you decide to try one and be as amazed as I continue to be wearing this sling, I actually got after wearing my 335 on a blue one over the weekend, and the ComfortFlex performed gloriously - I hate to say it, but this design sort of seems to make everything else (that I've made anyway) immediately obsolete, comically uncomfortable and plain outdated. I'll still make the others, though, for variety is the spice of life!

 

[TVvoodoo]

Well my brothers, it looks like my business is soon about to be pistol-whipped by the Canadian Union of Postal employees (CUPE) once again. I can think of several other unkind words for the acronym, but I'm trying my best to compress and stow my rage deep inside, like all good men tend to do.

I expect it to not last as long as last time, they were out for a solid month, but yeah, it really stung because it was right in the heart of the retail gift season.

I'm going to try NOT closing my store this time, and use alternate shipping via Purolater. Costs twice as much to ship most items this way and is a rather huge pain on my end. Therefore, I will NOT be accepting offers via Reverb but WILL absorb any additional shipping costs, for the time being.

I will also continue to build daily, and build inventory and try to keep smiling! I'll be attending guitar shows in the fall, so can't have too much stock. One of the things that saved my bacon last time was several repeat customers kept me busy with custom work, and were not in a hot hurry to receive the goods, which shipped the very first day our postal channels re-opened. I'm praying this might happen again. So if you are considering custom work, at a bit of a discount, and are willing to wait for an indefinite period of time, I'm your huckleberry!

OK what's new in the store? "ComfortFlex TV Yellow" is

Before you get all upset and correct me this guitar is not at all TV Yellow, Yeah, I know. Closest I have! It'll look good on that, most vintage sunbursts. Even has a bit of mint green in it. Anyway, this is a very fine strap, so many advantages over others and actual features. More than just a little revolutionary I think, and I'm pretty focused on that world.

I will be building each below ribbon colour schemes in coming weeks but will also accept custom orders if you don't want to wait for when I get to it.

ComfortFlex takes almost all of the work out of "strap management" during play, and is amazingly comfortable, strong, and I think looks pretty fine too. Your body will thank you. Read more about it in the listing on Reverb.

Also new in the store, a pair of "Sofa King Oxblood" guitar straps. The leather colour is one of those that seems to shift in different light... here on my bench... more a maroon/black cherry

And my photo dummy, in warmer light, it leans slightly more brown. Note the rather expensive and fancy western buckle set, and my Class Act format - pretty much my top-of-the-line strap build.

Interesting story on how I got this leather over the weekend, but that transaction also included a replacement for my busted old Rocker/Recliner detailed a few posts back in this thread... Just in time for tonight's game! I detail all that fun in the Reverb listing, now up.

 

[TVvoodoo]

Oh shaddizzle! Playoff game starts at six... so does "Survivor" which the wife is super-invested in. We're a one TV household. Any tips or ideas?

 

[TVvoodoo]

New off the bench but just didn't make the store, (will tomorrow), a strap I haven't made for a long time! Back around 2015-2016 when I was finding my strapmaking legs, my "Matrika" series was a mainstay, utilizing this fancy 3" wide embroidered ribbon I had some folks in Pakistan to make for me in various colour schemes. Back then, I was able to source it for about a buck a foot, now it's like two or three.

Anyway, pretty much all I have left from the initial 100 yards purchased, is this silver/black/ and very light creme version, which never seemed to be a strong seller for whatever reason. But I'm using it up anyway! No sense sitting on it.

It's a floral thing, quite striking on battleship gray, bone white flowers (not harsh white, and I think they are supposed to be Magnolias), with metallic silver incorporated throughout for a little flash. This ribbon is 3" wide, but has sharp edges, so I build it out a bit on the sides with velvety black fabric so it won't cut into your neck. After that, effectively these straps are about 3.25" or a bit better wide. The black velvet is also the inner lining. Good heavy black leather nose and tail sections, and they adjust about 43-58" via a ladderback style.

I added something else to this run of four that I haven't done since about that time, when I was really trying to establish myself as a specialist in guitar strap comfort. I'm not revealing it here, you might even be able to see what I've done. If you can't figure it, message me I'll reveal what's going on.

I only made a one or two runs of this special "Petite Secret" version back then, but I have a couple old Well-Hung warrior clan-members who continue to mention they'd like to see a return. So let's just keep this extra feature under our hats for now. Fact is, certain ideas I come up with often seem to suddenly appear in offerings by Big Strap a few months after I reveal, so I'm keeping it in stealth mode on this one.

It's really padded, wider and probably sexier than you deserve, lots of heavy black leather and that extra feature I can't openly talk about- GREAT strap for like a silverburst or whatever. I'll have them up in the store tomorrow sometime. While you're at it, why not pick up a set of "Flipside" Switch rings for your Pauls or SGs? All kinds of them waiting for adoption in my reverb store right now!

Nice words from Forum Brother "Groovey" (not this one) - he probably owns five or six now.

Happy Thursday!

 

[TVvoodoo]

Got after some of the "ComfortFlex" straps waiting to be built today.
Seriously, not too often a gamechanger happens! You really gotta try one, or you're missin' out. Designed 'n built with an abundance of love for my guitary brothers.

"Purple Mystery"

And... "Concrete"

3" wide, built with heavy athletic resistance band AND elastic hootenanny ribbon. It will float guitars between 8-12 pounds right in your sweet spot. Built-in latex grip woven into the underside of the strap and plenty of good black leather where you want and need it. Facilitates the freedom and confidence to pull really cool shapes, rolls small, and I predict will become very important to you.

I invented this set up. Removes all that on-stage "strap management" nonsense from the equation. This means you get to concentrate on making music and impressing the girlies! Priorities!

People are going to beg you to reveal where you found it! More versions to come, next week.

 

[TVvoodoo]

Do you want to be noticed? To be seen? Perhaps you crave creating a bit of a buzz about your stage presence.
Or maybe you have a big important video shoot coming up.

Very possibly your next secret weapon could be... "Showstoppah!"

This is thousands upon thousands of glass beads intricately hand laid (I didn't do it, it's a found item) on a 3.25" wide black leather padded plaftorm. The leather wraps around the underside, built in in my Premium Class Act form factor, with a strong gold finished back buckle.
Adjusts between 45"-61"

The glittery beads are in black, olive green, gold crystal blue/white and red. Now I've had many people call me an "artist" after surveying my work, but I never really felt could live up to that until I was able to complete this one today. It's something!

It was one of the tougher straps I've ever made, I had to do a number of things differently, to keep from destroying the real artwork here,
the beading. So that took most of my day today.

Definitely a cool one, very possibly my finest, most beautiful strap ever. In sunlight? Totally bonkers!
It'll be going up on reverb tomorrow likely.

 

[TVvoodoo]

New in the store today, along with the one above, is a pair of my revolutionary, gotta say ground-breaking,
game-changer guitar suspension invention I call Comfort-Flex

This is the version I call "Sonic Boom"

Got a bit of powder blue, some hot orange, a bit of yellow, off-white and a bit of gray in the center. It's nice!

Again, another look at the interior lining of the Comfort-Flex strap. Mostly black elastic fabric but....

A dual track of latex woven into the inside effectively kills neck dive and allows this strap to remain in home position at all times. EVEN when you're stretching the rest of the body of the strap out of shape to form all your ego-enhancing, girlie-attractin' stage shapes. Amazing! I've been foolin' with wearing a guitar on the wrong shoulder, gunslinger style. Easy to do confidently with this strap!

It's Well-Hung StrapLab invention, remember you saw it here first!
Birthday today. Fifty-nine. Ugh.

Hope your Tuesday is working for you so far!

 

[ᛗᛜᛜᚺDᛜᎶ Ꮤᛨᚳᚴ]

Happy Birthday!

 

[Chocol8]

59 for the first time or is this a 59 in a long string of 59's?

Happy Birthday!

 

[TVvoodoo]

Nah... @Chocol8 I have reached Burst year for the first time... they gonna write a picture book one after my first time at the golf range last night this year. Spanked out a huge bucket of balls.

Working title "the Beauty of The Bursitis" Yeah it hurt this morning

 

[TVvoodoo]

Fresh off the bench and in the Reverb store today,

"Dark Shadows - BLAZE" - python embossed cowhide I got a bit burst-nutty on with the leather dye - that's a dangerous lookin snek, I'll tell you what!

And continuing my work with the Booty Band, like the gray leopard, I had some made in regular leopard too... in both medium weight (made three today), and heavy-weight (making tomorrow).
Medium will float guitars nice up to 8 ish lbs. after that it gets a tad circus-clowny

Again this stuff has the dual latex track inside that helps it stay put and return to position after you make all your moves. Really takes "strap management" out of the picture. Like it's on autopilot.
That, and the fact it absorbs shocks large and small, is THREE inches wide, and pretty darn awesome, if I do say so myself.

I say every guitarist needs an animal print strap in the stable, make yours one of higher form, possibly the best, most player friendly and stage-ready guitar straps ever conceived: Comfort-Flex!

One last one to show, came off the bench yesterday. Once-in-awhile I like to shake things up with this extreme theme apocalyptic thing I call End Times. It's just fun.. I use a lot of stuff I just put aside and keep in a box because it's interesting. I do make sure the results are very useable and practical, even if they look rather outlandish. Certain folks dig stuff like this, they work well for creative types workingon theme guitar builds. Tons of fun to make and sometimes they help me develop new ideas, learn new things for more regular series type straps.
This is End Times #6

 

[JiveTurkey]

Today I completed a custom for Al who is a brother I met on social media elsewhere...

Al is in the process of building a barnwoodish- black limba Vee for his friend as a surprise and asked me for a strap to match that that would offer sort of an aged/relic'd vibe but also a little metal badass - besides - He mentioned any possible antiqued brass, skulls, and maybe some sort of nod to bats would be ideal. Bats? I guess his buddy is REALLY into bats for some reason.
And, it had to go as long as 62 inches, as he's a big big fella.

Anyway, I've had this gunmetal/brass pyramid studded belt standing by waiting for years to be made into something, so I put together a No Prisoners style custom based on some old crackle leather I had safely stored in my "Leather Library" that I think is entirely suitable for this.

Skull - CHECK! Brass - CHECK! Badass pirate/biker grommets and leather lacing... CHECK! CHECK! and CHECK! I even worked in some bat-shaped elements in the nose and tail ladder. A bit sad that my my sewing machine dented up some of the pyramid studs... but that's also the relic factor... it does appear to have lots of miles on it with that crackle/worn distressed leather look.

This one will be headed to where it needs to go tomorrow. Todd out in Ontario got his custom.

Happy Tuesday!

Report back with pics when this V is done if you can!

 

[TVvoodoo]

@JiveTurkey he promised more. Alan Buck is the builder... met him on the "X" platform

His company is called Hostile Guitars, based in Illinois

 

[TVvoodoo]

New in the store, to compliment the Lite version of the Leopard Comfort-Flex, is the same thing, but in HEAVY weight.
Tensioned far better for 8.5 lb. guitars and over.

3" wide, shock-absorbing, ergonomic user-friendly strap! 44"-57". I invented it, and I'm telling you again, it's the GREATEST THING SINCE THE FLOYD ROSE TREM SYSTEM - Heck, even BETTER! It'll change how you play, get you outta the chair, make gigs seem shorter, put a HUGE smile on your mug! Mostly because of the wide athletic resistance band, and the latex grip tracks woven into the interior.

Keeps this strap in place exactly where you want it. However, because it flexes, you'll make all the guitarman moves you like, but the strap stays pretty much stationary. No more worries about your treasured G&R T-shirt pullin' up revealing all your nasty back hair, or you flailing around Super liberating!

OK, more traditional... Also in the shop today, I completed another "SwaggerMan" - this is a belt conversion strap, I think this is number 8. I kept the first two back for myself, enough for me, but as I can find these I share them out. Fantastic strap, that looks right out of 1974.

Again 3" wide, 44"-57" lots of black leather, macho texture. Absolute rock god strap, with a back buckle system.
No padding, but also has a little bit of spring to it. STURDY, big stage ready.

TGIF - I got a LOT of grass to mow, but boy she's real smoky up in these parts. A LOT of big fires up here right now.