Tales from.. ..The StrapLab!

[TVvoodoo]

Been a while since I've tooled anything, couple weeks. I can kind of tell when my left hand starts to stiffen up, I need to get at it a bit more... keep them chops up, just like fretting chords. This morning I finally got after a concept I've been ruminating about for maybe a year or so.

This is my second stab at the "Waylon" strap. There's only so many guitar straps out there I'd call "iconic," this style is definitely in the top ten, maybe top five. Definitely when it comes to skills and detail required. This particular one isn't a custom order, so it will eventually go into the store. That's why it's featuring a bit of a creative adaptation necessary for wider appeal, make it a bit more marketable

I hesitate to show tooling in this stage as all the clams really stand out! But once it's all smoothed over,
dyed, decorative cuts, antiqued, buffed out and clear coated with the buckstitching, it's gonna look pretty flash!

So many tight corners to hit on those western letter outlines, and these maple leaves. Getting inside with with the bevel tool without wrecking
anything is not easy, and I'm definitely not the most skilled leather tooler, so this kind of work is really great practice for a fella like me.
Then that crazy high contrast buckstitching that comes later on... that work is really challenging, and kind of hard on the hands!

So there I was, just plugging away when suddenly, things went black!

Next will be to let this all set in overnight, then I'll get at what needs to be made white with the leather paint.
Going to take several coats, as white on black does take a bit extra to cover. Will continue on this next week.
Maybe over the weekend a little bit if the honey do list isn't too crazy.

Hope your list isn't too crazy and you get some chill time in my brothers!

 

[TVvoodoo]

Are you ready for the country?

If you're itchin' to make the opry, this probably ain't the strap you wanna wear. Pays homage to one of the most-despised "outlaws" of the 70's and 80's country scene, who grew their hair and just generally raised far too much Hell to be considered worthy of the established Nashville cadre of the day

9 oz. leather, heavy duty vegtan, buckstitching in white leather. It's also padded and lined so that buckstitch won't irritate your back as
much as most versions of this strap. Ladderback, 45"-58" - Pretty badass if I do say so myself.

 

[murphy brown]

I'm a Leather guy and make guitar straps. You *may* want one someday if you see 'em. So take that into consideration.

I'm new here, so I went over the TGF rules, didn't seem to be anything against it, but I figured I'd ask before being
outted as an evil capitalistic spam-spewer. Iron1's recent "Five Crosses" strap was born on my bench.

But I do wish to convey I am also a guitar gear brother, crappy songwriter, and pretty non-serious musician too,
As well, I have customized a good number of guitars with some pretty non-standard finish treatments.
If allowed to post my work, I promise to keep myself mostly to myself on one thread, but I can say some in the
past have found my long-running shop threads somewhat entertaining and edumicational.
Maybe my work might be more preferred in the "Ask Me Anything" section. Let me know.!

For example, here is a padded floating pad strap I made out of baby leopard patterned hair-on cowhide.
Some might say, "Slow down, Brad! Too. Damn. Far. Nobody's done anything that before, that's crazy!"
I think it works pretty ok.

That's awesome! It's great to connect with fellow guitar enthusiasts and musicians. Your custom guitar work sounds really interesting, and I'm sure many would find it both entertaining and educational. Posting in the "Ask Me Anything" section sounds like a good idea, where people can engage and ask questions about your projects. Looking forward to seeing your work!

 

[TVvoodoo]

@murphy brown any questions fully welcome here or via PM if you wish to be on stealth mode.

 

[TVvoodoo]

The story behind this rage-coloured feral Ostrich hide is found on the Well-Hung reverb page.

Your bandmates will hate this sling. Will immediately draw all crowd attention off them, towards whatever you're doing, even if just standing.
Wanna stay out of the limelight, blend in? This ain't your strap. how about this one @murphy brown ? Hot enough for ya?

It's a very striking fiery red, semi-matte, with a black leather bolt up front. Maxes out around 56" - nicely padded body.
Really heavy black leather nose, ladder and tail on this here very angry bird.

 

[murphy brown]

The story behind this rage-coloured feral Ostrich hide is found on the Well-Hung reverb page.

Your bandmates will hate this sling. Will immediately draw all crowd attention off them, towards whatever you're doing, even if just standing.
Wanna stay out of the limelight, blend in? This ain't your strap. how about this one @murphy brown ? Hot enough for ya?

It's a very striking fiery red, semi-matte, with a black leather bolt up front. Maxes out around 56" - nicely padded body.
Really heavy black leather nose, ladder and tail on this here very angry bird.

Fancy leather, we'd love to see a different color.

 

[TVvoodoo]

@murphy brown I would never work with real ostrich leather. Do you know how it's made? How they cruelly get those nipply nubbies on the hide? Unconscionable!

Been a bit of a dream of mine to dabble in latex, or latex-related products - I've been very close to getting a position in that industry,
so with great joy I present to you this next couple of straps I call "Latex Salesman"

both are 3" wide, with a rubberized heavy canvas body, rolled edges and a bolt front and centre. Also the padding, like you'd expect in a Well-Hung strap, and heavy leather on the front and back for security and longevity. But more about that latex. It's all shiny, and grippy, and even a bit clingy, Very strong too! Kind makes a fella feel a bit tingly, to think of it.

Both versions of "Latex Salesman" are one-onlys, and fresh up in the reverb store right now!

I should note upfront there will be no need for you to detail any fetishes you may have if you do contact me,
and I do not normally supply any BDSM related leather gear, (unless, of course, you wish it to be custom-made and can provide detailed measurements and photographs).

 

[murphy brown]

@murphy brown I would never work with real ostrich leather. Do you know how it's made? How they cruelly get those nipply nubbies on the hide? Unconscionable!

Been a bit of a dream of mine to dabble in latex, or latex-related products - I've been very close to getting a position in that industry,
so with great joy I present to you this next couple of straps I call "Latex Salesman"

both are 3" wide, with a rubberized heavy canvas body, rolled edges and a bolt front and centre. Also the padding, like you'd expect in a Well-Hung strap, and heavy leather on the front and back for security and longevity. But more about that latex. It's all shiny, and grippy, and even a bit clingy, Very strong too! Kind makes a fella feel a bit tingly, to think of it.

Both versions of "Latex Salesman" are one-onlys, and fresh up in the reverb store right now!

I should note upfront there will be no need for you to detail any fetishes you may have if you do contact me,
and I do not normally supply any BDSM related leather gear, (unless, of course, you wish it to be custom-made and can provide detailed measurements and photographs).

Wow is that snake skin???

 

[TVvoodoo]

Wow is that snake skin???

Snake embossed leather that appears to be python. Actual snake is hard to work with, can lose scales and be very brittle.

"Metallion" is a other pair of floating pad straps recently imagined-up. Great metallic gunmetal cowhide. I vision this as ideal for a metal player who wants the lower profile trad style but rides along nicely with the darker brootalz aestetic.

Pad is almost 3" wide, 14" long. Beefy buckle system works front or back. 50"-60" with heavy leather tabs.

Happy Monday!

 

[murphy brown]

Snake embossed leather that appears to be python. Actual snake is hard to work with, can lose scales and be very brittle.

"Metallion" is a other pair of floating pad straps recently imagined-up. Great metallic gunmetal cowhide. I vision this as ideal for a metal player who wants the lower profile trad style but rides along nicely with the darker brootalz aestetic.

Pad is almost 3" wide, 14" long. Beefy buckle system works front or back. 50"-60" with heavy leather tabs.

Happy Monday!

That one got me. And by the way I totally agree with you, snake skins are sometimes paper thin or even thinner.

 

[TVvoodoo]

The soon-to-be legendary Jack Dupp ( forum brother @modavis99 on another group) of the Porch Pirates has returned for another custom strap order and no ordinary one at that! This one is nudging me quite a ways out of my comfort zone into experimental (accent the "mental") custom strap territory.

His vision is something that will put his name in lights on stage. so we've been talking for a couple weeks, ordering bits, discussing. We came up with a concept of installing LED lights in the front of his strap, in bright crazy PINK! I tried to steer him off that but he was insistent.

Problem is, they come in groups of 50... to do the name right I needed more. So I got two sets and grafted part of one set onto the other.
Works just fine, but I will have to solder the connections. Probably just drain the batteries down a bit faster

Then rather than just have a bunch of LEDS poking out of the front I came up with the bright idea to put them into nickel grommets, because he was kind of asking for a biker theme to it anyway - and the LEDs look a lot better installed in a sort of "fixture"

So, we come up with a design on the computer, that I can layout on the back of the strap, then use the picture to punch the holes in an accurate manner, that's why it's reverse-imaged

Now grommet setting tools aren't made to put grommets real close together, would do a ton of damage to the any installed next to it,
so I had to modify a setter I had here with an angle grinder, a dremel and a small file - effectively build a new tool specific for this job.

Above is the setting tool after I did a bunch of grinding, now with the grommet sitting in it. This will insure the edges of the grommets come out nice, and don't wreck the ones next to it. We only had about 16-17 inches, on the front for the name so I really had to jam them close together. And Tada - worked great! We are going to continue this job next week.

Also another forum brother @On_the_Edge_of_Time was looking for a robust but more comfortable floating pad strap, and after some back and forth, we decided on a custom which I will also continue next week. But today I cut the leather and beveled the edges, cased it for dying, and dyed it black.

If that wasn't enough I also got an order in for three pairs of Old School Leather Straplocks, heading out tomorrow.
Maybe some of you old timers remember these

Might pick away at the strap projects over the weekend but the chore list is looking heavy too, so it's iffy.

 

[TVvoodoo]

Been wailin' away on the same couple of customs.. this one completed mostly over the weekend

Bare bones Cowboy Prayer floater. No fancy, no conchos, not tooling ( I did add a monogram as a surprise). It's as basic black as it gets. 48-60, brass buckle, could be front or back. 3" wide pad, 1.5" wide straps. Pad could be removed. As you can see my version, the strap goes through the pad, not over top. Still very padded.

Now this other one... is made of the same leather, but the low key aspect? Nope. None of that here!
I got lacing done up and down the sides, with a fun metallic lace, in dark silver. Then I attached
the back buckle and did a bit of decorative rivet work on the back. Finally, time to get at the wiring.

It's pretty damn bright! Nothing is secure yet, but its ALIIIIIIIIVVVVEE!!!

Kind of drives a camera crazy. I'm going to drip some UV resin into each of the grommets to secure the LEDs in there
better. Then I gotta figure out how to hang the battery box. And i want to do something fun with the switch so it's easy
to get to and flick it on and off while doing pull offs and hammers with the left hand. I mean why not, if I can, right?

Gotta say it's been a real fun challenge thinking my way through this one. But at this time I would like to state that Well-Hung assumes no responsibility for any possible or perceived electrifocutions, or blindnessess that could be caused by exposure to this here strap.

 

[TVvoodoo]

Well this was going to be a custom job, but as happens once or twice a year, the dude went another direction.
He did purchase a different strap, so no harm, no foul.
This one goes up for sale, and it's a custom job so a bit more went into it as is my convention

End Times #4 - my take on a post-apocalyptic Mad Max theme

Nice words from Tyler in Colorado

 

[TVvoodoo]

Had loose plans to do a set of "Carpetbagger" tapestry fabric straps today, but I popped by my parent's place and before even saying "good morning" he hands me his watch featuring a broken watch band. He looked at sort of with a fatherly disapproval kind of way... like how could something his son build just break like this? That's fathers for ya. LOL!

I made him this band for his treasured Casio three or four years ago, I think it might be in this thread. Anyway it was fuggered.
The leather had cracked up, and the only thing holding it together at the point of his favourite adjustment hole was the thread on each side

I looked around for a suitable alligator patterned bits, didn't want to use up a pieces already cut for straps - but I did find this bluey-black snakeskin embossed stuff. We were talking last weekend... he's not super well, at that stage of life where he's thinking... "Yep. This is the last time I'm gonna be buying one of **insert name of item***" So this band will probably last him the rest of his days.

Plenty of leatherworkers make stuff like this for a living, I see them on Etsy, sometimes they'll charge twice for a watch strap what I charge for a whole guitar strap for crying out loud! Of course, some of those watches are worth more than our guitars. Anyway, piddly work. I'd get pretty bored of it fast. While the hand-stitched detail world does intrigue me a little, I think I prefer good old fashioned-plugged-into-the grid horsepower.

If that wasn't enough to derail my day, yesterday my wife brought home this Epi John Lennon thing from her work.
Apparently her boss's son is starting on guitar lessons soon, this was his guitar.

I don't think bossman plays (or has played,) much. Don't know how old it is, but looked to me like possibly original strangs. No marks at all on the pins, or bridge. Just caked with crusty, rusty filth, frets not much different. UGHGHHGHH!!!! Anyway, got it cleaned up, oiled a very thirsty fretboard, frets polished, tightened up the tone pot, lubed the nut. Restrung, tuned and ready to go. Action not really all that bad, nut done well. Has a small crack developing in the maple top from the bridge, back to the backside, plenty good enough for a beginner to muck around on.

Noting here my wifes boss is a lawyer, lead hand of his firm. Sadly, not a PRS Blooz type lawyer though.

Welcoming "Java" Ayotte to the Shock & Awe Militia. This is his second one. He's in Maine
I don't where to go here from #99. I am running out of S&A insignia, the 3" Korean war surplus cotton web,
and the special patches too. This is the sling that started it all for me. Never thought I'd get to #100

Brother @LiveeviL2000 also picked himself out a little something/something for the crackle BC Rich he's completing.
I'll let him show it when the package is together. Thank you Vito, I really appreciate your business... Cheezies inbound!

 

[TVvoodoo]

New in the store today a set of "High Society" made of the same fabric the recent "The Continental" were made of, and sold out of rather fast, with nice reviews so far.

anyway... 3" wide paded synthetic silky feel, metallic gold, wine red, black.

The black has a bit of a flip-flop effect to it. Depends on the angle light hits it from. Tough leather ends.
Cool Mo D. will soon be taking "JackDupp, Lights 'em Up" to the stage.
All arrived and is working well on both his flash 'Merica semi, and a natural vee he showed me on the sidelines.

Is it just me or does he look a smidge happier inside the pink glow of the LEDs?

 

[Moondog Wily]

Great job on that "lit" stap! That is one happy customer ;~))

 

[TVvoodoo]

The Tiki Surf Godz are displeased

Mad wave action incoming!

 

[TVvoodoo]

Clay is a loyal repeat Well-Hung Tribe Member owns a groovy selection of turquoise and surfy coloured guitars - I'm not sure is "surf style" is really his main musical thing, but he was looking for a strap that had a surf/tropical vibe, but was badass besides. I pitched him the idea of Angry Tiki Gods that I had been keeping in my pocket here for quite some time, and he jumped on it.

so after I sent him a graphic mockup, I set to work printing out my design and transferring it to a main strap of 3" wide 9 oz vegtan that had been properly cased (moisturized for tooling).

Then I sent to work with the swivel knife

I've been wanting to do this sort of design for years. Thankfully Clay gave me a reason!

A whole lot of carving, tooling and beveling later, (about four hours, I could feel a storm building,
and the big waves starting to come in - The Gods are NOT happy!

Let it sit overnight last night, give my poor hands a rest! Now I could ave just finished it off by dyeing right here, maybe antiquing too, but there was so much more fun to be had!

Tiki culture is very colourful! So I set to work with a combination of painting via both dye and paint

Another four hours or so... They seem to be getting even angrier!

I let that all dry for a couple of hours. And resist coated the important stuff prior to the antiquing process. My idea was to keep the idols a bit lighter but on a dark background that I was going try to make look sort of like Teak.

Normally I would let it sit overnight let everything dry proper. But a trick I learned is if you want something to look old,
distressed, you don't wait for the paint to dry, you move on fast. Then some of that paint will rub off easier and help along that weathered vibe.
Here it is after the antiquing process after smearing with some antique paste, I added bit of red dye to to warm it up a bit.

Let it sit for twenty beats or so, wipe off. It smooths out the colours on everything, kind of blends things, and pics up all the small nooks and crannies.

I got that older/distress effect, maybe a bit too much! I'll have to overpaint a few things like the skull and teeth but I was planning to anyway. Pleased at where this sits for now. The main background colour turned out nice, you can't see it here with the reflections, but it's got that teaky flavour for sure. Over the weekend probably touch up, and begin clearcoating, so it's ready to assemble on probably tuesday. I think it's going to be super killer with light coloured contrasting stitching.

 

[TVvoodoo]

Completed the Angry Tiki Surf Godz strap today, I expect it will be heading to Clay in Oklahoma tomorrow once he does his bit and lets me know what size button holes to punch for. This one in my guitar-protecting "Class Act" design with a convenient gunmetal back buckle. 47-58"
Could probably get over 60" out of it with a few extra buckle tooth holes. I particularly love how the base dark brown colour came out...
It was pretty much exactly what was going for, which only happens about half the time LOL! Dyes are finicky beasts!
next time I do this I have another new idea for even more teaky woodgrain. The contrasting thread came out nice too.

This one took a little bit more work and time than I estimated... but I didn't change the price for Clay, that's on me. He gave me a budget, so what if I went over it a bit. He's gotta be happy! Plus I feel like it was hella fun exploring into new "cultural" territory for a change. Here in Saskatchewan, I'm about as far removed from tropical surf culture as imaginable, but i sure do enjoy a rum LOL!

Got a nice word back from forum brother @LiveeviL2000 in Jersey. He's been a loyal Well-Hung member of the "Family" - When it comes to a factory/store straps he'll tell you: " Ay! Fuhgeddaboudit! I got my own guy for dat!" He just picked up the "Aqua Snek" for the Warlock he refinished as part of his Guitar Rescue project/mission.

Look at his collection so far! A significant investment for him to build this harem, but if you ask, he'd probably say worth every penny.
From left to right
A Snakes in My Brain series "Aqua Snek"
an Ace of Spades #6
Another Snakes "Mamba #5"
Another Snakes "Murkbeast"
a Prophecy Custom "Red Horseman"
A No prisoners one-off "Hero"
Over to a custom order: Fire Warlock
another No Prisoners one-off "Bravada"
a custom gator on black back-buckler (can't remember what I called it)
another "No Prisoners" "Guardsman"
"Licks" prototype #1 that I never continued with
and finally an "Umlaut series" custom in Class Act design "Hell Rider"

In his own words.....

"Why have I bought so many Well-Hung straps? Is it because of the Cheesies? Is it because with each strap there is a thoughtful letter accompanying your purchase, outlining the story of your strap and a personal thank you? Yes, perhaps personal touches help make me a repeat customer.

The main reason is because, like most of you, I have spent a good amount of my money on my instruments. I figure, what’s a little more to make sure my instrument is safe and secure. Why waste money on off the rack straps that become loose and literally fall off your guitar or dig into your shoulder. To me, this is a gear investment. Besides, they look great!

Do yourself and your precious gear a favor. Get in touch with Brad. If you don’t see something you like in his Reverb store, I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to make you something to your liking. Trust me, once you try one of his straps, you’ll never go back to the same ole same ole everyone else has bought at the box stores.

Thank you Vito!

Tiki Godz sucked up a lot of my life over the past week days, but I do have a set of four new
"Spice Merchants" in the pipeline. Have family travel obligations over the next week or so, so I will be shutting down the store for the weekend starting Thursday afternoon, but these will be first ones new in the store early next week.

Just an ideal vintage tobacco burst, CSB vibe - 3" wide hootenanny ribbon sewed to a 3" wide leather base as per my 1969 design. Old school look, but modern comfort. These will go probably close to 60" long, and be luxe padded as per usual.

 

[Moondog Wily]

That Tiki strap turned out KILLER! And WOW on the LiveEvil collection!!