TVvoodoo's Straplab

[TVvoodoo]

TGIF my guitar-addicted compadres! Yesterday was Thursday, tomorrow will be Saturday. Ah... the sheer genius of it.

This morning I am packing a few things but before I sent these away, I wanted to lay in a quick photo.

Guy ordered a couple pairs for himself, asked me if I could try to match his straps. Then, he added a plain black set for a gift to his guitar instructor. Thoughtful! Probably only the only guys who remember these have some grey hair happening, like me. Secure convenient time-tested alternative to clunky plastic or metal gadgetry. Don't think anybody else is doing these. Old School, baby!

Also, yesterday started a replenishment of a popular one, hoping to complete a few this weekend. The Well-Hung "Tweedly Wheedly" is a highly evolved heavy genuine tweed fabric strap, (not plasticky junk),
with high quality ends, 3" wide, padded generously. I took one to a Stang Guitars in Edmonton once, laid it down beside a big name factory off-the-rack version. It was pure comedy.
Though to be fair, mine are NOT $22 LOL!

Gonna finish packing boxes, hit the post office then my son and I are gonna to see if we can go hit some balls into the slough.
Happy Friday!

 

[Sp8ctre]

Do you have anything in Black Paisley similar to this pattern?

 

[TVvoodoo]

Hey Big C, thanks for your ask... let me have a look over the weekend, i'll get back to you. If I did it would be fabric and not leather.
I actually think I might, though it may be more a black on black damask kind of feel, rather than a paisley.

Remember Xonoth? Customer sent in a pic...

A goldtop was not at all what I was thinking for that strap, but I'll be damned if this doesn't totally work out REAL NOICE!

 

[Sp8ctre]

Need something super Black! I also hate those weave in and out strap length adjusters...so none of that!

 

[TVvoodoo]

@Sp8ctre this is the best thing that I have in the line that you are looking for. I have a few others in the same neighborhood, but this is the only true what I would call both black/black and "paisley" at the same time.
It is basically what I would call a Damask pattern, with paisleys incorporated into the design. I could make you a strap out of this, for sure. I kept it because it is a fairly heavy polyester fabric with the texture woven into it.

I do not have enough to make a hootenanny style strap out of it, but I could do a sliding D-ring "rip cord" style adjuster on the back end, like you have on your Shock & Awe strap, which a
a pretty good setup, if you ask me. The paisley is about 3" tall by 2.5 inch wide

 

[Sp8ctre]

@Sp8ctre this is the best thing that I have in the line that you are looking for. I have a few others in the same neighborhood, but this is the only true what I would call both black/black and "paisley" at the same time.
It is basically what I would call a Damask pattern, with paisleys incorporated into the design. I could make you a strap out of this, for sure. I kept it because it is a fairly heavy polyester fabric with the texture woven into it.

I do not have enough to make a hootenanny style strap out of it, but I could do a sliding D-ring "rip cord" style adjuster on the back end, like you have on your Shock & Awe strap, which a
a pretty good setup, if you ask me. The paisley is about 3" tall by 2.5 inch wide

Please elaborate on the style of strap. Maybe some pictures might help.

 

[TVvoodoo]

Probably look similar to this one when done, but without the ladder adjustment and not as much 3D texture.

Cowboy Noire

Curious about your aversion to ladder/weave adjustment on guitar straps...

 

[Sp8ctre]

Probably look similar to this one when done, but without the ladder adjustment and not as much 3D texture.

Cowboy Noire

Curious about your aversion to ladder/weave adjustment on guitar straps...

The aversion is just one of those things. I don't like it and have no real reason. I have had a few that seem to bunch up, so that's one thing.

They are also a pain to adjust if you need to. Just don't like the style...

Let me look around for some material. I can't get a good feel for what you posted. Maybe a few more picks? How heavy is it?

 

[TVvoodoo]

Today I'm working on a couple in my "1969" series, where straps are named after songs that came out that fine year. These are a pair of "Crystal Blue Persuasions" in progress...
It's like the old hippy ribbon you see on them old straps, but Well-Hunged-up a major notch by putting it on a 3" wide padded black leather base and adding a matching blue suede (synthetic) lining.
Groovy cool, and super luxe!

This is what they'll look like, (hopefully ) later, (not my Gretsch).

You get that good ol' far out hootenanny hippy ribbon look, on a substantial and comfortable leather strap.

 

[SG John]

Those are my favorite strap locks, and the best for SGs, Flying Vs, and Firebirds. I've been on the hunt for a couple more for ages.

 

[jtcnj]

Im not sure how those work.... the screw goes in the hole - check.
Then what?
The strap goes over the button or the under the leather flap?
- either way both are the button?

 

[TVvoodoo]

Im not sure how those work.... the screw goes in the hole - check.
Then what?
The strap goes over the button or the under the leather flap?
- either way both are the button?

Perhaps this pic helps you envisionment of the setup...

You replace the stock button completely, slightly longer and bigger screw.
Put your strap on the new nipple, pull over the safety flap, on top of the strap to secure.

Couple things...Well-Hung old school straplocks add a slightly "loosened-up" hang feel to a guitar due to the added pivot point. The way I build them they cannot ding your guitar up. One great application is if you have any off-the-rack or custom straps 2, 3, or 4 inches too short, (a frustratingly common issue), a set of these can put that strap back into a decent play zone.

One customer bought up four sets a few years ago, told me he couldn't do without them for studio work because they're secure and stealth silent. Lotta bass players dig these too, and they definitely have a bit of a nostalgia/vintage factor going on. I think I might be overbuilding them a bit compared to the originals which I have not held in my hand since the early 80's.

 

[TVvoodoo]

Yesterday, I woke up and like many of you, first thing I did was glance at my phone. I typically go to Reverb first, see if I have to box anything up to send away.
Well to my surprise, there was a notification that I had sold a strap, but not just any strap. A strap that is the holy grail for some strapoholics, Duaneium, even unobtanium.
And I'm not real shy about charging pretty good for this one, because they are very time and labour intensive.

But when a fellow has a gear grail they NEED to obtain, I sure am happy to be able to do that.

Some of you details fellas know all about the famous "Ring" strap that one Duane Allman is famous for sportin' on his paul, made by a fellow named Zebo. But there is a slightly more obscure famous sling called the "Mountain" strap which he wore as well. Looked something like this... below is a near replica, not made by me.

Really hard to find good pics of the original strap, which is housed in some Hard Rock Cafe somewhere. A few folks have made replicas over the years, and its hard to tell who makes a good one due to the lack of pictures. Plus the original one, the red faded hugely (the old red dyes are famous for that in other places, not just on LPs). So, exact replicas are kind of impossible. The original sold for $90,000 US, at Christies. Mine costs slightly less.

The strap includes all kinds of strange stonerish fantasy imagery, dragons, volcanos, sorcerer caves, a mega 'shroom, herds of doglike dinosaurs, and.... mountains, plenty of mountains! I would tell nobody that I am an EXPERT leather tooler. I am probably intermediate at best? Each one of these is a bit better than the last one, so it follows that the way to get good at stuff it to get the hours in. So here's another great opportunity!

I hope you folks will join me for one of the more challenging strapping tasks a fellow can accept. I believe this will be my fifth Mountain strap, now embarking upon what is almost a week long process.
I've waited until just a few hours ago, for the fellow to confirm what length he wants, that's all I needed to get started and begin to cut leather. This vegtan stuff is pretty pricey, so a guy needs to measure twice, cut once!

Truer replicas of this strap have limited adjustability. I offer two kinds of adjustment on these, this customer wanted the original limited style, which will have three end hole adjustments. I build in his ideal measurement to the center hole. I drop a few sharpie X's where the button holes will end up, each about 1.5 inches apart, taking into account this strap will stretch about 3/4" over the first six months of wear.

Kind of some odd-ball corners on the strap bits, along with a 2.5" brass ring that I get from a special store that is totally unrelated to guitars or even leatherwork! Finding this exact size ring was not easy!
Actually this is not the correct/exact ring, because the original strap looks to my eye to be only 2.5" wide total. I make these in 3", gives a bit more room for the tooling/artwork, and more comfort.
Here I cut the oddly shaped corners with a big 3/4" hole punch.

We are not looking for exact fine tuned shape at this point, just roughing things out. Also gotta plane this leather down just a bit, like I showed before it's about 5mm thick.
Want to get it down to between 3 and 4mm but only on the very front and very back where the strap button holes are going to be, the rest can stay good and robust.

Now the "casing" which is kind of an art in itself, one I'm still learning. To accept tooling impressions properly, and for easy carving, we need to get that moisture content WAY up in the leather.
So I hit it front and back with distilled water and a sponge, three times. Let it soak in each time. The key here is to get is as even as you can. It turns real dark once it's wet.

Then, I roll it up, seal it in a coffee can with a damp sponge inside, and let it sit overnight.

All this stuff is not the fun part, but it is important, even necessary! We will get to do some pattern stuff tomorrow!

 

[eSGEe]

your strappin them up there DUDE!

 

[TVvoodoo]

Gonna be a super fun day in the lab - Today we are about to tackle a mountain!

First things first, vegtan did real well overnight in the coffee can - ready to move ahead. First thing, let's do some layout stuff... super fancy tool here, some folks use for screen doors, I use it for making good long straight lines in my leather. This is what I call the stitching channel, where I will sew later on during assembly. Want to try to keep my art off this section. So I rope it off.

Second thing... is to transfer my acetate pattern I made for the first Mountain strap onto the leather with a modeling tool.
Because the leather is nice and hydrated, it takes the tracing nicely. I had to adapt this pattern a bit though. The pattern was made
for a strap about 51", this guy needs one a bit less, so I actually just took a few redundant mountains and dino-dogs out, and I kind of like the whole pattern better this way.

Have to press pretty hard, gets to be kind of hard on the hand after awhile, gotta take a break now and then.

Once I get the pattern down, I can continue to complete what will be the border for the design. This tool is called a "veiner" and is commonly used
for the insides of oak leaves, and such, but has many other uses in leather tooling. Also very often used as a border, like this...

For a border that will eventually be stained different colours between each side, you want to get real good, deep impressions. This will make the colouring process easier later on.

This vein tool above was in a leather tooling set sold in the 50's by Tandy, that I inherited from my grandfather, along with a highly superior swivel knife and some other typical tools. Typical, but completely non-typical as well. Many of the leather working tools they sell in kits now, or available at craft stores have fuzzy/blurry impressions. Also, in many kits these days, (particularly Asian-made) are soft metal, you may find (like I did) that the tools will actually bend under repeated blows, and begin to lose the imprint pattern over time. JUNK. If you are interested in leather tooling, try real hard to get a carefully used older tool set if you can, there is just no comparison. I treasure my vintage tools and am very careful with them.

Once the border is complete, about an hour and a half of work... I strop my grandpa's swivel knife so it's super sharp and dig in to do some damage!
We trace the pattern again, as close as we can, cutting into the leather between 1-2 mm deep. This takes a couple of hours to do well. Swivel knifing is kind of my favourite part. Don't know why, it's not particularly creative or rewarding, I just get in a nice flow with it. Takes some creative thinking sometimes with silly curves. You do have to think ahead a bit, a major slip and you could put yourself in serious recovery mode!

For the stars in the sky, I simply push in a couple appropriately sized leather hole punches, give 'em a twist.

Mostly all carved, and soon the detailed tooling and texturing part can begin. Gettin' the growlies, time for a late lunch.. probably have another picture or two later on.
The goal today is to have the tooling done, and most of the carving, but I won't be able to complete all that fully.

 

[TVvoodoo]

Ok a few more hours in on this one... most of the rough shading is done on this. Kind of hate showing pics at this stage because things are starting to take some shape, but still look pretty crude - don't look too close!
You can see up on the top left, I have begun doing the "distress mottling" that will be done to all of the sky showing, which takes a good long while, particularly slow when it comes to getting into the tighter corners.
here we have a herd of dino-dogs, and a flying fire-breathin' bird-dragon, and... mountains. Plenty of mountains.

And the frontal part of the strap when I called it a day on this one. Will put it in the can, keep it damp and continue tomorrow.

On this front part of the strap, various Allman Mountain strap replicas show a big bright green leaf popping out from behind the mountains.
Don't know why, but some carver did that on a strap years ago, perhaps as a joke? Or, maybe he just guessed what it was supposed to be, because he only had crappy pics?

It made absolutely no sense to the theme of the strap, and ended up being the only green bit. Funnier yet, from then on, any other carvers trying to craft replicas continued to put that stupid big green fern leaf in,
copying the original mistake from his pics. Even I did that on my first one. Anyone ever play that whisper game called "Password"?

Then one day I found a half-decent photo of the real original, and noted it was definitely another bird-dragon on the front instead of a damn leaf. Found the pic online, and in my excitement I failed to save it.
Try as I might, I couldn't find it again, despite several tries. But dammit, I KNOW it's supposed to be another bird dragon, so that's how I've made them ever since.

To be cont'd

 

[TVvoodoo]

Up with the chickens this morning, had to box up a Devil's Leash, send to BC. Also wanted to finish the tooling on this one... So it can sit for a day....heading to the lake later for a little family picnic thing.

At this point I'm are calling the carving/tooling 90% done. Now we have to bring the moisture content way DOWN on these pieces prior to dying the leather, so it soaks in real good. It's outside blowing in the morning sun and gentle breeze as I write this. We are going to try for a modified colour version from the original, a cherry sunburst sort of effect.

Happy Fourth of July my 'merican friends, don't let the haterz get you down.

 

[TVvoodoo]

The leather pieces dried in the mixed shade and mottled sunlight most of the day, on a pile of skulls for extra mojo.

This summer my daughter has taken to suddenly become a forest prowling skull hunter/collector. Couple weeks ago she even met face to face with a black bear.
She'll spend hours hiking through the deepest bush , then cleaning, degreasing the damn things when she brings one home. It's starting to take over a part of my yard.
I don't know what drives her to do it, I got my own powerful inclination/urges I can't explain so I guess she comes by it honestly. She could be into worse things.

Anyway, the leather turned out nice and dry, and rather stiff, which is 100% normal.

I gave the fellow I'm making this for some colour options, which can be done rather than typical replica. He sent over some pics of guitars he would like to eventually use this strap with.
Some pretty serious wood! He also added in a faded whale blue guitar, but hard to make a strap like this match those entirely different colour schemes, so I'm working mostly with these two as inspiration.
he was actually thinking about some teal and soft yellow Easter egg colours, but I wasn't so confident I could mix those colours up with the dyes I have on hand. Pastels are really hard.
He's been awesome on allowing me to stay in my comfort zone on that, but this version is going to be a bit special some other ways.

So, a cherry sunburst sort of effect, but a darker amber/yellow/saddle, plus a darky-dark red, and some tobacco tones wouldn't hurt bad also.
Played around with the dye for the lightest base colour before I committed.

Mostly yellow dye, ten or twelve drops of red, a splotch of saddle tan, and a few drops of black to get away from the bright lemon yellow. Looked good on a test piece.
Laid 'er on the project. My heart always rushes a bit when I do this, because you splop it all on, and the first immediate thought is, "Fruck! I wrecked it beyond all repair!"

Then, it goes in front of a fan for an hour and after the dye dries, turns out pretty much where I was wantin it to go... PHEW! Kind of a very very light saddle tan.
What I was hoping for was a little bit of "variation" in the dye - so that has a bit of shading in it, looks a bit better in something like this, like on the mountains.
A lot of this strap, all that background stuff in the sky will eventually be black, so yellowy mountains will really pop on this baby.

Mixed some real dark red and painted up the edges and some select design features which will pull them out, after I hand rub on a "burst."
Burst base will be kind a similar colour, If I can repeat it, maybe a tad more tobacco if I can find it by mixing... won't show up quite so dark on the main body, except on the very edges.

Before hitting the hay tonight I have to add some stain "resist" on a few bits which I don't want to be affected by the burst, such as the dragon flames and some fire coming out of the volcano...
Not much, of this but I want them to stay the just colour they are right now, so I'll coat them with Future acrylic floor polish, keep the dye from soaking through. Then, let 'er dry again overnight.

 

[TVvoodoo]

Nice summer day up here... I promised some mixology. Now I dig a barley sandwich as much as the next fella. But, if you're looking for a bit of a change-up, a fresh-tasting easy quencher...

Shandies are recommended with light beer, I enjoy this more with a medium-bodied beery-beer, so the malt isn't totally overpowered by the citrus.

I urge you fellas to give 'er a try on a sunshiny day. 2-3 oz grapefruit juice to taste, add a couple of cubes... hard to stop at just one!

 

[eSGEe]

grapefuit juice and beer................uhm -- Im guessing Id regret that the next morning --