TVvoodoo's Straplab

I've had a slightly busier month than typical, and very welcome too as the late spring early summer were a bit lean. I attribute this partially to a number of recent custom sales, and some nice dual pickups. And, all the stuff I've been making and moving over the past few weeks is now arriving and being assessed by both customers new, and old.

Paul is a tribal elder in Vegas, by my Reverb records he now owns nine pieces. Even still, I'm glad I'm able to continue to provide Well-Hung "WOW!" factor, even after that many deliveries. He recently picked up a pair of the dragon silk Sum Yung Long Hung Guy slings...

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As far as I'm concerned, a maker is only as good as his recent work, and I'm glad I'm still able to please even those who've opened many of my boxes. As a fella who has spent many years conjuring up advertising copy in my previous careers (and will likely pay for it in the afterlife), my listings can admittedly be somewhat hyperbolic LOL! But it's nice to know the work continues to able to live up some of my wordy bullsh!t.

Now Nathan's a dude who just recently found me. Two arrived this week, his second and third after recieveing another about a month ago. In his first feedback he was careful to note he already owned and used straps by many of we all would consider the world's major quality builders. Gratefully, he has deemed my work superior.

Will I argue? No. Damn. Way!

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I so welcome when new customers find me, particularly those with some years under their belts who have earned a certain amount of "gear cred." Those with the
means and opportunity to field test many higher end products over the years. Almost invariably, I win them over with my work, and they return again and again.

While my bank book might not agree, these words and and loyalty from the Well-Hung Tribe (many here on TTR) confirms I'm doing something right. If you are a "seeker" I welcome any questions you may have for me, or better yet a trial of my rather unique guitar suspension products. I believe it's truly a TANGIBLE difference. As much as I say "trust Me" it's wise to put more weight to what customers say. There's over 1,200 feedbacks in my Reverb store to peruse at your leisure, and many fun/expressive ones too!

Speaking of return customers... Bouquet #2 continues... last night and today I dropped one more coat of yellow, then a session with a mixture labelled "Light Saddle Tan" from my custom mix dye cupboard.

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After oiling it with neatsfoot, I'm pretty sure this is what Brian is going for. This afternoon I dyed the edges, and will proceed to burnish the edges tomorrow morning.
It's going to darken down and get a bit more contrasty with the clearcoats to come... pending customer approval.

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Hope you are running strong this week, I'm making some major changes to my own diet over the past month, and starting to feel some positiivity from it.
Sorry not much to report today much of my day was taken up with a denturist appointment for mama voodoo
 
Not much interesting going on with bouquet, just did the third clearcoat. One more likely before bed tonight. Might be able to sew it later in the afternoon tomorrow. It don't look much different than above.

But I did get so start another sunflower for a fellow in Great Britain. His budget was a bit shy of doing a full coverage sunflower strap,
but like tattoos, I don't mind doing something a bit smaller, or less coverage, plus it's crazy what it costs to ship anything over there, so I fully understand.

Anyway, we agreed on a price and today was the day to get going ... Same as usual... cut the basic shape, soak it overnight, then first thing get those stitch lines bored in

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Trace my saved sunflower pattern onto the damp leather, then carve in the basic lines and shapes with a swivel knife

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Sammy's strap is going to have four sunflowers up and down the front, and letters monogrammed on the tail strap. Here we are after about two some extra hours of beveling, stamping, smoothing and some "artistic" decorative cuts. Yeah it looks a bit rough at this stage, it'll better!

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I've hit the flowers with yellow dye twice now, (not shown) and also made the leaves and stems green via dye and a brush, you'll see that tomorrow.
 
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That's a beauty of a photo @Sargeant Preston mind if I borrow it? Nobody's done that "under the strings" trick for me before!
I do hope it's causing you to be inspired to pluck a bit more.

More work on Sunflower happened. Here it is as it sits right now.

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Still needs four or five clearcoats, after I get the edges all burnished tonight. I gave the customer the option to have the centers dyed jet black,
or leave them the colour of the main body of the strap, a rather rich dark brown, which I think helps tie it all together.

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Once it gets some clearcoats, everything is going to deepen with more colour saturation and contrast.

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The Ace of Spades strap I recently detailed had a super slippy lining, by customer request... which I rarely do.

After play testing it before shipping to Ontario on tuesday, it's still playing with my head. I'm now wondering if offering almost exclusively
grippy straps is a mistake. I found the experience with a slippy strap a bit weird, but not unpleasant, for the ten minutes
I spent with it. It did feel a bit loose and slightly out-of-control, but that was also on a lighter strat-type instrument, and it was
really lightly padded, which also adds a bit of braking power

If you have thoughts regarding your own personal preferences, I would appreciate anything you could offer on the matter.
 
Friends, some tough titty here, I've been putting this off. A little bit heartbreaking for me, really.

Quickly approaching changes with regards to trade and tariffs across the US/Canada border have me in a situation where I'm
forced to close off all USA business near the end of next business week.

My USA friends have grown to become significant portion of my business, so this new paradigm is also likely to cause
me to change careers and seek some sort of alternate employment in the near future.

I've researched for hours trying to figure out how to comply with the USMCA agreements, collect tariffs, submit, all that - it seems to me it's about to overwhelm me with paperwork, suck away a large portion of my creative time, and generally price my work out of realistic scale in regards to the competition. So, in effect, the small guy gets crushed, BIG STRAP wins. Thousands of other online craft/boutique businesses are in a similar situation.

I've got no control over this, and it is what it is so I'm resolved to be pragmatic about it and do what I need to do to survive. Near the end of next week, my reverb listings will become suddenly invisible to the USA. As of today, I can no longer accept new USA custom orders, This, for at least a couple months, maybe more until I can figure it all out or something changes. I'm booked at a couple of guitar shows up here in Canada, Edmonton and Calgary, which I hope may provide me a bit of a financial cushion. In the meantime, I'll continue building forwards towards those events in late September and early October. Then a long, cold Canadian winter looms.

SO... if you have been watching, waiting, wondering please consider adding a Well-Hung guitar strap, some of my Pro-Pins strap buttons,
novelty poker chip switch plates, or a pair of old school straplocks to your stable.

NOW IS THE TIME. DO NOT DELAY.

After Thursday I cannot send goods to the USA at what I would consider reasonable prices,
and I'm not at all sure if I'll be able to do it even at UNreasonable prices.

The link to my Reverb store: Well-Hung Guitar Accessories

Brian B in California will get his custom Bouquet #3, sent tomorrow.

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More nice feedbacks came in, but at this point it seems counterproductive to promote what folks say about my goods anymore.

My life's passion, this endeavor I've channeled my entire heart and soul into for so many years may be forced to fade off, but life goes on.
Far too soon to say much with finality here, but I have to be 100% real on the big picture with the business part of things.

I'm still gonna make music, be a bro, all that. It sure does suck though, I'll tell you what!
 
TVvoodoo said:
Friends, some tough titty here, I've been putting this off. A little bit heartbreaking for me, really.
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Understandably so.
TVvoodoo said:
Quickly approaching changes with regards to trade and tariffs across the US/Canada. My USA friends have grown to become significant portion of my business....
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I can't fault you for having to do what you feel you need to do in response to all of this tariff nonsense!

In the meantime, your USA clients surely understand your current predicament and will continue purchasing Well-Hung straps regardless of imposed tariffs. Think about that before you shut it all down! An additional 20 or 30 bucks isn't going to stop people from the USA buying great straps!

Hang in there!!!!!!
 
Sargeant Preston said:
Understandably so.

I can't fault you for having to do what you feel you need to do in response to all of this tariff nonsense!

In the meantime, your USA clients surely understand your current predicament and will continue purchasing Well-Hung straps regardless of imposed tariffs. Think about that before you shut it all down! An additional 20 or 30 bucks isn't going to stop people from the USA buying great straps!

Hang in there!!!!!!
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I think it is regrettable.
 
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It's the back office stuff too. If say if reverb was going to collect and remit at time of sale that might have worked but they are refusing to get involved just telling me I gotta jack up my prices and pay the fees prior to shipping. Canada post will no longer accept packages without the tariff prepaid, and I gotta sign up for some service that will charge me extra to implement tariffs and release my goods for shipping

Reverb probably felt all the heat they got from implementing and collecting sales tax and it's now all on the sellers.

I just started to look into it and saw it was going up cost me money to charge you guys more and I kind of just folded on that distasteful idea.

I get the sense too many customers would just start offering my price minus the tariff or a bit more and then I'm stuck eating $40 or $50 per sale.

I appreciate all the kind words of encouragement though you have me thinking.
 
I mentioned the tear riffs word on The Gear Forum in a private message and it got censored by the software. lol. I would say if that's a bad word, mentioning "taxes" or "laws" or even "border" could also be construed as political, but these things also can all have affects on our gear choices.

I'm not trying to get anyone in trouble or even pointing fingers, fault-finding, whatever... It is what it is
100% beyond any of our control, I've been blessed with a great run, no regrets.

There may be a silver lining in this waiting to reveal itself
 
ibmorjamn said:
Where are the politics, I replied?
I’m out. :BH:
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You did not post anything directly political. You posted an economics observation. A righteous one(IMO). Though they may be a new(not really…it’s just been a long time…like generations) concept to some of us, they have been discussed before here. They mostly have come up in conversation with European members(VAT - value added tax), and (I remember distinctly, the shock of it) Brazilian taxes(tariffs) on American instruments.
This is economics…until someone feels that they must make it politics.
No one has….yet…I’d like to think that no one will, and that @Sargeant Preston was only cautioning us against turning a discussion regarding international trade developments and their effects on the Everyman, be it Canadian or American, in a political direction.
 
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