TVvoodoo's Straplab

Ending this week with a beginning. All last year I've been admiring a style of leather tooling/stamping called "geometric"
This is an example, on what looks to be a belt, not my work...

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Anyway, I'm not real happy with the stamps I have in my collection to do this, but it's also
probably a lot about my own imagination and skill, and less so the stamps.

Here's my start on a guitar strap with a similar approach.

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Phew! That was a lot of stamping!

This is prior to the antiquing process, which fills in all the nooks and crannies with dark to bring out the texture, but I'm off to a start on it.
Will resist coat it a few times over the weekend before I do that so I don't lose the fade.

should be able to finish this one early next week. Have a great weekend!
I love it but that is going to sound like a broken record.
I like most of your creations . Especially the leather tooling.

I edited this due to my slightly incoherent typing. I think what I want to say but type something with less words and never check it before posting :BH:
 
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Thank you bro! I agree, and it's not too often a first try at something seems to come together so well. You have just witnessed the birth of a new Well-Hung custom order strap line pretty sure I'm gonna call "Geomatrix."

I'm trying to brew up a few cool / different ideas like this one to add to my recently-opened Etsy store... a bit of a market expansion for me. The Etsy storefront will be focusing on custom-tooled bespoke straps and maybe pickguards. Just barely started building it out.

Won't be my typical selection of pre-made strap lines. Can't afford to ignore that busy marketplace any longer and gotta grab a foothold in the bustlin' art & craft scene.

But man, getting a store up there? The hoops they make a dude jump for security, tax all that jazz? Regulatory and legal? What an ordeal!

Used to be sales on the web was kind of the wild west up until a few years ago. Things are changing fast. Everybody seems to need to lock down a cut these days, and staying ahead of scammers seems take lot of resources.
 
Is the Geomatrix in Etsy?
Yes James, I'm going to keep custom orders there, because it's too hard to track multiple inventory all over the place, like
if have a strap listed there and on reverb, and I forget to remove it and it sells again.... I have so many one-off straps I'll just
end up pissing people off, if they can't get it, and I can't repeat LOL!

But yes, I set up a listing there to order, different colour schemes, back-buckle etc... but don't go through etsy, just go direct
here, etsy charges a lot of fees, more so than reverb, (which is actually better for both of us than direct/paypal), Etsy even charges a fellow
to make or renew a damn listing! So I'm just going to put my pricier, more labour-intensive work up over there
 
@Don O enters the Well-Hung book of World Records, not for maybe what he'd like to be known for,
but for fastest trigger pull in W-H history!!! Congrats my brother. It's a beauty, quite proud of it

Unfortunately, we missed the mail truck today, but I'll have it on tomorrows, thank you sir.
Damn! Now I gotta make the next one LOL
 
@Don O enters the Well-Hung book of World Records, not for maybe what he'd like to be known for,
but for fastest trigger pull in W-H history!!! Congrats my brother. It's a beauty, quite proud of it

Unfortunately, we missed the mail truck today, but I'll have it on tomorrows, thank you sir.
Damn! Now I gotta make the next one LOL
I know it’s against your inner being, but can ya punch it for Schaller strap locks ? :io:
 
Absolutely Don, not a problem. $@*+%&*-ing straplocks! LOL!

New in the Well-Hung store today... SuperFortress! If you're gonna bomb, do it up right! Goes to 61" if you are a low hangin' orangutan-armedguitar guy.
BTW, today happens to be the anniversary of Steve Clarke's passing, 24 years ago. :cry:

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Also, this weird (but very comfy) mongrel/hybrid I call "Prowler."
Raised Leopard velvet on black with metallic ribbon monstrosity!

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Both nicely padded, mostly fabric straps, strong leather ends, 3" wide.

and.... Son-of-a-Gun!

Today pretty sure a Well-Hung record was set by Don. I posted a new listing for the new "GeoMatrix" early afternoon. Within seconds, it got snatched-up and is heading to Cali tomorrow, probably a less-troubled zone. What a nightmare for so many, and all that insurance madness? OMG. I run a wood stove up here for home heating, and there's a lot of chatter on future regulations and insureability. Unless you have that eff you money, uninsureability can make a place unliveable.

Donny, be safe!

Anyway, it's good and bad on the strap sale. Good for the quick hit for me, which is the end goal, but bad in that now by showing these finished pics,
nobody else can get it, I'm just giving what's called the ol' "strap tease." Well, actually you kind of can. More on that later. But first a couple of pics.

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Crafted of 4 oz vegtan. 42-56" working length, 2-3/4" wide, lightly padded. I did go with the off white almost cream stitch, and it really sings.
There is a beige/gold tweedy lining, not real slippy, not real grippy, kind of neutral.

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Ok, it sold Fast,(thanks again) but you CAN STILL GET ONE! Or, something much like it, maybe even better!

Over the past two days I have been working on something new. After much hesitation, I have gone and opened up an Etsy store. I'm not going to offer too many things there, only some of my premium custom ordered "bespoke" things. I don't want to risk inventory mess-ups between platforms because almost all of my wares are short run, or one-offs and I'm the first to admit I'm not the most organized guy around. So the Well-Hung store on Reverb will stay much the same, but extra deep dive custom work available on Etsy, along with the many other serious crafters already working that zone. I just felt I needed to also be in the mix, so a bit of a minor biz expansion.

Well-Hung ETSY Storefront
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Four items in there so far, and look! ZERO followers, ZERO sales Perfect record! - Can't get any worse from here LOL!

So, this "GeoMatrix" was my first crack at it, but I'm offering it, or similar, in various bursts. Blue, Red, Purple, Green, HoneyBurst, CSB, '59 style or solid dye colours if you wish.
Please, also don't expect a bang-on match to your "2014 Bourbon-Laced August Sunset Tea in the SouthWest Wearing Birkenstocks Burst" or "The exact purple of the '68 Deep Purple Debut Album Cover" because dye on leather is rather unpredictable - it's not like paint, can't just pick a pantone. How dye sets depends very much on my mix, the hide, my wife's mood, the stock market and the politics on that particular day, etc. Again, I will do my best, and I've been at this for a while now.

It will also be available with a back-buckle "Class Act" design, and you can choose none, light or medium padding, even width of the strap. And because it was my first try, I figure the next ones will likely be improvements, I suggest you allow me to NOT do the exact same pattern unless you are extremely risk-adverse. This also available on Reverb, or direct if you wish. Reverb is better. If you don't like any of those options, you can wait for one to show up on craiglist, FB marketplace or your local store. LOL!

I wanted to show you something else, but I can't find it, maybe tomorrow. duh!
 
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I do really like the Geomatrix as well as the last 2.
The color and design is definitely appealing and I don’t blame Don o for snagging that up!
 
Quite an anomaly, but this morning I woke up to five offers on reverb. Two from a fine gent from Texas I'll call "#1"
plus three more from "#2" - quite exciting to see, until I dug a little deeper

The first fine gent offered on two straps, one called "Phat Bastard," and another "Swaggerman," shown here recently. Both great leather, rare or unique No Prisoners woven type pieces. Offers were reasonable, within the expected range where I can still hold my head up and make a buck or two. He's a first timer to the tribe, and because I typically see most customers back again (who often pay full because they know better what's coming), it becomes a bit of a bid on future considerations.

Typically on a pair, I like to see one at full price, the second at an offer, so I can still drop in a little swag which is my policy. Anyway, for the gent #1, GREAT!
Accepted both. Then, to make my morning extra fun, he proceeds to also order up some Pro-Pins, and a pair of old school leather straplocks, much appreciated!
This did make add a little hustle to my morning! Particularly because i was also trying to deal with fellow #2 at the same time, and for part of the afternoon, too.

Fellow #2 offered on three list valued well over $500 bills CAD, but his total offer was just over 200. Now, I TRY not to get hot when this happens, thankfully it's not often.
I countered, something like 450 or something, and told him he needed to be "this tall to ride this ride." Suggested he pay full price for two, and gave him an offer of like
half price on the third with a purchase of two others. Declined two, so he could reconsider, come back on the one.

Dude counter offers less than half price on the one, but that alone. Still pretty much an insult. Still, I weighed it. Gave another counter of like 30% off or something.
he comes back still wanting half off for a single strap, no prior relationship, nothing.

Because of the repeat business thing, this is exactly the kind I DON'T want. declined.
Told him if he wasn't going to make a big boy offer, he'd be blacklisted.

He can go time suck and lowball my competition, seeing me as a not-for-profit organization.

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Thankfully, the Well-Hung tribe knows generally knows what's what, and I appreciate you!

I got one today! Emblem rivet near perfectly-centered! Inside joke, was chatting with a forumite last night about that. Not sure why, but I often seem to get them just a bit off, no matter how hard I try. This is what I managed to build today, the strap. 80's patch leather, with a small ribbon strip. It'll go up tomorrow, and is very long! Yet to be named.

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The other thing I couldn't find is something I had to make the other day. A new edge burnishing tool! For some reason the day before, I just could not find my old one, looked high and low. Ended up just taking a chunk of 1 X 2, carved out a V groove on each side. Contact cemented vegtan leather on one side, cotton canvas webbing on the other.
Rasped down a bit of a handle. Not super pretty but very effective.

Then, about a half after I burned up an hour rigging that, the old one just magically appears! Sheesh. Way she goes.
 
Today on the bench is a custom "Dark Shadows" build for Rusty in Alberta. A little longer than most.
He saw one I made before the holidays, and decided he wanted to give me a try at matching his own rather intense burst. Here's where I was at early afternoon today

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Does anyone here know the name of this burst, is it simply a Tri-burst? I figure Gibson probably has a sexier name for it, such as... "Tequila Sunrise Night" or " Magma Burst." Or something? Once I hit it with black on the edges and clearcoat it (over the weekend), the colours will saturate more. He says the his photo colour shows it a bit more intense than it is real life. Probably a flash.

Yesterday I showed a bit of a strap, it's now online. It's a B-stock 'cause I was dumb. I had set it aside 1/4 done maybe a year ago for some reason,
didn't remember why. Yesterday when it was near complete I figured it out. Presenting "Strap With No Name" now in the Reverb store as a B-Stock.

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Two smallish 1/4 inch slits in the leather on the rollled over edge about a foot up from the tip of the nose. Can't hardly see 'em, for most, but they're there and probably why I set it aside unfinished many, many months ago. Didn't even notice 'til I was stitching it all together. I was so mad at it, myself, decided the damn thing doesn't even deserve a name. But, I got my logo emblem on it perfect! LOL! Goes 46-60

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Good leather nose and tail, comfort-padded, long, strong, kind of sexy. But not flawless. It's priced lowish.
In the Reverb listing, if you look, you'll see there's even a way to acquire it FREE.

This morning's order was fun and gave me a big smile waking up. Check it out:

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Collected me another celebrity customer! One-Speed Dean now joins up with Jeff Beck (still rockin'), Carlos Santana, Thomas Pettie, (still rockin') in the Tribe!
But The best one? Gotta be Agnes Young.

I like to say it real fast, sort of mumble. "Yeah, you know... even Agnes Young wears Well-Hung guitar straps."
Happy Friday Warriors and wannabees, have a super weekend.
 
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