TVvoodoo's Straplab

I've had head-butting situations with plenty folks who believe a 2" wide poly guitar strap is the ideal best kind of guitar strap available. Not sure why folks think so, as I personally find them invariably pressure-point poundin' and slippy-aroundy - Many of them are made SO cheap, I don't know if I'd trust my junkiest guitar on most of them anymore for extended periods.

All that said, on a whim yesterday, I made a cool one that one of you poly-amorous fellows totally deserve!
As a bonus, I believe it might also be the worst guitar strap to ever leave my bench!

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It's genuine seat belt from a '78 Impala, in a nice semi-glossy pewter, and will totally pound your shoulder pressure points into submission, (as is the industry standard for such things). But it also includes the seat belt lock assembly too, with heavy leather ends sewed, glued AND riveted with flatted rivets on the backside. It's also so very slippy, it will cause your neck diving guitar to be just as out-of-control as that Impala was before it ended up at the auto wreckers. Some guys dig that.

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It also clicks home with a very satisfying "CLICK!" and you can put that assembly on the front, or back end of your guitar. There are three cool things about this strap:
1. It's VERY easy and fast to adjust, between low 30" all the way to 56".
2. I made a nice little loop that handles the excess strappage if you want to keep it shorter than 50" or so. Sort of my own innovation on this thing.
3. I would not offer it for sale if I did not believe it is totally safe, secure and possibly ideal for your
auto-themed guitar that you never play for more than an hour at a time.

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Also another innovative thing off my bench today, a couple of surfboards LOL!

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Joe is a bass-player and picked up a couple of my 3" straps about eight months ago. He liked them so much, but he figures he needs even more comfort and asked me to make a couple of 4" wide straps, in fabric. Never done it before, so I was game to try. I hope they work for him, they feel pretty awesome to wear, but man, they just look kind of comical to me. Black on black dragon silk, and black paisley. I have another guy in the wings who's craving a 5" wide strap, I just don't know.
Where does it end?

Finally, new in the store... "Crockle" is really cool beast, 3" wide as is my typical format.

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Appears to me some wife thought she was doing her husband a favour by thrifting-out his well-worn highly patina'd old crocodile belt.
OH THE HORROR! Too bad dude, I added some bright nickle dome studs and it now makes a totally excellent leather-on-herringbone-tweed No Prisoner series strap.
 
Little bit of a custom job change-up here... some tooling for a change! Gettin' rusty!

JP feels like this 1958 Multivox Premier Bantam guitar of his deserves something kind of special. He sent me a ton of pics, and he's got quite a few more of these off the beaten path collectors items in his stable. Anyway, he says this one is a rare original with a flamed top and gold finish on the back and sides. Makes me think maybe the gold was removed from the top at some point but he claims it's all-original other than a refret.

It's got crazy pickguard and knobs, that feature multi-layered silvery star sort of pattern.
Lots of checking, and even a stinger on the neck, before they were cool LOL! just a cool piece.

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He was hoping for the torch logo larger on the top of the headstock on the strap, so that wasn't too much of a reach, some tooling and painting...

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but I really liked the multi-star effect, so I pitched to mimic that along the sides of the strap... I don't know how close I'm going to get to that sparkle effect, but it will interesting to say the least

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I'll pick away at this one over the weekend, and he's got another one lined up, and instrument even a little wackier than this one...
stay tuned for next week.
 
New in the store today is "Diamond Jim" a continuance of my leather and tweed No Prisoners series.

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The braided belt is fake, but the metal diamond bits are pretty chonky and real. Full on top grain leather ends front and back.

Also moved a few steps ahead with the "Premier" custom... masked it off and used silver wax paste on the star sections...

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After the mask removed, coming out pretty darn cool! This afternoon now completed the back buckle Class Act adjustment securement..

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Just laying a few coats of finish on it before I can pad, line it and stitch it all together.
brother @smitty - hows your day going?
 
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Oh man. These are sweet. A Black Croc and a No Prisoners Peacekeeper. AND a bag of Canadian cheesy poofs. These things are awesome. And the straps ain’t bad either. I thought they’d just be another cheesy poof. But they are the best Cheesy poof I’ve ever had. They have some substance to them.

Tomorrow morning they get put to use. I’ll report back.

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Today working on a custom for a guitar forum Well-Hung warrior (*not this one) - a custom Black Croc, with a bit more padding than I've been putting in lately,
and a little wider too.

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Also if anyone is interested in the possible acquisition of a "Holy Grail" type strap, watch the reverb store tomorrow for "Whipping Post"

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This is my take on the classic "Ring Strap" famously worn by Duane Allman. It is NOT a replica of the original. However, the Well-Hung versions comes with extra upscale niceties. A vastly improved adjustment system on the back, my Class Act back buckle system in brass. Also has a much wider range of adjustment, and a wider body, at 3" wide, which is not just a plain strip of leather like the original, but lined, padded and sewn. And of course the hefty classic southern blues/rock vibe antenna of a chonky brass ring at 4-1/4" across. Due to how I have to make these, it is a rare strap I make where the edges are NOT rolled.

Should mention the original style features an even larger brass ring, but I found that the bigger rings just keep clunkin' into a guys arm, so I opt for this even-harder-to-find smaller ring which is far less distracting and I think looks better too ( have built versions with those also). Not the strap for you if you are looking to lighten your rig tho. The ring is weighty. This "Whippin' Post" is in black cowhide, instead of the typical brown and it's lined with brown Alcantara fabric.

I don't craft these often, so if you are jonesin' for something extra special... consider. It will heavy up your rig, but lighten your wallet LOL!
These rings are becoming more and more and more scarce, and are pricey when you do. My version of this strap also takes a lot of steps and time to make.
 
Black Croc on figured blue 335. Black just goes with everything.

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Just received this strap last night. Today, I put the strap on the guitar. To take a pic. As soon as I slung it, I started playing. An hour later I felt like I forgot something. Oh yea. Take a pic. I’m still new to the Well-Hung family, but it didn’t even feel like I was wearing a guitar.
 
Well fellas, build up your strap gas, because I got caught behind a postal strike today.
Had to ship a similar black croc out to a TGP guy in Arkansas by Purolater, cost me $70. :BH:
So, I'm shutting down the Well-Hung store and US sales until the strike gets settled out.

Seems it's not so nutty for Purolater within Canada, but that's only about 15% of my business.
So, what I'm gonna do until it's all sorted out is just put my head down and build up stock.

That's a beautifully tasteful match @GrooVey - I like it better than the big bird I think.
Never really liked blue straps, but man I also don't like making black straps all the time too.
If I do, it's gotta be interesting in some way. But yeah, everyone needs a couple black straps
in the guitarmory
 
TVvoodoo said:
Well fellas, build up your strap gas, because I got caught behind a postal strike today.
Had to ship a similar black croc out to a TGP guy in Arkansas by Purolater, cost me $70. :BH:
So, I'm shutting down the Well-Hung store and US sales until the strike gets settled out.

Seems it's not so nutty for Purolater within Canada, but that's only about 15% of my business.
So, what I'm gonna do until it's all sorted out is just put my head down and build up stock.

That's a beautifully tasteful match @GrooVey - I like it better than the big bird I think.
Never really liked blue straps, but man I also don't like making black straps all the time too.
If I do, it's gotta be interesting in some way. But yeah, everyone needs a couple black straps
in the guitarmory
Click to expand...
Let us know when the strike is over.
 
Well son-of-a-gun!

Seems last night our posties decided they needed to strike, which puts a rather large wrinkle into the Worldwide Well-Hung operations, and of probably thousands of similar craft/boutique businesses, - and I feel for you all. It's not an easy life online sales, though I have to admit I sometimes have taken for granted what is generally very successful delivery via postal operations of many countries.

Not super pleased, but it is what it is and I do understand Canada Post has a fat bureaucracy to feed and is losing tons of money, so little money for the ground forces. Seems very odd as my local outlet seems to be doing way more parcel traffic with online shopping, a thriving flyer business and the like, and undermanned to boot. I currently spend thousands of dollars a year shipping out strapwork from my tiny town. When I owned/edited the local newspaper for ten years, Canada Post was into me for well over a thou and a half a MONTH to publish my weekly 12 page mail-out publication. I feel I've done my part in keeping 'em afloat. It's pretty clear the local community newspaper model is dead, so maybe that's a nationwide contributor to current financial issues.

Anyway, in the meantime I've shuttered my Reverb store temporarily. Sent a strap this afternoon to a TGP forum brother, after a panicky setting up of a Purolater account, but couldn't find a way to get something out to Arkansas for less than $68. Never mind a plethura of additional customs forms and product codes BS, and various other troubles getting that going. But it's headed out.

For Canadian customers, Purolater not near as nutty price-wise it seems, so I may accept some direct Canuckian business.
Great timing headin' into the season tho, LOL! As a former union brother, (not for over thirty years tho), I get it. Power to the people.
Like what happens so often, my company promoted the three stronger leaders/personalities in our union to management positions, including myself LOL!

Won't put cobwebs on my workbench. Just gonna put my head down and keep building up stock for when things settle out, and of course I'll keep detailing ops here.

Just wanted y'all to know why the Reverb store is in "Vacation Mode."

If you are absolutely not in a hurry/hurry, I'll gladly accept the odd USA custom order, but understand it might sit here for a bit, or it's gonna cost a dear price to ship
via alternate means other than post.

-Brad
 
TVvoodoo said:
Well fellas, build up your strap gas, because I got caught behind a postal strike today.
Had to ship a similar black croc out to a TGP guy in Arkansas by Purolater, cost me $70. :BH:
So, I'm shutting down the Well-Hung store and US sales until the strike gets settled out.

Seems it's not so nutty for Purolater within Canada, but that's only about 15% of my business.
So, what I'm gonna do until it's all sorted out is just put my head down and build up stock.

That's a beautifully tasteful match @GrooVey - I like it better than the big bird I think.
Never really liked blue straps, but man I also don't like making black straps all the time too.
If I do, it's gotta be interesting in some way. But yeah, everyone needs a couple black straps
in the guitarmory
Click to expand...
Oh man, is UPS an option? It might be a bit more.
 
My nearest UPS is about 30 minutes away, unfortunately, I can't see it being much less cost than Purolater.
Might be worth it for like a two or three strap order.
 
ibmorjamn said:
Oh man, is UPS an option? It might be a bit more.
Click to expand...
Don’t know about crossing the border, but I used to use UPS to ship the few things I’ve shipped. It was always easy since for years we had a scheduled PM UPS pickup at work. I’d just hand it to the UPS guy and pay the store for the shipping. But UPS has gotten considerably more expensive than USPS, so pretty much I’ve stopped using UPS.
 
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