Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by chrisjedijane » Fri Feb 01, 2008 8:40 am

Yeah, I'm not a fan of duct tape either - it's alright for a quick fix though.

Paul (of cutaways) bought a MIM strat a while ago that had the strap duct taped on - there's a fender strap connected to a bit of shoelace and then the shoelace goes into the tape... we can't be bothered to take it off to find out what's underneath, so it's staying as-is.
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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by flatfiver » Fri Feb 01, 2008 8:46 am

I generally use some sort of strap lock on all of my gigging guitars.  Between Schaller and Dunlop I prefer the latter, since the Schaller buttons are useless if you forget your strap with the other half of the lock.  The dual action Dunlop button have a wide enough flange that the strap will stay put without a lock.  Plus I always had to re-tighten the nut on the strap half of the Schallers.  I bought a set of the little plastic Dunlop disk strap locks for my AVRI Jazzmaster since I didn't feel like messing with the aesthetics of the original buttons, and I'm liking the fact that they keep the strap in its proper place, right on the guitar.  I'm waiting for them to bust though, since they give you 3 in the package. ;D  I've had trouble finding Grolsch in the flip-top bottles, otherwise I'd probably have the red rubber washers on there.

I wouldn't use regular metal washers for the simple reason that sometimes I like to take my strap off the guitar, and I don't want to have to unscrew the strap buttons to do so.
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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by Pingu » Fri Feb 01, 2008 9:03 am

I use washers and a thick leather strap, and i generally play very softly. I have only dropped my JM once when i was sitting down without the strap on and the door rang  :-[
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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by Ryan » Fri Feb 01, 2008 9:09 am

Surfoverb wrote: I like the idea of strap locks I just hate the look...they are so gaudy.
My dad had straplocks on an acoustic. They made the loudest clattering noise, and were ugly to boot; he got rid of them.

I like these:
Image

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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by cestlamort » Fri Feb 01, 2008 9:51 am

once you drop a guitar (or it falls without warning), you will want strap locks of some kind. 

I used the grolsch "punk rock strap lock" trick for years and years.  Recently, I've put the schaller ones on (almost) all my guitars and couldn't be happier.  It is nice to not worry at all that the guitar will suddenly go crashing to the ground.  (the one that doesn't have it is the old guild hollowbody -- they don't fit with the bigsby for some reason). 

my (2nd hand) JM was the victim of a few falls before I got it.  It'd break my heart if I was the one taking the huge chunks out of the finish, etc.  As I got it, I don't mind it being a bit trashed up. 

Duct tape is punk.  No worries there, but it is ugly.  And you'll spend more on duct tape than on strap locks, eventually.  Duct tape on chuck taylors because you can't afford new shoes is more punk though. 

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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by ~*blissedandgone*~ » Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:24 pm

I use Schaller's on my guitars.

My only complaints are the rattling and also how the screw is smightly smaller, so you have to fill the hole with toothpicks and wood glue to fill the tiny tiny gap.

I'd never put duct tape on my guitars. I don't even put stickers on my guitars (Well, I have one on my Jaguar and two on my Strat), much less ugly tape.

It isn't Punk rock, it's poor.

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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by fenderjapan » Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:32 pm

~*blissedandgone*~ wrote: I'd never put duct tape on my guitars. I don't even put stickers on my guitars (Well, I have one on my Jaguar and two on my Strat), much less ugly tape.
Dunlop Straploks.
Man lots of people probably hate my guitar(tele).  :D
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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by ~*blissedandgone*~ » Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:40 pm

fenderjapan wrote:
~*blissedandgone*~ wrote: I'd never put duct tape on my guitars. I don't even put stickers on my guitars (Well, I have one on my Jaguar and two on my Strat), much less ugly tape.
Dunlop Straploks.
Man lots of people probably hate my guitar(tele).  :D
8 stickers in various sizes and humbuckers 8)
I like Teles. I am a big Fender fan. I also like humbuckers. I put single-coil a humbucker in my Strat's bridge and I love it. I am not an offset elitist (SHITTY OFFSET ELITST), I just love the looks of the offset Fenders. I would love to own a Gibson Flying V, which is extremely non-offset. My brother has one, he covered it in Beer labels he collected for like two years (which was alot of labels the way he used to party). He used unique labels that he liked the design of. It's a one of a kind guitar, to say the least.

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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:59 pm

cestlamort wrote: ....Duct tape on chuck taylors because you can't afford new shoes is more punk though. 
Thats more like it!!  :D
luau wrote: ....I've had straps come off, buttons come out, etc. but haven't let a guitar touch a floor yet.

*I'll not be playing standing up for some time. Gotta let the karma work itself out after a statement like that. ;)
Touch wood!!  ;)
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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by Sauerkraut » Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:11 pm

just buy a beer and take the little red rubber thingy off, it's a perfect strap lock:

Image

if you want to see if they look nice on a guitar, go here: http://wilcoworld.net/photos/index.php
Last edited by Sauerkraut on Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by luau » Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:21 pm

PorkyPrimeCut wrote:Touch wood!!  ;)
Done.  :)

If I toured or were always playing out I'd likely have a guitar or two dedicated to the purpose and they'd get the straps screwed on sans strap buttons and then .. yep. Duct taped.
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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by cestlamort » Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:24 pm

~*blissedandgone*~ wrote: I use Schaller's on my guitars.

My only complaints are the rattling and also how the screw is smightly smaller, so you have to fill the hole with toothpicks and wood glue to fill the tiny tiny gap.
I've always just used the original screws from the guitar with the new locks. 

Real punk is to get a bunch of grolsch for the rubber washers and then forget to liberate them for the bottles before trash/recycling takes it all away....

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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by the older brother » Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:32 pm

When I was an active musician I used the Gaffa solution (because I was ALWAYS out of money and I rather put the few bucks I had on records or guitarstrings that ugly straplocks). I taped the strap though...Like this:

Image

(that is old duct from "the days" left on the strap)
Someone knows where I can find the nearest woodchipper to throw my pieces of junk into?

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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by RumorsOFsurF » Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:13 pm

Sauerkraut wrote: just buy a beer and take the little red rubber thingy off, it's a perfect strap lock:

Image

if you want to see if they look nice on a guitar, go here: http://wilcoworld.net/photos/index.php
PRINT SCREEN'd!!!

Image


What a great pic....Would make a cool avatar for someone!  DO IT!
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Re: Strap Locks VS Washers. Discuss......

Post by Stratelejazzuar » Fri Feb 01, 2008 6:08 pm

i use dto use dunlops all the time, after having straps pop off once too often, and seeing other peoples guitars do the same with different types of straps.

then one day i thought my dunlop was clicked in right and so i started playing my LP... *click*.... luckily i caught it, but from that day i started keeping an eye out for other straplock sytems.

now i use schallers, but i've found the strap-side piece has a nut that always crews loose, plus, i can hear the button rub against the strap lock through an amp.

if someone could combine the dunlop and schallers, they'd make a goo dbuck i think.

i've recently had those C-shaped plastic washer types on a guitar, and i couldn't get them off, so i unscrewed the whole strap button and found a schaller button! lol

i think the need for straplocks depends on your style of playing, and type of guitar. some guitars jsut like to hang at awkward angles, which leaves strap pop-off more likely to occur...

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