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Guitar/Banjo/Dobro # 264
This large, heavy duty shoulder piece has been hand tooled with some craftsman’s unique interpretation of the traditional oak leaf pattern. Overall, the leather cleaned up to an excellent condition and I’d have to say that this piece isn’t as old as most of my vintage leather straps or else it just didn’t get used too much in it’s previous life. Regardless, with the unique hand tooling and the original leather buckstitching I thought it would make a nice strap just the same. The edge stitching is new waxed harness thread hand sewn into the original needle holes. The shoulder piece measures 12 1/2” long and 2 3/8” wide and it’s a good solid 1/4” thick, including the suede lining, and it has been broken to a very nice flexibility.
The 5/8” wide western rein strap also has a lightly distressed character and goes with the shoulder piece just about right. I skived down the strap just a bit and left the thickness a little on the hefty side so it feels balanced with the thicker shoulder piece. I did skive down the ends that attach to the shoulder piece a little thinner to make a neat, flexible connection and they are secured with some leather glue and leather thongs.
Although this isn’t an excessively huge strap, it would be much better suited to a large guitar or heavy 5 string banjo in the hands of a broad shouldered he-man or his wood chopping wife. $110 plus shipping.
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Guitar/Banjo # 266
Even though this one has a larger (12” by 2 1/2") shoulder piece its still a pretty light weight strap and tips the scale at about 7 oz. The leather is well broken in and really soft and supple and the strap will roll into a 5” coil and should stash in the case compartment somewhere if you wanted. The shoulder piece shows plenty of vintage character with indentations, color shading and some light surface wrinkles. The leather is smooth with a shiny patina and there is no surface checking. I added the waxed harness thread edge stitching in hand punched needle holes to improve the looks and flexibility.
Perfectly color matched and with the same shiny patina is a hand braided 3/4" wide strap. The braided section is 24” long and was done by cutting the center of the strap into three 24” long sections and somehow twisting in the braid without cutting completely thru the leather. The end that you can’t see in the photo looks just like the one you can. The leather is well broken in but in very nice shape and doesn’t have quite the vintage character as the shoulder piece, but it sure looks good with it, so there ya go.
Custom fit to you and your instrument for $95 plus shipping.
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Small Guitar/Openback Banjo # 262 SOLD The 11 ¼” long by 1 ½” wide shoulder piece was cut from an old and very strong saddle strap and three of the original buckle holes are still on this section. Over the years the leather has developed a well worn vintage character and broken in to a perfect flexibility for an instrument strap. I hand sewed in the waxed harness thread edge stitching in hand punched needle holes to improve on both the appearance and flexibility. The underside is completely lined with new suede leather and I punched it out of the buckle holes so everyone will be able to tell what color your shirt is.
Neatly attached to each end of the shoulder piece with some leather glue and leather thongs is an old, soft and supple high quality western rein strap. I skived down the thickness to 1/8” and the ends that attach to the shoulder piece have been skived thinner to make a neat and flexible connection. The 9/16” wide strap is check free and has the same great vintage character as the shoulder piece.
This one turned out to be a really neat little strap. About 58” or so is the maximum I could finish this one. $95 plus shipping.
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Guitar/Banjo # 249
A smaller sized strap just right for a small guitar or open back banjo but perfectly capable of holding a full size instrument as well. This one would also look nice on a mandolin.
The color shading and surface wrinkles on the shoulder piece give it a reasonably distressed appearance and no checking is present. The leather is incredibly soft and flexible and measures almost ¼” thick, including the suede leather lining. The length is 10 ¾” and the width is 1 ½” and I added the waxed harness thread edge stitching, hand sewed into hand punched needle holes.
Fitting snuggly into the carefully cut strap slots of the shoulder piece is a nice old color matching ½” wide western rein strap. I skived it down just enough to level out the thickness at 1/8” and the leather is soft and flexible and feels just right with the shoulder piece. The surface has some light wrinkles present, no checking, and one or two very small battle scars acquired in a previous life.
A great little strap that feels as good as it looks. $95 plus shipping.
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