Sully's Instrument Straps
Hangin’ around fine musicians everywhere
Last Updated on 3/8/10 LEFT HANDED PLAYERS - check out the new "Lefty's Straps" on Page 4 of the Vintage Straps
About My Vintage Straps
Sully's vintage straps are handcrafted from cleaned and reconditioned select old/vintage leather.
Each instrument strap is a unique creation and inherently different from every other one. The leather could have distress marks, indentations, surface cracking and other blemishes naturally acquired over the years.
These straps are made for daily use and each shoulder piece is lined with new suede leather.
I will custom fit and finish each strap to the length and attachment points given by the buyer.
Most mandolin straps would work for a small guitar or open-back banjo if you like a small shoulder piece.
Most guitar straps would work for a heavy five-string banjo.
To purchase a strap,
email me and we’ll chat.
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Good vintage leather takes time to locate, and I’m always looking. I try to have 8 straps available but don’t always succeed.
| Vintage Strap Links: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 Lefty's Straps |
Vintage Instrument Straps: Page 1
Although I've had no reported problems from my vintage straps, some of the vintage leather that I use may have been originally dyed and I recommend that the straps not be left in contact with the finish when the instrument is being stored.
Mandolin #122 $120 plus shipping
I usually don’t care to use leather as new as this on my vintage straps but I just couldn’t pass up the piece I used for shoulder piece on this one. The leather is not vintage and I doubt that it’s even more than a few years old but it is plenty soft and flexible. It measures about 8” long and 1 1/4" wide and the leather is excellent quality. Whoever originally made the piece added the rawhide lacing design to the center, which is hand weaved thru a row of parallel holes that were punched into the leather. I lined the underside of the shoulder piece with a thick piece of suede so you can’t see the lacing on that side or feel it on your shoulder. The original edge stitching was brown and didn’t appeal to me at all so I removed it and hand stitched in the white waxed harness thread to improve the aesthetics.
Securely attached to each end is an older and lightly distressed 1/2" wide western rein strap. I skived it down to 1/8” in thickness except for the a few inches on each end that is attached to the shoulder piece, which I skived thinner to make a neat and flexible connection. Each end is secured with some leather glue and 2 rows of harness thread stitching. The color match is pretty close although the rein is a shade darker than the shoulder piece.
All of the leather is soft, supple and check free. This is a real eye-catcher and would work well on a mandolin of any age or quality and it would probably also do quite well on a Carnegie Hall concert ukulele. But overall it’s just too little to consider for even a small guitar.
Small Guitar/Open Back Banjo #393 $110 $95 plus shipping
An obviously old and severely distressed looking strap. The shoulder piece is just shy of 9” long and 1 ¾” wide. The surface is color shaded, stained and has areas of very fine and very shallow surface checking although for the most part the checking is difficult to see. It’s soft and flexible and a full 1/4” thick including the suede lining. I added the hand sewn harness thread edge stitching to it and lightly stained the new thread so it didn’t look out of place on the old leather. The edge stitching looks nice and helps improve the flexibility of the leather.Looking like it’s been the lifelong mate to the shoulder piece is an equally thick and even softer 1/2" wide western rein strap. I shaved down the thickness of the nice old leather just enough to level it out at 1/4" thick. The carefully cut and shaped strap slots in the shoulder piece got a pretty good grip on the rein and the shoulder piece will stay right where you put it.
At some point in history some hungry barn mice had gnawed on the rein one cold winter night and I had to cut off about 20 inches from one end. So, the maximum length I could make this one would be 55”.
Guitar/Banjo # 399 RIGHT HAND $140 plus shipping
Got distressed?
Over the years this well worn and well weathered shoulder piece got wrinkled, color shaded, and surface checked but the tired old leather will easily give you a lifetime of tireless service in this second life. The leather is very supple and flexible and will effortlessly support a full size guitar or heavy banjo but with the 11 3/8” long by 1 7/8” wide shoulder piece it would work great for a smaller guitar or open back banjo as well. It has a slight curve that favors the left shoulder of a right handed player. The edge stitching is new waxed harness thread, lightly stained to match the character, and hand sewn into the original needle holes.
The old, hand braided western rein strap makes a beautiful mate to the shoulder piece and the character fits just right. The leather is butter soft and perfectly flexible. The braided part was originally hand done from a section of the 5/8” wide rein that was cut into five 20” long strands and somehow twisted into the braid. I’ll center the braided section on the shoulder piece when I custom fit it for you. To keep the braid centered on the shoulder piece, I added the strap guide that’s made from a small section of the strap and I hand stitched into place with the same harness thread used for the edge stitching.
We got distressed. Everything about this one begs for an older instrument.
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