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.

SHIPPING BY:
Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation

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:
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Lefty's Straps

Also Available: New Straps

Lefty's Vintage Instrument Straps

Guitar/Bango Strap #347Small Guitar/Open Back Banjo #427 LEFT HAND $115 plus shipping

The noticeably aged but lightly distressed character of this one might prefer an older instrument but it would make a nice showing on a newer one.  There is just enough color shading and some light surface wrinkling to give it a few grey hairs but otherwise its blemish free. The shoulder piece is exceptionally soft leather with just enough backbone to carry a heavier guitar or banjo if necessary and it measures 12 3/4" long and 2” wide where it will cross your shoulder. The width tapers slightly towards the front and narrows to 1 5/8” on the tail. The edge stitching is new waxed harness thread hand sewn into the original needle holes and the shape is gently curved favoring the right shoulder of a left handed player.

Happily married to the shoulder piece is a butter soft 5/8” wide western rein strap, and like the shoulder piece, the chocolate brown leather has just a hint of red in it. The lightly wrinkled leather blends perfectly with the shoulder piece, and each end of the strap was skived down to made a neater and flexible connection then fastened securely to each end with some leather glue and a leather thong.

This is a nice one and the more I handle it the better I like it. 

Guitar/Banjo Strap #348Guitar/Banjo #574 LEFT HAND $165 plus shipping

(My daughter was home for a visit this past Christmas and wrote up the description below. She has a PhD in History. Can ya tell?)

Sully invites you to use his newest patented strap.  Sully’s Straps have been known to musicians world wide as the cure all for rhythm foes, fret muddlers, and rheumatic finger pickers alike.  This strap cures liver disease, sick headache, constipation, jaundice, malarial fevers, consumption, biliousness &c.  Sully’s Straps are the finest instrument straps man can buy.

Made of soft broken in leather, Sully’s Straps are ideal for both man and woman.  They will maintain your body in proper position.  Soft suede backing prevents the straps from slipping and cure back injuries.  A distinctive wide band provides relief from shoulder impairments.
 
This Sully’s Strap comes in a most strikingly handsome pattern – a hand-tooled basket weave that will be sure to compliment the finest of instruments.  Sully has carefully hand-stitched this strap in the finest sinew and is bound with a vintage Western horse rein that will be sure to shepherd envy from frontier cowpokes.

Sully will personally custom fit each strap to your instrument.  His straps will not mar your instruments in the least and will guarantee many years of playing enjoyment.

This is an exceptionally nice one. If you’re interested and would like to read dad's original description, just let him know and he’ll email it to you.

Guitar/Bango Strap #347Guitar/Banjo #559 LEFT HAND - $145 plus shipping

This shoulder piece is hand tooled in a basic “flowering vine” pattern. Although the original craftsman perhaps wasn’t quite as ornate with his carving as others, it’s still well done with nice detail and a hand checkered background and the carving stands out sharply on the curved shoulder piece. This one is 13” long and 2 3/8” wide, and narrows to 1 3/4" near the tail end. The older leather is good stuff, thick, strong and very supple, and would easily support a heavy guitar or 5 string banjo with comfort to spare. There is no checking or significant blems worth mentioning and just some very slight color shading from front to back but nothing you’d notice without a real close look. I replaced the original stitching with artificial sinew, hand sewn into the original needle holes.

Stitched to each end of the shoulder piece, with a short zig-zag row of artificial sinew, is a 5/8" wide western rein strap, butter soft and notably nice quality. I left it at the original thickness which varies a bit along the length although I did skive a few inches on each end thinner to make a neat and flexible connection to the shoulder piece.

This one has enough vintage character to ride with the old Martins and Gibsons but it wouldn’t be out of place on a newer instrument.

Last modified on January 03 2012.

Vintage Strap Links:
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3
Lefty's Straps

Also Available: New Straps