One of my oldest friends is an amazingly talented musician who is not only the frontman of the local band The Airtights, but also a wizard on the guitar, touring with various pop artists around the world. He’s wanted a custom guitar strap for a while now, and with the holidays coming, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make him one. He’s heading out on tour on the 10th, so he got an early Christmas gift with the hope that he’ll be able to use it on the road.
I had his girlfriend stealthily measure his current strap, and tell me what he likes/doesn’t like about it. I got a few things out of her:
- his current strap dyes his shirts because he gets hot under the stage lights
- he has no where to clip his wireless pack, and it continually falls as he plays (he’s an animated guitar player, to say the least!)
- his shoulder is always really sore after a gig
- he loves the dark brown and contrast stitching of his current strap.
With this in mind, I set about creating the perfect strap. Here’s what I did to manage all the ‘wants’:
- I lined the strap with a beautiful distressed upholstery leather that won’t discolour
- I created a special pocket for his wireless pack, it’s detachable and has holes for the input feeds.
- I padded the shoulder with memory foam
- I used a gorgeous dark brown pullup leather, with thick white stitching and brass hardware.
In addition, because I thought it would be practical, I added three pick pockets, so that he can always reach a pick should he drop one. Then for a personal touch, I embossed his initials.
