A $900 guitar with a $17 (MSRP, more like $10) strap. That's like buying a Corvette, putting 13" steel wheels on it and wondering why you hit the rail. I hate to hear accidents involving guitars, but don't pin this on the company. Fender is not liable in these situations, I'm sure there is legal documentation on the strap packaging that has some specific clause stating this (Don't you love lawyers >_>). Other than that, a guitar of that class deserves a quality strap, something made to go through battle, not some frilly little piece of fabric better suited to a purse. Oh and never assume just because a certain name is on something it will be good, unless of course there is a guarantee or warranty. IE the starcaster box guitars have Fender's name on it, doesn't mean it's good, in fact IMHO it sucks. My 57 RI Stratocaster however has a lifetime warranty that states it does not suck and if it does the company will fix it. Some things you can go cheap, but when it comes to something important (like holding a $900 instrument) buy a product you know will stand up to the task. I just wish this was a lesson that wasn't learned the hard way as probably you do too.

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I traded my car in for a microphone.

Amen!! Most of us here have been playing and building guitars longer than your age. Not a good way to introduce yourself. I think you should take Mike's advice!

Not getting into any member bashing here but I have had issues with the Fender logo straps in the past. I liked the look of them and had different colors on my Strat, and Montara, and Musicmaster Bass. Straplocks on ALL guitars, always.

The end ripped through on my Musicmaster but I luckily caught it. Within a month I noticed that the one on my strat was almost ripped through as well. I contacted Fender, provided photos, the paid the postage for me to ship them in and sent free replacements.

It was good customer service but I have no faith in the ends on these and switched them all out for different styles. Seems an easy fix to a low quality end but that's just me.

I'm guessing that none of us would be a happy camper were such a situation befall us. And I'm saddened that an instrument were damaged as a result. But as owners, we bear the incumbency of looking out for our own gear, to include inspecting stuff before we buy and use it for flaws, defects, or other deficiency(s) that might pose a problem down the road. In nearly forty-five years of professional experience I have never had a strap fail or had a guitar damaged by same. And I do own several Fender guitar straps......but not the chintzy ones that were made shoddily, or of shoddy materials.

My zwei pfennings, YMMV

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

In harmony central, are you a "rock icon" too?

http://www.fender.com/support/consumer_relations.php

I just want to say, in advance, congratulations to all the people in this forum who were so wise as to never buy this particular strap, or have ever had any problem with a strap, or realized after banging a guitar on the ground that straplocks are necessary, or had the wisdom and knowledge to purchase a sturdy strap. My deepest congrats go out to each and every one of you, so don't feel it's necessary to tell me how great and wise you all are at this point in your lives. I get it. I really do. You believe that a strap is not made to hold a guitar, and that anyone who does buy a strap would have this innate knowledge despite never having actually owned a guitar before. I understand this. Thank you.

To a small minority of you have made some insightful comments without resorting to being pissy and condescending, I also thank you.

Now that we've exhausted all the possibilities, we can get on with our lives, however singular and isolated they may be here in this little cyberworld of fender guitars.

................ Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

"To a small minority of you have made some insightful comments without resorting to being pissy and condescending, I also thank you."

better to take this up with consumer relations.
I doubt the Fender CEO has ever been on here.

I'm sorry but if you read the first handful of comments on this thread with a open mind, you'll see I wasn't being pissy or condescending. You've simply taken it that way because you cant take responsibility for your own actions. Infact the only person to get pissy and condescending was you, when you didn't get the reply you wanted.

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No no and no

Very sorry to hear about your experience here. As others have pointed out here and you've no doubt already gathered, you need to get yourself equipped with a set of strap locks such as these. (There are a number of different brands of strap locks out there although I've always had very good luck with these Schallers personally.) The honest truth is that many seasoned players consider these to be 'required equipment' no matter how hefty the strap itself is -- just one of the accepted tricks of the trade.

I'm not wild about the piling on that folks did here to our new member -- I remember thinking back to my very earliest guitar experiences and being completely confused about how to even tune my instrument and change strings and whatnot. Hence I actually don't find the original question here all that unreasonable. Like many other hobbies there's a certain element of immersing oneself into the hobby that needs to occur before items such as "strap locks" become obvious and it's our duty as stewards of the hobby to teach and train folks along the path toward that knowledge.

Stepping down from my soapbox now.

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Director at Fender. Guitarist & guitar collector. All views/opinions expressed here are my own and not Fender’s.

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