I have a question that has been plauging me for years. I always play with a strap on my Strat, I don't use any strap locks or anything and my problem is when I set my guitar down (either on a chair/couch or on the ground angled up) the strap on the bottom gets stretched "backwards" which leads to the hole eventually wearing out and falling out of place when standing. Because I go through so many straps, a few a year, I stick to cheap ~$5 Ernie Ball straps. My question is if I bought a higher quality strap would this still happen and/or is this problem pretty common or unique to me? I really do a pretty good of not tossing it around and storing it properly, and I would like to get a nicer more comfortable strap because I love walking around playing with my wireless system, however this strap wear/tear usually comes to mind when I look at nicer $20-30 straps. This is a mundane and possibley dumb question I admit but I just had another wear out on me so I thought I'd ask before I make the major finacial purchase of another $5 strap ha.

For straps with leather ends, when the button hole becomes stretched and deformed, I sprinkle a little water around the area then apply heat with a clothes iron set at moderate temperature. The leather -- and thus, the hole -- shrinks slightly, enough to once again fit the strap button properly.

HTH

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

if you're going thru that many straps, just get straplocks, you'll save money in the long run

Strap Locks are a must and if you always move your guitar around with the strap on stay away from any metal buckle.

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Vintage Hotrod '57 Strat, 81 G&L L2000 Series E Bass, Fender Musicmaster Bass Amp.

Any good leather or shoe repair store should be able to replace the leather ends of your straps as they wear out,it's just a matter of cutting leather to size,cutting a slot in it and riveting it onto the strap end.Most shoe and leather repair stores use high grade leather which is more resistant to wear.As a teen I worked in a harness shop and people were always bringing in guitars straps etc. for repair.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I have used Levy straps for a long time and they are very good quality and quite comfortable.

As for Arjays comment on using the water/iron, I have used that trick before and it does work +1 Arjay

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

Ive had the same fender strap for about 6 yrs with no problems. Maybe get a guitar stand. Also get a better strap.

Thanks, sarge.

It's my "tribal" roots.



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

Duck Tape dem bitches like I do.

how long should a $5 strap actually last? you get what you pay for.
buy yourself a quality strap and some locks and be done with it.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

I cannont thank you guys enough for the tips, the water+heat method already saved one, and I can't beive I didn't think of the duct tape method ha. Regarding the stand comment I know thats the obvious solution but this happens when I'm playing and have to set it down breifly and the strap folds backwards undernearth, I have plenty of stands so I haven't overlooked the obvious solution ha it's those "brief" momments where one isn't on hand that add up to create that stretching I was asking about.
While on the topic of straps, a few of you mentioned buying a better quality strap, do you have any recommendations brand-wise? Also do the better straps help with relieving the weight of the guitar? And again any brand reccomendations about this would be appreciated. I played a friends Telecaster awhile back and while it sounded amazing, I felt like I need to hit the weight room to play it standing for hours on end as I currently like to do ha. Thanks for all you guys input and help.

i like levy for general straps. they dont cost alot but they are quality.
a nicer tick and wide strap with a touch of padding helps with weight in my opinion.
take your current strap and fold a wash cloth in half and put it under the strap. then you will see the difference

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

I use Levy 3 " leather straps with strap locks.

Thanks the Levy is one I've been eyeing since posting this on musician's friend and about the washcloth, this winter I've been improvising with a scarf and found that worked out nicely ha but with summer approaching that seems less like a comfortable backup for the cheap straps. Really I just need to get to a music shop and test out a few since you have convinced me the $5 straps I currently use may not be the best but again I always looked at is an inevitable purchase just like replacing strings but the strap locks really seem to be the key for fixing what I orignally was complaining about, loose straps falling out while playing.

yep thats what the strap locks are for. shaller locks cant be beat.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."