What makes a good guitar strap

Most are made from nylon, leather, or cotton. Nylon straps are the cheapest. Cotton straps are the most breathable.

Leather straps are usually the most expensive, and most likely to leave you with a sweat-stain, but they often offer the most support and comfort. Some modern straps may even have a shoulder pad made from neoprene or memory foam.

The last and most important part of buying a guitar strap is fit. A strap should feel good and give you more control over the instrument. A guitar strap should be comfortable over many hours of playing-- while standing, sitting, and pacing around. Plus, many performers want a strap that matches their look, and there are plenty of colors and designs to choose from. Therefore, you should pay careful attention to the listing information on the websites of stores to choose the right size for your own guitar strap.

When you have a good guitar strap, you should also buy a locking mechanism for it. A guitar strap lock or clip lock is an accessory that links your strap with the guitar to prevent your instrument from falling out during the performance time.

Strap locks are tiny metal objects and they are often sold in set of two, four or more… They do not have any specific sizes so they can mold to any guitar straps. The different types of strap lock can be categorized by designs and colour. Owning separate guitar strap locks with toxic designs expresses your unique personal style on the performing stage or anywhere you appear with your guitar.

Moreover, a strap lock is very cheap and you can purchase it at a very low price. That is the reason why you should possess extra strap locks for yourself even though some guitar straps are already equipped with strap locks from manufacturers. The first thing you need to learn about the guitar strap is the correct way to attach the strap to your guitar. Depending on the quantity of strap pins on the guitar, you will take different approaches to install the guitar strap:.

When your guitar has 2 strap pins, your installing process will be much easier and straightforward because all you need to do is finding and sticking 2 ends of the guitar strap in the right direction on these available buttons.

In case that your guitar is only equipped with 1 strap pin like some acoustic guitars, you can also attach the guitar strap with some simple steps. Firstly, you will do as the above instruction like for the 2 strap-pin guitar: put the pinhole of one end of the strap over the strap pin of the guitar. For the other end, you can have 2 choices: create a new strap pin for your own guitar or make use of the headstock to hang the guitar strap.

However, it is not really recommended that you should add a new strap button by drilling a hole on your guitar because this way is only for those who have much experience in this technique. If not, you may destroy your beloved guitar before successfully attaching the guitar strap to your instrument. For the second way, you can lay a thin string under the headstock of the guitar and tie a knot at the other side to stick the other end of the guitar strap to it.

However, for players with a guitar having no button like classical acoustic guitars , how can they attach the guitar strap? Basically, you can apply the similar steps of installing as for 1 strap-pin guitar. At the first way, you can create 2 new holes by drilling directly onto your guitar. Or you can mix between adding a new hole and tying the headstock. If you are not confident about drilling or you do not want to place such a harsh impact on your beloved guitar, you can choose the way of no drilling.

To do this, you will look for a guitar strap having braided lace with a plastic hook at the end of the loop. You will lay the lace behind the guitar at its waist, and back up in front to the sound-hole.

Then you hang the plastic hook into the bottom of the sound-hole, allowing the waist of the guitar to rest on the braid. In this way, you must make sure that one of your hands always supports the guitar to prevent it from falling out. At the final step, you just need to adjust the length of the guitar strap at the position that brings the most comfort and ease for yourself.

When looking for a guitar strap, you may be confused by the thousands of guitar strap types available on the market. Just pure comfort and performance. At some point, every player wonders to himself…. Wait…is there even is a difference between these straps? And the short answer is…NO. Almost any strap can work with all 3. With bass players, you typically find that longer , bulkier , and typically more expensive straps work better to support their larger heavier instrument.

So the solution is add a second strap button to the base of the neck. Standard straps lengths are adjustable between inches or so, which is a suitable range for almost anyone. However, if you play bass , are exceptionally tall , like your guitar hanging low , or any combination of these….

Much like the Fender strap, it's unlikely to feature on a runway in Milan - but you're bound to see a few on stages worldwide. While for some a guitar strap is another way to express themselves, for others a strap is merely a tool to allow you to concentrate on playing.

That's not to say there can't be a quiet elegance to a strap though. That's exactly where the Fender Broken-In Leather guitar strap comes in. Coming in four tasteful finishes — green, brown, black and tan — this classy strap gives you the confidence that it will last the distance.

Its oiled finish gives the cowhide leather a softness, while the generously adjustable length makes it ideal for guitarists of any height. Hands-down the best guitar strap available right now.

A sad fact of life, for many of us, is that the body starts to give up long before the mind does. So, while in our heads we could play for hours and hours every night of the week, often our neck and shoulders have other ideas.

Thankfully, the good folk at Ernie Ball have a solution. The Ernie Ball Neoprene Polylock guitar strap is designed, first and foremost, with comfort in mind. It's fair to say nobody would align KLIQ with the bigger names in the guitar world. However, with its AirCell guitar strap, it may well have carved itself a nice little niche in the accessories world. The AirCell boasts unique technology which packs a host of air-filled cells you can see where they got the name from onto its underside, making it one of the best guitar straps for comfort.

As well as comfort, the cells also provide the dual benefit of taking moisture away from the skin or clothing, allowing your shoulder to breathe over long playing sessions. Clearly modeled on the inside of a rather luxurious casket, what this strap lacks in subtlety it more than makes up for in dark, macabre vibe. While we wouldn't want to typecast, it's easy to see how this strap would appeal to a certain type of player.

While it's true a guitar strap is merely a tool, an enabler, there's no harm in adding a bit of cool to the proceedings.

Enter the Levy's guitar strap range. Where the other straps on this list focus heavily on function, comfort and durability, the Levy's MS17ASF range has all those things but then isn't shy of incorporating a dash of style too. While it's not a cheap strap, as such, it is built with the highest quality suede and features a range of glorious leather and embroidered designs.

These add a touch of class, meaning you'll look as good as you sound. Chances are, if you're a guitar player, you've either seen or owned one of these babies over the years.