I play acoustic guitars with pickups fitted. This usually results in what experts refer to as a "big ass" end pin. You know the deal, you get this big end pin that a regular jack plug will fit into. The bad news is that it's big enough that a regular jack plug will fit into it.
Most off-the-peg guitar straps don't work well in such circumstances. They're cut for a regular, "no jack" pin. You either have to hack away, hoping that you're cutting everything to the right shape or force that sucker on. Either way, in my experience, you end up with a reasonable chance of having the strap and the pin part company at some inconvenient moment.
Enter the Tapastring StrapKeeper. See
http://www.tapastring.com/strapkeeper0605.htm
So I ordered myself some of these. They do the job well.
Here's a StrapKeeper
It's made of soft, easily manipulated leather - except for the retainer clip, which is nylon..
The idea is that you loop this through whatever strap you want to use and then attach it to the end pin. The holes in the StrapKeeper and the washer are cut to accommodate the bigger end pin. I have LR Baggs pickups in my acoustics, and I mailed Tapastring to see if this product would suit that end pint. They got back to me promptly to assure me that it would do the job.
I should point out that they're a nice, friendly, efficient company to deal with.
So here's the StrapKeeper passed through the hole of the strap (note that this strap is already a bit ragged from being forced over a big ass end pin).
You then fold it over the end of the strap, place the two holes in the StrapKeeper over the end pin and click that retainer into place.
Bingo!
Couldn't be simpler. Probably takes about a minute to fit to strap and guitar. You can just push the retainer back to release it. Note that the retainer is attached to the StrapKeeper with a neat little tether so you don't have to worry about dropping it.
It holds well. I tried one out at McGibbon's this morning and we gave it good old tug. It held. No problem at all.
Because it's cut to an appropriate size (rather than being hacked at or forced onto the end pin) it rotates smoothly. This avoids another problem I've had with hacked about straps - sometimes they grip the end pin too tight and as they move they start to unscrew the end pin.
Note the price on the web site too. That includes postage. Even to South Africa. I ordered four. The package took three weeks to get here and I had to pay in R26 to the Post Office for whatever it is the Post Office charge these amounts for. So that's about R290 in all for the four, postage included. The price is per item so you can order just one if you want.
Nice simple solution to an annoying problem.
