Strap falling off of end pin - and a cure

Bob-Dubery

My Morgan has an after market LR Baggs pickup fitted. It has one of those end-pins that includes the jack and the battery switch.

I don't know why strap manufacturers don't offer a straps with holes pre-cut to handle this situation, but they don't. And cutting it yourself is an inexact science. My strap fits over the end-pin, but can slip.

So today I made myself a little clip that fits over the strap after it's been fitted. Almost like a lock - should stop it slipping.

I cut a square out of an expired credit card and drilled a hole thru it with a 12mm bit. Then I cut a slot from the outside into the hole to give a key hole.

This then slides over the strap but still engages under the edges of the end pin and thus reduces slippage.

Attached (hopefully) are two images. One shows the clip by itself so that you can see how it is made - and it's real simple.

The second shows it in use, locking the strap in place. This kind of plastic works well, but will probably get "plastic fatigue" after a while. So I'm going to root around for old medical aid cards etc and make a whole bunch of these.

(err.... ja..... well.... I know I did this before, but I can't figure out how to attach the images, so I shoved them up to picasa and added links to them).

Squonk

I never realized you were a bit of a Pete Townsend Acoustic player??
Good tip, I do move around a bit, so I will give this a try.
I have tried the Grolsh (dutch beer) swingtop washers, but they only work on my electric.
Will use my wife's woolies card!

AlanRatcliffe

If the endpin jack socket is a long one like the Switchcraft below, I think there's something else you can do:

These types of sockets are actually quite long and you can adjust them so that more of the barrel protrudes from the back, then use extra nuts and washers to secure the strap directly to the endpin.

I haven't done this myself, but I don't see why it wouldn't work, given the right nuts and washers...

MoJo-JoJoe

AlanRatcliffe

Very cool! That's what I love about this place - I learn new stuff every day...

Bob-Dubery

Squonk wrote I never realized you were a bit of a Pete Townsend Acoustic player??
Good tip, I do move around a bit, so I will give this a try.
I have tried the Grolsh (dutch beer) swingtop washers, but they only work on my electric.
Will use my wife's woolies card!

It hasn't happened to me that often. But it's one of those things that COULD happen, so it was one more thing to worry about. Now it's one less thing to worry about ?

I've heard about the swingtop washers and even regular tap washers, but, as you say, they don't work for acoustics with the big strap pin.

I tried using the little clips that come on a loaf of bread, but same thing - might work on electric, definitely don't work on an acoustic with the jack built into the strap pin.

Bob-Dubery

MoJo JoJoe wrote Some alternatives....

Some of which very clearly won't work in my situation. The pics show an application other than an acoustic with a jack built into the end pin.

But hey! Don't let me dissaude you from emptying all those beer bottles ?

MoJo-JoJoe

AlanRatcliffe

You shouldn't have done that MJJJ - some of them were suitable for acoustics and even the one or two that may not have been would be useful for those with conventional strap pins.

Bob-Dubery

Alan Ratcliffe wrote You shouldn't have done that MJJJ - some of them were suitable for acoustics and even the one or two that may not have been would be useful for those with conventional strap pins.

The fault lies with me I think. I didn't meant to be rude or dismissive, but I think I created that impression. I could have chosen my words better.

Apologies to all, and especially to MJJ.

Bob

AlanRatcliffe

I know it can be difficult to judge tone in the text format of a forum, but for what it is worth, I didn't get a rude or dismissive feel at all from your post Bob.

Reinhard

A nice and cheap strap lock, is using the little red washer that you get in the swing top Grolsch beer bottles.

Bob-Dubery

Bob Dubery wrote My Morgan has an after market LR Baggs pickup fitted. It has one of those end-pins that includes the jack and the battery switch.

I don't know why strap manufacturers don't offer a straps with holes pre-cut to handle this situation, but they don't. And cutting it yourself is an inexact science. My strap fits over the end-pin, but can slip.

So today I made myself a little clip that fits over the strap after it's been fitted. Almost like a lock - should stop it slipping.
and blah blah blah....

I found that for more usual strap pins, that just hold a strap and have a narrower shaft, that the little clips that are used to hold bread packets closed work very well.

Gearhead

... so the choice is between drinking a bottle of Grolsch or eating a loaf of bread?

Reinhard

Gearhead wrote ... so the choice is between drinking a bottle of Grolsch or eating a loaf of bread?

I know which I prefer ? Besides your girlfriend/wife can use the Grolsch bottle for salad dressing or mampoer, whatever floats her boat.

Bob-Dubery

Gearhead wrote ... so the choice is between drinking a bottle of Grolsch or eating a loaf of bread?

No. Because you need two different clips for the two types of end pin. So you could have Grolsch and a sandwich. Of course if you have lots of guitars.... ?

And you'll need some spares ?

Meanwhile my original "big end" clip is running into problems. It works very well, there is no way that strap is going to fall off. But I used an old credit card, and they are cut from some kind of laminate, and the laminations are starting to flake off. So I think something like an old detergent bottle might be an improvement.

Reinhard

Different end pins? Thats strange, I thought they are the same size? Besides you stretch the Grolsch washer over the pin so it shouldn't matter. I think I have enough of these washers to last me a few lifetimes.

I think I have a business idea here that will guarantee me free beer for life. For each two beers I drink I can package the washers and sell them for about R30, and buy two more beers........

Bob-Dubery

Reinhard wrote Different end pins? Thats strange, I thought they are the same size? Besides you stretch the Grolsch washer over the pin so it shouldn't matter. I think I have enough of these washers to last me a few lifetimes.

Errrmmm.... ja.... did I say "end pins"? I meant strap buttons. In the case of acoustics with a built in pickup it is often the case that you get a conventional strap button near the heel of the guitar, and the end pin is bulkier because it has to take a jack plug.

Bob-Dubery

Bob Dubery wrote My Morgan has an after market LR Baggs pickup fitted. It has one of those end-pins that includes the jack and the battery switch.

I don't know why strap manufacturers don't offer a straps with holes pre-cut to handle this situation, but they don't. And cutting it yourself is an inexact science. My strap fits over the end-pin, but can slip.

So today I made myself a little clip that fits over the strap after it's been fitted. Almost like a lock - should stop it slipping.

I cut a square out of an expired credit card and drilled a hole thru it with a 12mm bit. Then I cut a slot from the outside into the hole to give a key hole.

This then slides over the strap but still engages under the edges of the end pin and thus reduces slippage.

My original plan worked - but had problems. The material that credit cards are made from is a laminate, and after a while the laminations start flaking off.

So I made a second batch out of an old shower gell bottle. I cut the two sides out, washed them off, and had enough to make a batch of homemade locks. These work well, though if I made a little jig my quality control would improve and my rejection rate reduce.

The grolsch washers do indeed work well fior the skinnier strap pin on the shoulder of the guitar - they don't work on the big barrel/pin that accepts the jack plug. Another item that works well on the skinnier pins is the little locking tab that is used for bread loaves sold in plastic packets in supermarket.

This also makes a small contribution to recycling (I found out that my local municipal dump has facilities for recycling of plastic, glass, paper, cardboard and even old engine oil. These are good things to support and supporting them costs nothing. We just seperate out the glass, plastic and paper, and when I go to dump the garden refuse I hand the other items over for recycling.)