Strap-locks ain't foolproof...

VellaJ

Just a warning for those out there who haven't had the following experience...

I've put strap locks on all of my electric guitars, cos I love them too much to risk them falling. So I always thought I was pretty safe. However, at band practice on Wednesday, I had the heart-in-mouth experience of having my Tokai LP fall headstock-first onto the tiles. :'(

I can't remember exactly how, but it seems that I got the strap at 90 degrees to the strap lock. The strap hole had grown bigger over time, and thus the strap pulled right over the enlarged washer of the strap lock...

Fortunately it seems they make the Tokais like a brick s***house, so the only damage is cosmetic on the corner of the headstock, but this could have been a hell of a lot worse... So now I'm off to buy a guitar strap with the thickest leather ends that I can possibly find.

ZarK

Terrible News!!! So sorry to hear... I know exactly how you felt when it happened... :'(

Only 'straplocks' I have found to be 100% secure are Dimarzio cliplock straps... They cannot come off unless the screw pulls out of the guitar. Seeing as a part of the strap is permanently affixed to the guitar, there are some trade-off's, however. They sometimes don't fit well in tight form-fitting cases and the clip part of the strap can leave scuff marks on the guitar after many years of consistent use, but drop it won't.

Again, my condolences...

IceCreamMan

Whenever I change strings on my guitars I always check the straplocks , give them a mini service and check for this exact thing that caused yours to fail..... not foolproof but touch wood never had an incident to date....

Chocklit_Thunda

Snap that's scary!

But just remember. Bread clips have the chocklit_thunda seal of approval

Explorerlover

Chocklit_Thunda wrote: Snap that's scary!

But just remember. Bread clips have the chocklit_thunda seal of approval

AlanRatcliffe

Ouch! Yeah, I learned the hard way that not all strap locks are created equal (doubleneck, concrete stage, Dunlop "Pick Boy" locks).

I still swear by the Schallers - a bit of mechanical movement noise, but unless the screw pulls out of the body (and I usually reinforce the screw holes with cyanoacrylate), they are not going anywhere.

VellaJ

ZarK wrote: Only 'straplocks' I have found to be 100% secure are Dimarzio cliplock straps... They cannot come off unless the screw pulls out of the guitar. Seeing as a part of the strap is permanently affixed to the guitar, there are some trade-off's, however. They sometimes don't fit well in tight form-fitting cases and the clip part of the strap can leave scuff marks on the guitar after many years of consistent use, but drop it won't.

I may check these out for the Tokai; I gig with it so often it lives in a gig bag rather than a hard case, so a permanent strap will work ok. Won't work on the others for the reasons you've mentioned...

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: I still swear by the Schallers - a bit of mechanical movement noise, but unless the screw pulls out of the body (and I usually reinforce the screw holes with cyanoacrylate), they are not going anywhere.

These were Schallers actually :-[ They're excellent locks, but the strap itself has material ends, which I think now is a no-no. So it wasn't the locks that failed really, they just couldn't cope with the enlarged hole in the strap.

AlanRatcliffe

? That must have been bad - the washers on the Schallers are 20mm wide. I use thick leather straps made for the schallers, so I suppose that's part of it too.

ZarK

VellaJ wrote:
ZarK wrote: Only 'straplocks' I have found to be 100% secure are Dimarzio cliplock straps... They cannot come off unless the screw pulls out of the guitar. Seeing as a part of the strap is permanently affixed to the guitar, there are some trade-off's, however. They sometimes don't fit well in tight form-fitting cases and the clip part of the strap can leave scuff marks on the guitar after many years of consistent use, but drop it won't.
I may check these out for the Tokai; I gig with it so often it lives in a gig bag rather than a hard case, so a permanent strap will work ok. Won't work on the others for the reasons you've mentioned...

The Dimarzio's really do work as advertised. Been using them for decades albeit not exclusively. Perfect for gigging guitars. Regarding the Dimarzio's, there are two varieties I can recommend. 1. Safetybelt material: Sticks to bare skin but slides over t shirts and clothing or 2. Cotton: which sticks to clothing better. (Depending if you want to be able to move the guitar around or prefer to have it settled in one position...)

Charlie4

When I was 15 I got my first electric guitar, Squire and Roland Cube amp. Man I was chuffed. After merely two weeks of owning the guitar the sh!tty Fender Strap I had already wore out. It came loose, the guitar fell and hit a metal chair which took a chip of the guitar with it.
Band practice ended and I spent my Friday night sulking over my black beauty being hurt. ☹

Moral of the story is never use a sh!tty strap and always use good straplocks, Schaller preferably, if you want peace of mind.

Banditman

I've got Schallers on all three of my guitars and I've noticed that on the one, though the strap was one of those with faux leather end tabs. (By the way boys and girls, vinyl/Naugahyde/leatherette or whatever you call it isn't leather - so please don't buy a VW Beetle or other cheaper pre-'80s car Gumtree listed with "leather upholstery" and think it's actually leather).

The vinyl does stretch with time. I solved that by getting some new tabs made out of thicker real leather, and then added larger washers to prevent a recurrence.

One other problem was the retaining nut for the locks working loose with play, allowing the strap lock to rotate until the opening was facing downwards. Tighten the nut properly with a teeny tiny dab of locktite to prevent it happening.

matthewchiro

Schaller are the best! BUT crap hard to get lately. Had to bring some in from elderly last week...

FruitarGeek

I actually had quite a bizarre experience at a gig the other day. In our first song, my strap physically broke. The stitching came undone or something and just snapped. So I was like bummer, quickly, change strap during song. And then what happened next? No, the strap lock did not fail, the SCREW failed. I physically broke the screw holding the strap lock in half. Again, all in the same song haha.

But I'm thinking of doing away with strap locks, going back to old fashion, but just using those red beer rings to hold the strap in place.

ZarK

matthewchiro wrote: Schaller are the best! BUT crap hard to get lately. Had to bring some in from elderly last week...

They're good. I use them on two of my guitars but inspect them quite regularly. The strap-locks that come stock on Ibanez J-Customs are the best strap-locks I've used to date but they're not readily available unfortunately. The safest setup by far is to use Dimarzio cliplock straps instead of strap-locks + straps. A must for gigging guitarists imho...

Wizard

I'd be afraid of that song Adrian

Sean

Wizard wrote: I'd be afraid of that song Adrian

+1 ?

So no strap locks failing then. Only screws and straps?

V8

ZarK wrote: Only 'straplocks' I have found to be 100% secure are Dimarzio cliplock straps... They cannot come off unless the screw pulls out of the guitar. Seeing as a part of the strap is permanently affixed to the guitar, there are some trade-off's, however. They sometimes don't fit well in tight form-fitting cases and the clip part of the strap can leave scuff marks on the guitar after many years of consistent use, but drop it won't.

+1 for the DiMarzio's - I've had 'em on the headless guitar & bass for years- if those drop, the input jack is usually destroyed and those particular jacks are (*&^*ing pain to source. I did notice after a while (I think it was poor installation...by me :-[) the screw did have a habit of coming loose, but fixed by Alan's toothpick/super method.

My only gripe was that you are limited to whatever strap they come with & I havn't seen any padded ones (at least locally) - but I managed to find a very wide one that works nicely on the bass - and added a padded bit to it from a old laptop bag strap.