Straplocks

[spauldingrules]

Yes?  No?  I've never had them, and I am considering them for my next build.  Effective?  Do they affect the balance of the guitar?  Opinions please.

 

[Wyliee]

All of my guitars and basses have straplocks.  No way do I want to risk one of them falling to the floor.  Schaller on all of them, BTW.

 

[guitlouie]

The band before the one I am currently in had in our singer one destructive force of nature.  He pretty much modeled his entire life on Iggy Pop.  Needless to say, I found during this period in my life that I could no longer live without straplocks.  The Schallers are not only a great investment in the protection of your baby, or babies, they are also very simple to install and use, and do not adversely affect anything.  They weigh next to nothing, and aside from the fact that I know my guitar isn't going to hit the floor, I hardly notice they are there.

 

[neilium]

Even if you're not jumping around like Angus Young, straplocks=good idea. Strap holes wear out, and you find out too late.

 

[RLW]

The band before the one I am currently in had in our singer one destructive force of nature.  He pretty much modeled his entire life on Iggy Pop. 

If he's still alive, he must have missed a few steps.

Rich, Certified Iggy Fan

 

[dbw]

YES.  Schaller straplocks are the only thing all my guitars have in common.  They're great.  With the strap off they look like ordinary strap buttons, perhaps a little more rounded.  The strap gets a horseshoe-shaped steel "foot" attached to it with a washer and nut.  On the nut side there's a steel pin that you have to pull up on, or the horseshoe won't slide off the peg.  It's a great design and it's a true "lock", unlike some POS's that are advertised as straplocks.

Schaller straplocks: $12. Not having to worry about dropping your guitar: priceless.

There are a handful of drawbacks, none of them dealbreakers:
- I have to take off the strap to put my strat in its case.  It won't fit otherwise, because the whole peg-horsehoe-pin assembly is fairly bulky.
- On a related note (not relevant to Warmoths), access to frets near the heel on an acoustic is kind of difficult with the strap on, again because the straplock is bulky.
- If you're sitting and have the strap hanging slack around your neck, the straplocks can vibrate while you play.  Doesn't matter if you're plugged in, but it can be annoying if you're playing acoustic.
All of these problems are solved by taking the strap off, and you can still put a regular strap on the straplock buttons... not as secure as a normal peg but I guess it'll work OK.  (Um... disclaimer: I take no responsibility if you put a regular strap on your straplock pegs and break your guitar.)

Long story short, get straplocks, you won't regret it.  And if you do you can just put back your original pegs.

Edit: No they don't affect the balance.

 

[spauldingrules]

Thanks for the advice!  I'm assuming the Schallers warmoth sells are the ones y'all are talking about?  And, I asked before and got no answer, how should I prep alder for (paint) primer ? 

 

[dbw]

Yes, Warmoth sells the ones I was talking about.  No clue about primer though  :icon_scratch:

 

[guitlouie]

If he's still alive, he must have missed a few steps.

Rich, Certified Iggy Fan

Well, I'll say this,  the reason that band broke up is because we found that singer turning blue on his living room floor one morning after he had a slightly wilder than usual night.  He did die, but only for a few minutes.  When he got better, all of his friends around here, myself included tried to get him to control himself even slightly, and that bugged the crap out of him, so he moved away....I did learn a few lessons from having known him, the least of which was probably to use straplocks......

Gregg, also a certified Iggy fan (if you can find it, check out a box set called "Where the Faces Shine, volume one" on a lable called Easy Action,  it is six discs, each a live Iggy show from the 1977-1981 era, Highly recomended!)

 

[RLW]

Just went to ebay and snagged it, thanks for the heads up.

Okay, end of thread hijack.

 

[guitlouie]

Indeed!

 

[artnaz]

I have strap locks on my guitar, but I don't use it. It's looking very ugly and unnatural to me, it sticks too much out. But for my first Warmoth I'll use Dunlop Flush Mount Strap Locks. I think that will look great, and if the strap is off, you practically even can't see the strap holders!  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Rick]

Yes?  No?  I've never had them, and I am considering them for my next build.  Effective?  Do they affect the balance of the guitar?  Opinions please.

I always strap locks on all my guitars.  They work. They do not affect balance.  I use the Dunlops with the large flange.

 

[tfarny]

+1 to straplocks. I use the Dunlop ones but I'm sure other ones are great too. No disadvantage and they work as advertised. I've got the same model on all my guits so I can use one strap interchangeably.

 

[JamesL]

I have used both Schaller and Dunlop straploks... I used to prefer the Schallers but after a bit of thinking, and losing my assigned strap I realized the Dunlops can be used with or without the "locking" Strap, If you just happen to have a spare strap lying around you can use it because of the large flare on the strap pin. But in the end they all work the same, that's just my take on straploks.

 

[jackthehack]

"And, I asked before and got no answer, how should I prep alder for (paint) primer ?"

You may or may not need any primer; what are you planning on painting the alder body with? The grain in all the alder I've gotten from Warmoth is so tight I've always been able to fill it with 3-4 good costs of sanding sealer prior to shooting it with lacquer. If you're using some kind of metallic paint that REQURES primer - like ReRanch Goldtop Gold - probably one thickish coat of water based grain filler would do the trick