How to Make a Guitar Strap

As any guitarist knows, a guitar is more than an inanimate object: it becomes, if not a personal connection to a greater force in the universe, at least an extension of oneself. With that in mind, a guitar strap has a great part to play in helping the guitar feel comfortable and complete in one's arms. Making your own strap can only add to that sensation.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Good-quality leather
• Leather-cutting scissors or blades
• Stamp tools or wood-burning tools
• Dye
• Beveller tool
• Hole punch

1. Choose leather of a good weight. The material should feel substantial and solid in your hands. Visualize it supporting the weight of the guitar at either end, and the tension of the strings as you play. If you play a lot, and with great frenzy, you want to have a high-quality strap that endures.

2. Cut the strip to a length that works for you. Keep in mind that you can cut holes in either end for strings to attach it to the guitar, or for the strap itself to latch onto the nubs that are on acoustic and electric guitars.

3. Make the guitar strap yours by creating your own individual design in it. Use a stamp tool or a wood-burning tool to cut your designs into the leather. Be careful not to go too deep, and make an effort to keep all impressions the same depth, to give a look of continuity and uniformity to the design. It's useful to keep the leather damp as you do this process.

4. Dye the guitar strap with a high-quality oil-based dye, if you can afford the cost. Pay what you need to now, so that you have a guitar strap that lasts for a long time. Good quality dyes penetrate deeply into the leather while still letting the grains of the leather show through.

5. Bevel the edges of the strap with a beveller tool, so that you can have rounded edges. This makes the edges of the strap more professional-looking, enhances the overall look and feel of the strap, and, when followed up by an acrylic dye, helps prevent cracking and tearing along the edges.

6. Punch hold in either end of the strap with a hole punch of your choice, and your guitar strap is finished.

Tips & Warnings

• When stamping the design and punching the holes, be conscious of the fact that your choice of surface against which you do your work affects the quality of your efforts. Choose a heavy and polished stone surface for the design work, but perhaps wood or something with a bit of "give" to it as you punch the holes.
• If you want to make it adjustable, punch a few holes in the one end, with slits at the sides so that they can slide onto the guitar easily.