Is it wrong to put your shoulder strap here?

[Fred_Murtz]

My mando does not have a strap button on the heel of the neck. #I had wrapped the strap around the heel and under the fret board extension, but the shop where I bought the mando says it should not go there - that it would "pull on the neck" -that I should be wrapped at the head stock instead.

Is that true?

[Michael H Geimer]

That's where I have the strap of my Mid-mo. FWIW

And reading the comment from your music shop ... well, that just doesn't agree with the physics of leverage - putting tension at the headstock would surely stress the neck much more.

[MikeB]

And I just read somewhere (can't remember where) that putting the strap on the headstock would never create a problem on a mandolin, either.

I certainly can't see how it could ever be a problem around the heel. No worse than hanging it from the scroll, and that's pretty much the same leverage point.

[earthsave]

I'd imagine that anything wrapped around a neck can strangle it causing it to cough and sputter eventually making it a mute or at least hoarse.

I used to do that too, then I switched to wrapping to around the headstock. Not sure if that will cut off circulation or not? The balance just wasnt right for me with it under the neck.

[August Watters]

I have the same system on my Janish A5--tied under the fingerboard extention. The balance is better than around the headstock. It would be a little cleaner to install a strap button on the underside of the neck, but some folks don't like to do that. Lots of folks tie to the headstock; that's not a problem either.

I agree that "pulling on the neck" is not an issue unless you're in the habit of hanging cinderblocks from your mando while practicing. . . .

August W

[J. Mark Lane]

Why vbeat around the bush? The simple answer is: the shop where you bought your mando are clearly a bunch of idiots.

LOL!!

[Potosimando]

I played a five-year-old Gilchrist A that had been set up that way for its entire life (a leather cord wrapped under the end of the fretboard and around the upper end of the body, then tied to the strap of course). The Gil's sound and playability were fantastic...not lacking in any regard. The owner told me he had played the instrument several hours a day from the get go--i.e. five years of hard playing with the strap attached thus.

[earthsave]

I'd imagine if any neck pulling would be occuring it would be with it on the headstock versus under the heel, if that is the proper term.

I have seen old Monroe pictures of an F7 with it tied to the end of the headstock for some reason. Maybe before they realized you could loop around the scroll? I tie my A up just above the nut with a thin piece o' hemp and it works for me.

[Andrew Reckhart]

Lou Stiver tells all of his "A" model customers to strap it under the fretboard extension and around the body. He says that you should not attach the strap through the headstock. He says that it shouldn't hurt the mando to go through the headstock, but why take the chance on an expensive (or less expensive) instrument.

[neal]

Ah, just put a strap button on the darn thing. It's functional, it looks good if done properly, and it prevents numbing in the neck from lack of blood. And, PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong, but it wouldn't devalue the instrument.

[August Watters]

Adding a strap button shouldn't devalue an instrument (as long as you don't do it to the Loar A5) -- but lots of players (especially classically trained ones) may find it less attractive if they don't use one. I don't put them on new instruments for that reason, unless requested.

August W

[Jeroen]

Has someone here ever heard of damage to a mandolin by too much tension of a strap, regardless of where it was wrapped? I think there will be some disaster stories about buttons though.

[MrSrubas]

I am pretty sure that tieing the strap at the headstock is what twisted the neck on my first one (previously mentioned cheapo fender).
I asked Paula Jean Lewis from STE where to put one on my weber and she said:

We install ours on the treble side of the neck 1" from the neck joint along the fingerboard and 1" down from the top of the fingerboard

I think I went about 7/8" instead of a full inch and the important thing is that you drill a pilot whole.

[Keith Newell]

I have played it both ways and this my thought. When you have the strap attached to the headstock and you play a sustained note do you notice that when you put ever so slight downward pressure on the neck that the sustained note changes pitch? I would rather not have anything put any sideways/twisting pressure on a portion of the instrument that is trying to sustain/maintain approx 200 lb of tension in another direction.
Keith Newell
http://www.newellmandolins.com

[peterbc]

I don't think that attaching it at the headstock or the heel would matter much. Mandolins don't weigh much (especially compared to the tension in the strings) so it's not going to tug much on it. I don't like tying around the headstock, though, because it gets in the way of my hand.