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Thread: Strap on an 'a' style

  1. #1
    Registered User Matt Hutchinson's Avatar
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    This may seem like a stupid question but how do you attach a strap to an A style mando? I have an F style and have a strap which wraps round the scroll so is there generally a button at the heel of the neck on an A? If so, do they hang in the same balanced way as an F?

    Excuse my ignorance, I'm thinking of trading up to a better instrument (most likely an A to get the most for my limited funds) so am just curious.

    Cheers,

    Matt

  2. #2

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    I installed a button on the side of the neck on the one I had.
    Jack

  3. #3
    Registered User Ronnie L's Avatar
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    Planet waves do a strap adapter like this, which attaches on the end of your strap and goes round the headstock It has a quick release for removing the strap.
    <a href="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PLANET-WAVES-ACOUSTIC-GUITAR-STRAP-QUICK-RELEASE-dgs15_W0QQitemZ120118499612QQihZ002QQcate

    goryZ20831QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_blank">http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PLANET-....iewItem</a>

    Mine is permanently under the strings. ( please ignore pink hair bobble, its a home made remedy to stop the strings sounding when recording!)





    Getting there...

  4. #4
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    put a strap button at the bottom side of the heel of the neck.

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    Some people use a sturdy leather shoelace underneath the elevated fingerboard and around the heel of the instrument.
    Wye Knot

  6. #6
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Take a look at this thread.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  7. #7
    Registered User Matt Hutchinson's Avatar
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    Thanks guys, anyone know if Eastmans come with strap buttons already fitted?

  8. #8
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    No they don't Matt but there is plenty of room beneath the fretboard extension to tie the bootlace beneath. It's dead easy and the instrument balances very well.(I feel)
    DD

  9. #9
    Registered User guitharsis's Avatar
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    Matt,
    On my Eastman I've tied the strap on by tying a thin leather lace through the strap loop and under the strings on the headstock. #Eastman does install an endpin.

    I have another mando that I've had a strap button installed on the back of the mando. #Another that I've tied the strap on with with a lace underneath the elevated fretboard around the heel.

    Edit: Each method was based on what I had to work with. All are pretty well balanced.




  10. #10
    Jason Wicklund DryBones's Avatar
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    I put a button on the back of my Eastman and it works like a charm and fits in the case no problem. Feels more balance than when I had it around the headstock. There wasn't room at the nut so I had it tied up between the tuners which looked tacky to me.
    Jason

    Lefty JBovier F5 Tradition, Lefty Mid-Mo M1

  11. #11
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    Here's an experiment I did on my "test mule" mandolin. #I drilled a hole through the heel block using a drill press and a body cradle to hold the mandolin, and inserted a length of 1/4" o.d. aluminum tube into the hole. #The tube was glued in place with epoxy, and trimmed flush after the glue dried. #You just tie a loop of leather shoelace through the tube, then attach the scroll end of your strap to the loop. Works fine.

    Imo, the aluminum tubing looks lousy. #I'm thinking that my "production" version will use ebony. #I have made a few jigs and fixtures already.



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  12. #12
    Registered User John Flynn's Avatar
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    Dave:

    That is a great idea! I have been thinking that a luthier should come up with something like that and your solution seems like a good one.




  13. #13
    two t's and one hyphen fatt-dad's Avatar
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    I tie it around the peghead, but further up from the nut. I go between the string posts and have no problems. I tried placing it under the fretboard extention, but don't like it. I've also tried it by the nut and didn't like that either. I use braided boot laces for a strap and there is no issue for me.

    f-d
    ˇpapá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!

    '20 A3, '30 L-1, '97 914, 2012 Cohen A5, 2012 Muth A5, '14 OM28A

  14. #14
    Registered User Matt Hutchinson's Avatar
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    I'm not keen on straps which attach to the headstock, not sure why really I just don't find it comfortable. If there's room to tie under the fretboard extension I'll just do that (although I'm way ahead of myself as I haven't actually bought an Eastman yet....)

  15. #15
    coprolite mandroid's Avatar
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    there are some nice screw in buttons thru StewMac, would look the same as the tapered end pin, Ebony, with a shell dot ..
    http://www.stewmac.com/shop....ns.html

    lower side of neck heel is a good spot , palm of your hand arches over that part of the neck when over the body notes are played.
    so i's not really in the way there.
    writing about music
    is like dancing,
    about architecture

  16. #16
    Paul Wheeler
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    I didn't want to put a hole in the heel of my Lyon and Healy to install a strap button, so I found a way to loop the end of the strap to the end of the finger-rest. The strap is made of braided black EMS bootlaces, so there's almost no visual impact from the part of the loop that goes over the top. Works slick. (Finding a way to attach to the tailpiece was much trickier.) -- Paul
    He joyously felt himself idling, an unreflective mood in which water was water, sky was sky, breeze was breeze. He knew it couldn't last. -- Thomas McGuane, "Nothing but Blue Skies"

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