Made my own strap with paracord and chainmail.Your DIY equipment?

[JEStanek]

I find it hard to imagine that those chain mail links of aluminum will fail under the weight of a mandolin. Potential for scratches, sure. You'll scratch it up some picking most likely. Deep gouges from this chain mail, not likely. Keep it off the mandolin in the case. Do you CARE if you get some scratches? That's for you to decide. Things to avoid around your finish are insect repellents, fireworks, water, and drunks. Dammit, you're a bard. The chainmail fits that identity. Play on, sister! Embrace your style!

Roll d20 to save vs scratches. +2 if you play at a Renn-Faire.

Jamie

Jamie

[Cecily_Mandoliner]

Here is one of my DIY straps that I wove on an inkle band loom.

[MollyMarieMandolin]

Dammit, you're a bard. The chainmail fits that identity. Play on, sister! Embrace your style!

Roll d20 to save vs scratches. +2 if you play at a Renn-Faire.

Jamie

Jamie

lol Thanks. I love the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. I'm excited I was just accepted as a volunteer for the Celtic Fling event at the same property because I'll getting two Ren Faire tickets as compensation! I'm loving the silly names in the lineup of Celtic bands that will be playing at Celtic Fling. http://www.parenfaire.com/celtic/bands.php

I'm weird enough I've seriously considered dressing in a full bard getup with my mandolin for the Renaissance Faire. I'm short and stocky though so I'm built more like a dwarf lol, might go with a female dwarf fighter look and enter the costume contest for the "Myths and Legends" weekend.

[Steve Ostrander]

I simply use an old leather belt from the thrift store - put a hole on one side for the end-pin, and loop through a leather shoelace on the other side to tie up the neck or the scroll. . .

Exactly what I did, until my family decided I needed a fancy and expensive Lakota Leather strap. While I appreciate the gift, my old re-purposed thrift-shop belts worked just fine, and they were about 1/40th of the cost....but I guess that wasn't the point.

[JEStanek]

I used to help a friend who was a Scottish/Irish importer sell things at the Celtic Fling (Sweaters, Jewelry, Kilts etc). We were always in a pop up tent and amazed at all the horribly sunburned people that came by. It's a fun event. Many of the bands on the line up have been playing there for YEARS! You might as well dress up and have fun. Forget the naysayers who don't like mandolins at renn faires. They're hardly historically accurate. They're just fun.

On a related note, I have a couple of the books from Allan Alexander for Medieval Music and Renaissance Tunes. They are not horribly hard to play and include standard notation and tab. You can get the ones with CDs to hear how the tunes go as well.

Jamie

[MollyMarieMandolin]

I used to help a friend who was a Scottish/Irish importer sell things at the Celtic Fling (Sweaters, Jewelry, Kilts etc). We were always in a pop up tent and amazed at all the horribly sunburned people that came by. It's a fun event. Many of the bands on the line up have been playing there for YEARS! You might as well dress up and have fun. Forget the naysayers who don't like mandolins at renn faires. They're hardly historically accurate. They're just fun.

On a related note, I have a couple of the books from Allan Alexander for Medieval Music and Renaissance Tunes. They are not horribly hard to play and include standard notation and tab. You can get the ones with CDs to hear how the tunes go as well.

Jamie

Sunburned people fit in at a Celtic thing, right? I have at least a little Irish heritage though my skin's certainly pale enough! :P Thanks for the tip about medieval and renaissance tunes, I'll have to look into something like that.

I'm supposed to dress simply while volunteering for Celtic Fling and not carry much, probably won't bring the mandolin for that lol, though I got put in hospitality, probably because of how excited I sounded in my application haha. I've been doing the Irish course on duolingo.com and I'm picking some of it up okay, maybe I'll get to put some Irish greetings to use! Though I didn't even mean it as a joke at first but I was talking to my husband about learning Irish and said something like, "It's hard to get used to how the words blend together. Maybe it'd be easier drunk. ...Wait." lol

[Tim Griffin]

I prefer a Bailey strap. Nothing to ding the instrument. I had a Neotek with little plastic clips. It always seemed to ding my old mando.

[allenhopkins]

DIY'ed a bunch of straps. Old belts are useful, as are leather scraps I used to pick up at a local crafts store (Dobro straps have to be longer than nearly anyone's belt). Leather boot laces for bowl-backs, nylon straps with snap-hooks on each end for banjos (snap the hooks around the brackets). I have a big plastic bag in my junk drawer with potential strap materials -- thongs, strings, miscellaneous leather and fabric straps, whatever looks promising.

I've had leatherworkers make me straps with my name on them, as well, just to satisfy the ol' ego... Also have had personalized straps made as gifts for fellow musicians. Always a nice touch, and cheaper and less permanent than having MOP letters inlaid on the fingerboard.

[Neoclinus]

Not exactly DIY for the average hobbyist, but this guy has done some pretty darn impressive stuff. I can't imagine the time and dexterity it would take to make that kind of thing, and I like doing fancy knot work! Could be fun to attempt something like that for the particularly motivated though...http://www.frayedknotarts.com/specials.html
Here's a closeup of one his knotwork straps:

Did I mention that it's a 52-cord braid?

[Elliot Luber]

I just took about 50 inches worth of paracord, burned the two ends with a match to keep it from coming apart, tied a retraced figure eight knot at one end to make a loop and tied a slipknot on the other, and I'm in business.

[chadlittle]

So what does everyone prefer....attaching the strap at the headstock, or around the scroll?

[MediumMando5722]

Scroll

[MikeEdgerton]

So what does everyone prefer....attaching the strap at the headstock, or around the scroll?

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[varmonter]

I too am of the no metal or plastic on my straps.
All my mandolins have pickups.so takeing the strap
On and off the endpin jack wears the hole out quickly. So the strap stays on. I used to have a nice
Leather strap with metal conchos..it didnt take me long to realize that i am incapable of being carefull
enough to prevent the inevitable scratch..so only
Soft leather for this picker. Metal will eventually scratch.. very pretty strap though..

[MediumMando5722]

Made another strap from leather shoelaces today. I tied a small noose on one end, with a second lace secured in the loops. I was watching a Sam Bush video while I did it, so I copied his two-strand, loosely twisted strap. On the button end, I tied the second lace to the first with an overhand knot, then tied the first around the strap button.

Total cost: $3.43
Total time: Maybe ten minutes

I typically dislike thin straps, but oddly, it's more comfortable than the other, four-strand braided strap I made. It'll likely end up coiled in my gig bag as a spare, but sometimes I just like making things.

[MollyMarieMandolin]

So what does everyone prefer....attaching the strap at the headstock, or around the scroll?

I don't have a scroll so headstock it is lol.

I'm glad this thread has taken off a little. I haven't gotten around to replying much I'm enjoying hearing about other DIY equipment stuff though!