Source for Custom hand-braided mandolin straps

[Phil Goodson]

Many months ago, there was a discussion about high-end decorative mandolin straps made in the style of braided leather tack, beautifully hand made stuff. One café member at that time was personally making some of those straps but more recently has let it be known that he is no longer doing so.

By chance, I stumbled across a small business who makes various examples of hand-braided leather products and has made some custom designed mandolin straps, and one was recently placed in our mandolin accessories classifieds.

I was able to purchase one of these straps and wanted to report that it was very well made, beautiful and satisfied me greatly.
A change in the length of the strap was necessary for my uses and the folks at Davie Leather and Braid worked with me to modify the length and optimize the strap for me. They were easy to work with, pleasant, and went above the level of duty to make me happy with my purchase.
If anyone is interested is such products, I can recommend these folks highly based on my personal experience.

Here are a couple of pictures of samples, but they are willing to customize and will give you an estimate for what you want. I have NFI, just happy with the opportunity to acquire stuff like this.

[Doug Brock]

Nice! How much?

[Phil Goodson]

Depends on your custom design. About $15 per woven knot plus the strap which will be about $75-100 depending on material (roo vs other) and which style braid. So roughly from about $120 to twice that or more if you're extravagant in your design.

(The one on the right above would be $265 in roo)