Quote:
Originally Posted by DigitalMan
(Post 13872570)
Levys are nice. Probably best to figure out what length you want to see if it'll go short enough. They have bass straps in two lengths, but you might also check out their guitar straps if the shorter of the bass straps isn't short enough.
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Levys aren't bad but still higher priced than my taste. I like a strap in each bass case. Better straps with better basses or the ones played the most or junker nylons as "emergency" straps in lesser instruments. Also since all straps have Dunlops they can be switched from bass to bass. And since Dunlops are not recessed a standard strap can be used in an emergency.
Previously my solution was to go to Tandy leather where they had these guitar strap kits (that you are supposed to "tool" for leather hobby) that were about $16 each. They were raw leather so you had to buy a bottle of leather dye (I just sprayed them black) and I didn't do any "tooling". Very heavy nice straps. Very similar to the Italia you guys are recommending for $85 each. Hey some of my BASSES didn't cost that much! But last time I went to Tandy prices were not MUCH higher!
Anyway, to make a long story short: I found these planet waves straps on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Waves-C...net+wave+strap
They come in lots of colors and styles and I can clue you all in on what the deal is. The cheap ones (per above URL) are the worst. They are sort of hard leather and stiff. But still pretty nice straps even if they weren't almost free. I love the colors. Got a white one to match my "kit" Les Paul I made. Too cool. So I bought a bunch in in mostly brown and black.
The next step up in planet waves straps are the suede ones. These have stitching but are just one layer of leather as are the above ones. They are nice and soft yet wide and comfortable even though none are padded (you can buy a shoulder pad if you want one for extra money). If you use dunlop straplocks you'll find these just a tad thin for the clamping system. But all it takes is a copper washer out of a Harbor Freight copper washer assortment of one of the sizes to match the straplocks to the thinner strap. I'm sure they'd work OK without it, but they do tend to stretch the hole in the leather then.
The next step up are the planet waves "garment leather" straps that are two layers stitched and VERY nice. These are great straps that look and feel great. And while not as cheap as the low ones I have seen crappy nylon ones for this price.
And lastly the Ultimate Planet waves strap are the suede "reversible" ones they are quite heavy with nice binding and are brown on one side and black on the other. I put these on my best basses. Love em. All the suede straps are especially nice in that the suede tends to stick to your clothes and eliminates all traces of neck dive unlike say my Carvin padded strap which is slick and smooth. The Carvin straps are VERY comfy, but are cloth. And they have a huge "Carvin" in white letters on them.
ALL the above straps can be found on Amazon (though some often don't ship directly from Amazon which means you may or may not get free shipping). Just do an Amazon search on planet waves guitar straps and root through the various pages that come up and you'll find all this stuff. I just bought about 4 boxes full of straps and now have a strap in each case and gig bag for each bass. And I didn't have to spend a grand to do it.
Hard to beat. That's what I know.
PS. to OP: The narrow "adjustable" part of these straps has TWO holes in it so in addition to the adjustable weave, you can use the upper hole and cut off the rest of the strap for a really sort one.
