This was a first

[derrico1]

Rubber washers from a Grolsch beer bottle (most rock and roll solution), or plain rubber washers from your local hardware store. Slide the washer on the end pin after your strap is on, and you're set.

[Nvr2old]

Originally Posted by HeavyJazz77

One year of gigging and you think you've experienced everything?! You underestimate the musician's path, sir...

No doubt, though it's been a neat birth by fire. I only recently started playing bass (couldn't afford a sports car for my mid-life crises, so I took up the bass) and a year ago for my first live gig, in front of a packed house of 300 people, opening song, sweating bullets, and the guitarist breaks two strings on his opening chord, no back up guitar, leaving me with an impromptu bass solo of a looped intro with the drummer until he could get it together. Second gig, on a trailer, under a rough canopy, in a massive downpour and lightening storm, trying not to get electrocuted while watching our singer's lyric sheets get blown away by 35mph gusts. But we never stopped and we kept 70 people on their feet for two hours, so... success. And this was gigs #1 and 2.

After that all the normal monitor fails, missed turns, broken strings, song list errors (where half the band starts playing a different song than the other half and needing everyone to come together before it's too obvious), crowd members jumping on stage - God I love live gigging - seems par for the course. Haven't had anything blow up or set anything on fire yet, so I suppose I have that to look forward to.

[Jeff K]

Originally Posted by derrico1

Rubber washers from a Grolsch beer bottle (most rock and roll solution), or plain rubber washers from your local hardware store. Slide the washer on the end pin after your strap is on, and you're set.

Yep. That's the way to go. The neoprene washers from the hardware store are about .40 cents each. Easy on/easy off, and retain their original shape immediately if you do need to remove them. I have a strap and washers for each instrument, so they stay on all the time. Put the strap onto the pin, then put the washer on. Instant strap locks. They come with various-sized holes in the center, so make sure the hole is smaller than the head of the strap button. They'll stretch to go on or off, then go back to their normal shape.

The only thing is, like others have mentioned, check the buttons/screws from time to time to make sure they're not loose. If the screw strips out, no strap lock will help.

[Raymeous]

On my first electric I ended up using one of those DiMarzio cliplock straps and I attached the part that goes on the guitar with a pair of bolt on neck screws. Those clips aren't going anywhere.

[Unprofessional]

If your strap button/lock screws are just loosening up on you (not stripped), take the screw all the way out and put a little hide glue on the threads nearest the pointy end before you re-assemble. Don't go nuts with the hide glue; just fill the screw threads about a third to half of the way. Do this sometime when you can set the bass aside and not play it for 24 hours while the hide glue dries.

[bassfran]

Originally Posted by Nvr2old

No doubt, though it's been a neat birth by fire. I only recently started playing bass (couldn't afford a sports car for my mid-life crises, so I took up the bass) and a year ago for my first live gig, in front of a packed house of 300 people, opening song, sweating bullets, and the guitarist breaks two strings on his opening chord, no back up guitar, leaving me with an impromptu bass solo of a looped intro with the drummer until he could get it together. Second gig, on a trailer, under a rough canopy, in a massive downpour and lightening storm, trying not to get electrocuted while watching our singer's lyric sheets get blown away by 35mph gusts. But we never stopped and we kept 70 people on their feet for two hours, so... success. And this was gigs #1 and 2.

After that all the normal monitor fails, missed turns, broken strings, song list errors (where half the band starts playing a different song than the other half and needing everyone to come together before it's too obvious), crowd members jumping on stage - God I love live gigging - seems par for the course. Haven't had anything blow up or set anything on fire yet, so I suppose I have that to look forward to.

Way to 'play through the pain', as it were.

Keep a journal because it just gets better and better.

[Bill G.]

Originally Posted by Vince Klortho

We he playing well ? It sounds to me like the guitar was trying to escape.

He was doing okay, but after that he lost his nerve to try a new song we had been practicing!

[klejst]

Indeed nice save, however yeah might be a good idea to look into some strap locks. It's one of the only mods I make to all my basses but it so important because I like to move around a lot on stage.

[DeadGoonz]

What are the best Strap Locks for metal?

Ha, finally got to zing someone with the old " what's the best ? For metal"!

Giving myself a +1

[Muttleybass]

I unscrew the strap button, put a washer that only the first part goes thru, then the strap, then some epoxy on the screw and screw it back into the bass. I never take my strap off.

[throughthefire]

My BL uses straplocks, but they occasionally used to unscrew on him and drop his guitar anyway.

Saving myself from endless bass solos while he sorts himself out, I introduced him to Loctite Blue; those things won't come out again (if they ever did, Loctite Red is waiting in the wings).

Agree that you still need to check the screws as well, of course.

As an aside; Loctite Red is excellent for fixing microphone stands - we often had the screw threads at the boom strip after a year or so of usage, so we now Red them as soon as we buy them, and we've never had a problem since.

[richtea]

I had an Ernnie Ball strap lock spontaniously explode on my frettless, lots of tiny bits of airborn gold bling. I was playing fever at the time. knowing I could'nt handle the bass line on a fretless, and hold up the bass, i dropped to one knee and finnished the song with the bass on my knee. May have fudged a note or two. The female vocalist, after the gig, asked me not to do that stage move again, as it was "very distracting". Singers, you have to love em.

[paganjack]

Haha this happens to me sometimes, with or without straplocks. I end up wedging the bass between my stomach and my arm while playing with a thumb or awkward sideways fingers. It's always surprising but I make it through usually without mistakes. I pride myself on that.

[vonsparks]

Nice save, i've had the strap fail on me at a gig before, except I had strap locks! The screw came loose, luckily I had a spare bass at hand and used that!