Has anybody ever heard of one of those rubber washers/strap combos failing? I'd be interested. I do check my equipment periodically to make sure nothing comes loose. I get a little paranoid after reading things like this. 
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FAIL!! Schaller Strap Locks
- Thread starter stingrayK
- Start date
Thanks MattS!
I feel,bad for the folks that have dropped a bass. I'm thinking not occassionally checking the connection and tightening the Shaller is just like ignoring the small crack that could occur on a rubber washer drying out?
Wow, you have actually seen the cup installed upside down? Amazing. I don't mean to sound harsh, but come on. That's the very definition of "counter-intuitive."
I'm convinced the overwhelming majority of strap lock system failures are user-error, probably folks who don't realize or care that things change with your bass, things shift, things loosen up over time. You have a lot of nuts and bolts and screws holding your bass together--the wise musician will periodically check them all and tighten if needed. When you install strap locks, assume you have added a couple more points to the check list.
Even the screw coming out of the wood is on the user; it's totally preventable with routine inspection, and this could just as easily happen without the strap locks since even a common pin will come out if the screw is not a good fit or gets loose. I give the pins a little twist from time to time to see if they are still solid to the body or if they spin and have loosened. It takes less than one second. When you install the new pin for the strap lock system, it's easy to tell if you're not getting enough purchase on the wood with the new screw and you need to dowel, partially fill in the hole, or find a bigger screw.
Has anybody ever heard of one of those rubber washers/strap combos failing? I'd be interested. I do check my equipment periodically to make sure nothing comes loose. I get a little paranoid after reading things like this.
Funny enough, though I've never experienced or even witnessed first-hand a failure of Dunlops or Schallers, the only time I had a guitar slip off the strap was with a Grolsch rubber washer. But that might have been me expecting too much from it.
I only use rubber washers with my Fender-style guitars. Plenty of pin, good purchase with the strap and washer, it always felt pretty secure to me. But I sometimes sling my guitar around my back, headstock down, while playing keys. I have done this hundreds of times with the rubber washers. But it finally did fail and the washer slipped off the end pin sending the guitar on its headstock. Fortunately, it was a thick carpeted surface and a short fall, so no damage to the guitar.
Again, I may have been expecting too much from the washer. I'd say short of slinging your guitar around your back, rubber washers are a good choice if they hug the pins nice and tight. I still use them.
Just wanted to address this point- the screw is more likely to come out of the top horn with a strap lock(particularly Schaller style) than without. The reason for this is that the horn is usually sharply curved there, so the button ends up screwed down against this curved surface, with only a line contact supporting it. This of course exists with a regular strap button but when you add the extra length of the locking button/latch assembly you end up with a considerable overhung load which works like a pry bar to pull the screw out. To avoid this I always relieved the area around the button very carefully with a file to create a flat surface for the button to rest on. This eliminates the screw pullout problem.
I'm trying to imagine how many pounds of pressure or tension it would take to pull a tightened-down, well-fitted screw clean out of solid wood, even if the assembly creates a slight bit of extra length. It still seems like it would take an extreme amount of force, so much so that it would be unreasonable to blame the strap lock system for that kind of "failure."
But at least you anticipate it and adjust for the possibility. Kudos.
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At the location in question, it is a large amount of force. The damage doesn't happen all at once but incrementally. It's not the shear that loosens it, it's the tension of the button rocking upward on the curve. A little at a time until it starts ripping the wood out. You'll rarely hear of this happening on the rear peg, because it's flat there. Many basses do put more weight on the horn button but that's not the reason for the failure.
Yeah, in theory, it makes sense. Still, I'd imagine it's pretty rare, and not much more frequent than with a standard pin at the horn. If it's incremental, I'd think before it rips a chunk of wood out you would notice it rocking loose a bit.
it's the "you would notice" part that people are failing at!
like @David Jayne says, it's not so much that the strap gets ripped out as it gets worked out of the hole by the increased leverage from the strap being further away from the guitar body.
people who are oblivious to the workings of their instrument are the ones who get surprised on stage by a lock going upside down or a button working its way loose from the body.
Right. I've seen pics where brute force trauma took the screw out and a piece of wood with it. Not much you can do to prevent that (other than avoid the accident that caused it), and you can't blame strap locks. I've also seen the results of gradual loosening of the button screws, and this does evidence itself before the screw finally slips out of the hole. Again, you can't blame the strap locks for that either; a compromised screw should be noticed and remedied during routine inspection, whether you use strap locks or not.
We're kind of splitting hairs though; it's not a stretch to see that strap lock systems, when installed and maintained properly, prevent accidents and drops with an extremely high degree of consistency, and any "failures" that are not the user's fault would be a relatively infinitesimal number.
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At my last gig the Schaller straplocks failed multiple times during songs. I couldn’t believe it!
The cup has rotated round so it was upside down and only the pin held the bass on the strap. Unfortunately I have a heavy as hell Thunderbird 5 string, so that pin couldn’t do the job.
The next day I removed the Schaller straplocks, threw them in the bin, and fitted a set of Dunlops. I am never going back.
Never had problems with Schaller, but ultimately I found Grolsch washers effective, cheaper and more fun to acquire!
Apparently the nut wasn't tightened up.
If it was it wouldn't have rotated around.
