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How many TBers don't use straplocks?
- Thread starter Chili Bo Billy
- Start date
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,633
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
with my new strap i used a lock on the top horn and none at the butt end. dont ask me why im just weird like that
I've had leather straps wear out and slip off many times so I put Dunlop straploks on 3 out of 5 of my basses. I'm not completely sold on them, but it's a small price to pay to protect an expensive instrument from dropping. I find the extra extension it adds to the upper horn improves the balance of each instrument I've added them to. Though I don't like the extension to the butt of the bass because it wont fit in a hard case without taking the strap off. Also, I sling the strap over the corner of the butt to hold my bass to my hip, especially while playing aggressively or slapping. With the strap extended further past the butt the strap wont stay in place anymore. Don't like how they rattle either, nor how freely the strap can rotate.
Think I might be a convert to the Grolschloks now. Four pints of delicious beer and straplocks for two basses for only $9, hell yeah! Really enjoyed the hard 'work' involved in that DIY project
. And now I have a strap that can be put on any bass without having to have some proprietary strap peg 
.
May try in the future putting a Dunlop on the upper horn and a Grolsch on the butt for the improved balance each method provides.
Think I might be a convert to the Grolschloks now. Four pints of delicious beer and straplocks for two basses for only $9, hell yeah! Really enjoyed the hard 'work' involved in that DIY project
. And now I have a strap that can be put on any bass without having to have some proprietary strap peg .May try in the future putting a Dunlop on the upper horn and a Grolsch on the butt for the improved balance each method provides.
The main reason (of several) I despise them is that they are a danger to me and my gear and anything else in the vicinity, an ounce or two of metal flying around on the end of a 60" strap when getting in and out of the bass.
Almost any other option is better and safer.
If you're careful enough for this problem never to happen, you're careful enough not to need straplocks in the first place.
More bass-geek, go-faster nonsense, a waste of money.
Almost any other option is better and safer.
If you're careful enough for this problem never to happen, you're careful enough not to need straplocks in the first place.
More bass-geek, go-faster nonsense, a waste of money.
Nope.
Grolsch Washers!
Yeah same.
Had some locks which came with my bass, never used them. Then one day at home the strap slipped off my bass, somehow caught it before it hit the floor or table.
Tried the straplocks but for some reason they didn't fit at the back (the metal strap thing seemed... bent somehow?) and they were all rattley too.Bought a couple bottles of Grolsch, used the washers ever since, no problems.
Got a new bass arriving this week, already have the beers in the fridge ready for a new strap!
Used them a long time ago when I played rock and metal. Been playing jazz and funk for the last 10 years and never thought to start using or felt the need for them.
In my 50-year career I've never used ANY brand of straplocks . . .
of course, ALL of my instruments have their own straps permenently screwed to the instrument (usually with a washer) . . .. . .
The only time a strap has ever failed me was with a strap-loc installed! Now it's directly screwed to the bass. My career is only 35 years old though, so...
The main reason (of several) I despise them is that they are a danger to me and my gear and anything else in the vicinity, an ounce or two of metal flying around on the end of a 60" strap when getting in and out of the bass.
Almost any other option is better and safer.
If you're careful enough for this problem never to happen, you're careful enough not to need straplocks in the first place.
More bass-geek, go-faster nonsense, a waste of money.
That's why you attach the strap before putting the bass on, or lay the strap over your shoulder and then pick the bass up...
Being a very energetic performer, I have no idea how I could perform the same way without them. I don't spin my bass or anything like that, but my instrument moves a lot when I play. Vital piece of equipment.
If that were an option, I'd have the strap semi-permanently installed in the first place...which in some cases I do.
That's pretty much what I do, but flipping the strap over my shoulder can go very wrong with a big hunk of metal on the end of the strap.
It does more often than not, or so it seemed to me before I got rid of these things or stored the instruments that used them OEM, pending retrofit of non-locking buttons.
Never mind that most of these devices overstress the actual screws that hold the strap buttons on by their greatly increased leverage on the point of contact with the body. In some cases that will lead to the screws loosening or even failing.
These things have created hugely more damage and nuisance than they have ever prevented for me.
i don't use one prob should i had a screw strip the inside of the wood and had to put another hole in filled the other one up though so all is well
As every type of straplock I've tried has failed/broken on me, I simply don't trust them. I use xtra large strap buttons, good quality leather straps and ensure nothing's twisted when I pass the strap over my head.
- Jun 6, 2004
- 6,351
- 543
- 66
- Disclosures
- Owner and builder Clementbass
Back in 77-78 when I was playing really hard rock, my guitar player showed me the metal washer perma-strap trick. My old Gibson still has those metal washers and the old strap. Later, I started using rubber washers from the hardware store. Perfect!! I have purchased a couple of basses with straplocks already on them and the first thing I did was replace them with regular strap buttons and rubber washers. I never could like the look or feel of that extended straplock system.
They looked like a bad idea to me all along, but I have a Fender B-Bender that has that _____ POS Schaller lock button as an integral part of the bender arm, so I'm stuck with it on that instrument.
As you can see you're not alone. If you don't need 'em, you don't need 'em.
Now, I do some posing in my hard rock band, and swear by the Dunlop Dual Design system. I've had no issues in the 10 years I've been using them, after having waaaaay too many failures, near failures, and general frustration with Schallers.
