I moved the strap button on the butt of my Schecter Baron-H up a few inches to change the center of gravity. To me it looks and feels better than extending the horn. Good strap locks are a must.
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Ideas to extend top strap button for better balance
- Thread starter lukiluk
- Start date
It's a great idea I hadn't seen until recently, I bought a very light Epiphone Toby that has the bridgeside button attached like that (not that far up, maybe 2/3rds of the way to where your pin is attached). Recently I got a Schecter CV-5 that has the pin displaced up too, some 2" off center, the body's not light at all but the 35" neck is long and pretty heavy (despite it being ultra thin) and the upper horn barely makes it to fret 13.
Still I don't think it can alter balance as much as the horn pin extension. Some people also do this instead of extending the upper horn pin...
Doesn't necessarily have to be attached to the neck joint, could be screwed to the body itself (more invasive, I know), running along the upper horn, simply extending beyond its tip. Don't know what the proper material for this should be (stiff enough that won't easily bend front or backwards). Looks definitely safer than most pin extensions I've seen (some of those look like too much of an overhang, unless it's thick the screw will get chopped off the moment you start jumping, or if you hit something with it).
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These tiny 1/2"-1" extensions to the strap button will make barely any difference, adding another button to the screw certainly won't. Many of the ideas and modifications here ignore the vast increase in leverage on the screw caused that could damage the body of the bass.
So lukiluk, i recommend you don't.
Extending the strap button out while still using the existing hole, even with a longer screw, is generally a bad idea. Screwed-on strap buttons are only effective because the strap is attached very close to the body, therefore generating very little leverage or torque on the screw.
Once you extend the strap button point out you need to use a strong metal arm screwed into the body in several places over a large area. Or maybe a fat metal tube that extends deep into the body.
Even if the length of screw inside the body is now very long, a certain screw width that was formerly fine can now be bent by the leverage.
This is all basic mechanics and forces stuff.
Also, as my linked thread above shows, you can improve balance in a much cheaper and safer way by moving the rear button forwards.
So lukiluk, i recommend you don't.
That doesn't move the centre of gravity of the bass, and surprisingly actually makes balance worse, i worked through the mechanics of this in this thread Invalid Link Removed near the end i deal with the 'high on the butt' idea.
What length of screw is inside the body?
Extending the strap button out while still using the existing hole, even with a longer screw, is generally a bad idea. Screwed-on strap buttons are only effective because the strap is attached very close to the body, therefore generating very little leverage or torque on the screw.
Once you extend the strap button point out you need to use a strong metal arm screwed into the body in several places over a large area. Or maybe a fat metal tube that extends deep into the body.
Even if the length of screw inside the body is now very long, a certain screw width that was formerly fine can now be bent by the leverage.
This is all basic mechanics and forces stuff.
Also, as my linked thread above shows, you can improve balance in a much cheaper and safer way by moving the rear button forwards.
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I see, it could only work minimally for more horizontal position players and only on basses with an "asymmetrical butt", the offset "jazzy" types, as the Schecter CV-5 and Epiphone Toby I cited (haven't seen this in fact on more symmetric butt basses). Looks like "just an attempt", I wouldn't screw a new bridge centered hole on my CV-5 to check it but I could bet it's not noticeable. I in fact think the main reason why this long necked bass doesn't neckdive it's because the body is HEAVY (at 10lb total this bass is definitely heavy for today's standards).
I'll agree with ixlramp on the '...maybe a fat metal tube that extends deep into the body.' point.
In the bass I referred to in post #33, to clarify, as I didn't specifically make it clear in the original post, I extended that plumbers pipe several centimetres into the body for that reason. Although yes, drilling a large hole into the body perhaps isn't the kind of alteration you might necessarily be wanting to make unless you are happy to make a more major change to the body.
In the bass I referred to in post #33, to clarify, as I didn't specifically make it clear in the original post, I extended that plumbers pipe several centimetres into the body for that reason. Although yes, drilling a large hole into the body perhaps isn't the kind of alteration you might necessarily be wanting to make unless you are happy to make a more major change to the body.
For me, the problem is ergonomic. I'm a big guy with a broad back and shoulders. A bass that happily balances in any position you want on most people will always tend to hang parallel to the floor on me. The location of the strap button on my asymmetrical Schecter, behind the B string, definitely makes a difference in getting it to hang properly on me. I have no idea what difference it makes for "normal" people.
My Yamaha, with its symmetrical body, wouldn't benefit from that change. The problem is that it's not terribly effective to just get more mass under the strap button. You also want to shift mass behind the strap to counteract the neck's leverage in front of it. On the Yamaha that would probably require relocating the strap button about where the forearm and belly contours meet.
As it turns out, the question is purely academic for me now. The real problem with trying to get a bass to hang right on me is that it requires the strap to hang on my neck, rather than my shoulder. At the first sign of neck problems, I switched to a Slinger Hip Strap, which also took care of the balance problem.
A crucial point needs to be made. The screw that holds the top strap button is often susceptible to eventually stripping out because it is subjected to constant cycles of heavy side loading when the bass is being played. This is usually not a problem unless you're really heavy handed with yanking the neck hard against the strap all the time.
Except extending the strap location away from the bout multiplied the amount of side force proportionally.
If the stock strap button locates the strap 1/4" away from the edge of the wood and then you add an extension that relocates the strap 3/4" away, then you're putting 3 times the amount of stress on that little screw. Even greater extensions will almost guarantee stripping out the screw in a very short time. A 1 and 1/12" extension puts 6 times the amount of side force on it.
Some consideration should be given to drilling out the hole and installing a hard wood dowel then re-drilling the hole to accept an oversize screw.
Except extending the strap location away from the bout multiplied the amount of side force proportionally.
If the stock strap button locates the strap 1/4" away from the edge of the wood and then you add an extension that relocates the strap 3/4" away, then you're putting 3 times the amount of stress on that little screw. Even greater extensions will almost guarantee stripping out the screw in a very short time. A 1 and 1/12" extension puts 6 times the amount of side force on it.
Some consideration should be given to drilling out the hole and installing a hard wood dowel then re-drilling the hole to accept an oversize screw.
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I used a 1” nylon spacer with a 2 3/4” stainless #8 sheet metal screw (replacing the original #6 wood screw). Has worked fine for more than a year now. No issues.
Buy a hardwood dowel, cut to length, paint-color spray- or varnish?, drill a screw hole , attach post and dowel to horn w/ appropriate screw length. If you have the skill and tools you can also shape the dowel to the horn.
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I use a brass extender I bought at a hardware store that is actually made for another application, and a double-length screw one diameter larger, along with Hipshot lightweight tuners. Perfect balance.
A bunch on my instruments from the 60/70s have the back strap peg positioned up about 2" and really helps with any potential neck dive, especially my 8 string which drops down to level
The newer Fender logo strap locks extend the strap about 3/4” off the body. I have one bass I just use one on the front and it takes care of the problem for me.
This is brilliant!
Since I don’t have the means to work with metal, I attached a thin plywood extension to the neck screws and reinforced it with an IKEA L bracket.
The bass is a Danelectro made Silvertone 1444. Even though it is short scale, the bridge is in the middle of the body, so the neck is really long and it is hard to reach the lowest frets.
I modified my headstocks on both of my Jaguars and changed the tuners to lighter ones and it corrected the neckdive problem.
