# General Mandolin Topics > Vintage Instruments >  Putting a strap on a bowlback?

## Richard Foss

I just got my first bowlback mandolin and am having difficulty playing it because it doesn't have a strap or a place to put one. It's not too bad sitting down, but standing is very difficult. I will be called upon to play it in public while standing later this month, and I'm thinking of putting a strap on it even if that wasn't done back in the day when this thing was made. Yes, I know that any modification will decrease the value, but for me it's not an investment, it's a way to make music. 
First, any advice that will help me figure out how to play without a strap? And second, any suggestions about how to attach one if I decide to add it? The tailpiece is held on with three tiny screws, and I don't want to stress anything.

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## G7MOF

If there's room on the tail piece to drill a hole big enough for a strap button, you could drill that then re-attatch it to the mando and drill the mando as well. The other end could be fastened to the headstock just above the nut with cord!

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## Jim Garber

I assume that you have been playing for quite some time but this is your first bowlback. Is there any reason why you need to play a bowlback when you are "called to play it in public while standing up"? Frankly I know of very few players of even the upper level of playing who would play a bowlback standing up. The only person I know is Carlo Aonzo who can prob play some serious solos even standing on his head.  :Smile: 

If playing in public, I would opt for whatever instrument you are comfortable with. Or insist that you need to play it sitting down like most players do. I have been playing bowlbacks for about 7 years and tho I can certainly play it standing up if I have to, I would much prefer to play sitting down.

if there is no alternative (!) the best thing I can think of is to get yourself one of those hook straps that are meant from classical guitars:




> Each strap consists of a closed loop, worn around the neck, or over one shoulder and under the opposite arm (usually the right arm for a right-handed player). At the end of the loop is a braided lace with a plastic hook. Lead the lace behind and under the guitar at its waist, and back up in front to the sound-hole. Hook the plastic hook into the bottom of the sound-hole, allowing the guitars waist to rest on the braid. Note, when using a classical guitar strap on a classical guitar, the player must at all times keep at least one hand on the guitar to prevent it from tipping forward and falling.


Another alternative is it use a saxophone strap but you need something to hook it onto on the mandolin.

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## Richard Foss

Hello Jim and G7MOF (and I presume the latter is not your given name, but don't know what to call you), 

Thank you for the advice... I am relatively new at making music and also have never played a bowlback - I am a shaky player even with my usual instrument (a Kentucky KM-172), so really in new territory with this. I am determined to get good at it, though. I got the bowlback so I could play something with an authentic look and sound at the Dickens Festival in Riverside and other Victorian-themed events. I may just insist that I need a chair any time I play...

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## JeffD

I never play standing up when I can help it.

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## Eddie Sheehy

Tape a square of sandpaper to the back and wear a sweater...

Seriously though, I'd use the collar with the plastic/rubber hook mentioned above... also works for Greek Bouzouki...

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## Carl

> I just got my first bowlback mandolin and am having difficulty playing it because it doesn't have a strap or a place to put one. It's not too bad sitting down, but standing is very difficult. I will be called upon to play it in public while standing later this month, and I'm thinking of putting a strap on it even if that wasn't done back in the day when this thing was made. Yes, I know that any modification will decrease the value, but for me it's not an investment, it's a way to make music. 
> First, any advice that will help me figure out how to play without a strap? And second, any suggestions about how to attach one if I decide to add it? The tailpiece is held on with three tiny screws, and I don't want to stress anything.


The best way to play a bowlback is to sit, cross your legs, and rest the mandolin on your lap. They were not intended to have a strap.

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## allenhopkins

I just take a leather thong and run it around the headstock above the nut, the other end around the tailpiece.  It supports and stabilizes the bowl-back enough to make it easier to hold and play.  I've used this method on two bowl-back mandolins and a bowl-back mandola, and it works OK.  You still have the bowl "rolling" against your body to some extent, but with a bit of wrist pressure from the picking hand and neck support from the fretting hand, workable.

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## brunello97

> Another alternative is it use a saxophone strap but you need something to hook it onto on the mandolin.


If it works for Willie.....

Mick

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## mandroid

The term is Mariachi Guitar strap.. The bands south of the border use Nylon string guitars and so the hook
 is made to clip into the sound hole  with the  cord thru it hooked into a strap that goes behind your neck.

 it is wider than the sax  hook..
 because the sax has a ring to clip into, so the hook is Metal.. 

 the wider hook wont dig into the edge of the spruce  in which that the hole is cut .

I have one for my Djangolin , though I got the strap initially to use with My Leo Pocket Mandolin
 for my Bike  packing tours.

 I mostly Use a  chair,    near by to the table  with my beverage on it.

 NB:   a Bowl back mandolin's normal habitat is  sitting down behind the Music stand 
and reading your part in the ensemble's  scores.

_IF_ you   have to stand at least get a chair to  put your right foot on
 and then you have some support ..  for strap free playing..

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## brunello97

> The term is Mariachi Guitar strap.. The bands south of the border use Nylon string guitars and so the hook
>  is made to clip into the sound hole  with the  cord thru it hooked into a strap that goes behind your neck.


No doubt how Trigger wound up getting rigged up with one.

Mandroid, your tag line gives me pause.  I'm an architect and I'm ALWAYS dancing about architecture. I've talked to choreographers who pretty much say the same thing.... Albeit, I don't do much writing about music.  :Wink: 

Mick

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## roady43

Probably not the "orthodox" way to play a bowlback but who cares if it necessary or helpfull: it works well and does not make any difference in sound.



There exist old bowlbacks which have a special knob as a part of the tailpiece.
I fixed the strap on the armrest and between the pegs (using leather strings with buttons just tied around). For my new "Ebony" I asked the maker to put an extra button from bone beneath the "tailpiece":

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## michaelpthompson

I have a strap button at the tailpiece, and just use a bit of cord to tie the other end to the headstock. I tie mine between the tuners, as it got in the way of my left thumb when I just tied it above the nut. The mandolin rolls around a bit but probably no worse than on your lap. There's a standing joke (standing, get it?) about a BBM with a BBM--big bellied man with a bowl back mandolin.

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## mandroid

> Mandroid, your tag line gives me pause. I'm an architect and I'm ALWAYS dancing about architecture. I've talked to choreographers who pretty much say the same thing.... Albeit, I don't do much writing about music.


I think the quote was from someone  that had  a Music Reviewer writing something they did not agree with. 
 I don't recall who it was..

Wikipedia says :


> Elvis Costello attributes the well-known phrase "writing about music is like dancing about architecture" to Martin Mull.

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## brunello97

> I think the quote was from someone  that had  a Music Reviewer writing something they did not agree with. 
>  I don't recall who it was..
> 
> Wikipedia says :


I remember a guy named Ken Liecke (not sure of the spelling) who used to write for the Austin Chronicle was using it as a tag line for his column. IIRC, this was early '90s right around the time I had just gotten out of UTSOA.  I was dancing a lot more then than I am now so it made even less sense at the time.  While folks might perceive it as more static, like sculpture, architecture is much more akin to music and dance: space, movement, time. Architecture isn't understood by _looking_ but though _moving_.

Martin Mull is a clever guy. Maybe too clever. I would have thought he would have understood.  

Mick

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## mandroid

Yea, But with an AFTRA/ SAG Union card , you get, at least, $500 a day
 just for showing up, as an extra,  on the set for the day.

Actor, and he is a comedian.. as well as a darned good Guitar playing Singer.

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## mandroid

Back to the original Post , a Bowl back ?, pull up a chair.. if you need to stand, then you understand
 why flat back mandolins out sell  Bowl Backs,  World wide these days.

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## fishingcat

Walking around with my bowlback forced me to learn to hold it.  It most certainly CAN be done ... if there's truly a will to get past the learning curve.  Photos of Italian mandolin players are useful for positioning hints.

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## Bob DeVellis

Most bowlbacks have tailpieces that have a raised ridge stamped into them.  So, of you look at the butt end, mandolin face down, the tailpiece has a flat section that comes to a decorative point (typically with the attachment screw through that point) and, as it approaches the instrument's top, that raised, pressed ridge.  A thin shoelace will slide through that ridge from one side of the tailpiece through to the other.  It can then be attached to a leather strap.  A similar lace at the other end of the strap can be tied at the headstock.  I usually place it under the strings just behind the nut(where it acts as a vibration dampener for unwanted sympathetic vibrations).  So, a leather stap with a hole at each end and a shoe lace (the round, waxed type are better than the unwaxed flat ones) attached at each end can be easily and securely attached to most bowlbacks.

I'll attach a picture of my Martin tailpiece to show what I mean.  That raised ridge between the string attachment tabs and the flat portion that sits against the bowl is what I'm talking about.  A shoelace slides right through there.

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