Extra long strap?

When I first started playing mandolin I went on mendolessons.com and I looked at the recommended starting mandolin that he has on his site. Along with the starting mandolin, he also recommends you pick up a D’Addario Mandolin Strap. So I did. I’ve been playing with it for a while now, and I’m finding that I wish it was a little bit longer.

The mandolin hangs roughly where my tummy meets my chest, right around my solar plexus. I’d like for it to hang a little bit lower, roughly midway between my solar plexus and my belly button.

I measured it, and it’s 48 inches long not including the string that I use to tie around the neck joint. I’ve looked around the Internet for mandolin straps that are a little bit longer and I really can’t find one.

Or rather I couldn’t find one that didn’t use a metal buckle. No metal buckle on my strap. That just screams scratches & gouges to me.

I guess the easy fix is to get a longer piece of para chord. But really I’d like a longer leather strap.

Has anyone else ever felt the need for a longer strap?

I have used a piece of bicycle tube or a piece of leather glued/formed into a loop, which I pulled over the metalbuckle, to protect the instrument.

How wide do you want the strap to be?
There are all leather guitar straps that may work.
I have a Levy's Leather strap for my bouzouki.
It is 1 1/2 inch wide and 51 inches long.

Joseph Baker

I’m not keen on using one of my guitar straps on my mandolin. I think it wouldn’t look right.

You could make an extension. A leather strap with slit and hole in one end, to go on the mandolin and sew a suitable size button in the other end, to connect your existing strap to.

Or just buy a piece of leather strap and make the mandolin strap in the lenght you want. If you still need it to be adjustable, you can make 2 or 3 holes in the end that goes on the mandolin end.

Pinegrove Leather make adjustable and fixed length straps without buckles and they will ship to the US - https://www.pinegroveleather.com/pages/mandolin.

If there’s nothing you fancy, speak to Rod and he’ll make you whatever you want. I’ve bought several straps from him. NFI

Levy's makes a 1" wide polyester strap that uses a plastic buckle to adjust. Have one on the Flatiron.

Sully's Straps can be made longer. They're custom, but worth the upcharge, IMO.

Or you can just buy a 3/4" wide leather strip off eBay and cut it to length and punch holes in it. Might not be the neatest looking, but gets the job done. Made one for the A Jr.

Am a larger person and prefer a strap that's about 48 to 49 inches long.

Lakota Leathers will do custom lengths for a small upcharge. But I’m waiting until I get an F body before I get one of their straps.

I bit the bullet and attached one of my guitar straps. I measured it first, and it was only ~6 inches longer. I’ll try that for a while and see how I like it

I've got a Lakota strap on my F2 that I got used and it is in perfect shape. I do like it, but two things: the leather is too thick to fit inside the scroll on my mandolin, so I've got it tied on with a piece of leather lace. It's also way too long for me; I've got it on the shortest hole. Thought about cutting the excess off, but then decided against it.

A bit ago I started attaching my strap around the heel/fretboard rather that tying it at the headstock. That changed how it hangs. I liked it, but decided I wanted it to hang lower.

Make one from a well used leather belt.


;)

Both of these companies make them whatever length you need with no upcharge. Mandolin player Frank Solivan also makes straps to order

Thebaileystrap.com
Leatherandbraid.com

We do custom sizes and our front loop is thin enough to easily accommodate F-style scrolls or under raised pickguards on A-styles. Works great on my Collings MF, MT, MTO's, and Mandola.

Bill
El Dorado Guitar Accessories



info@eldoradostraps.comAttachment 203767

I was just about to post something along those lines. I spend a considerable time in the gym and am no longer a standard strap length kinda guy.

I need something a bit longer for my F style....my A style seems to still be ok, strange.

You could just goto a store that sells scrap leathers, Tandy, Joann Fabrics, someplace like that, make an extension. If it needs to be exactly color/texture matched, Tandy... and i think a leather punch with a few bits, is, $10?

Just don't use Chicago screws to attach them, generations of banjo players have found they steadily loosen until s.t. happens

Seems mandolessons.com are getting a kickback from D.Addario to me. any good quality strap should be OK personally I make my own from re-cycled leather belts, mainly obtained from charity shops and cost very little.

Dave H

Don’t know what it’s like in the US (or Yorkshire!) but charity shop belts in this part of the world tend to be a bit short - especially if you want a long strap.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by B381

I spend a considerable time in the gym and am no longer a standard strap length kinda guy.

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I didn't know going to the gym makes you taller....:mandosmiley:

Contact the folks at:

http://www.legacystraps.com/

I'm pretty sure they can make you whatever length you want.

Nylon straps with all kinds of color and pattern options, I have two of them for two different mandolins and like them, not very expensive.

NFI.

I always wear my instrument stap over my right shoulder, no problems about strap length.

Dave H

I highly recommend Harrison Straps from Woodlawn, Va.

https://www.facebook.com/harrison.straps.1/

Hands down the best strap I've used in 40 + years of mandolin playing.

For all my mandos, mandolas, and a few other instruments, I use the Levy's M19PR mandolin strap. It's simple, only two pieces of leather, greatly adjustable, and available in a variety of colors. One end gets tied with a boot lace under the strings at the nut, and the other goes on the endpin with a big rubber washer (black, but like a Grolsch washer). I havenct had any falls since adopting this setup.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mandroid

Make one from a well used leather belt. ;)

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DITTO Find a leather belt at a second hand store from an oversized person for two or three dollars. Cut off the buckle. If still not long enough extend the neck end of the strap with leather boot laces to attach.
I don't think you could find many more economical options.

Since a couple people beat me to the "modify a leather belt" suggestion, esp. the notion of finding one at a second-hand store (I picked one up for $1 at a Goodwill in New York City this summer :disbelief: - but it's really for my pants), I'll just tell you about my strap. It's a woven cotton strap some 54" long, a gift from my dad that he picked up on one of his many trips to Ireland, but it is anything but green. Well, it's pretty much a rainbow, 2 1/2" wide, with 1/8" bands of color lengthwise, and the outer bands are indeed green. But it's twisted around itself so much that it is much thinner, about 1/2" wide, and the net effect of the colors is something like iridescence. (If I get ambitious i'll try and photograph it.) That's beside the point, though. The center of the mandolin hangs right at my navel, which is fine when I'm standing, though these days I sit more often if possible. And even when standing, I tend to hold her up to my chest for solos. So the strap is more for safety's sake, or if I need my hands free for something. But I was surprised to learn it measures that long. There was a time I was hanging it even lower, down where a lot of rock guitarists prefer, but that's gone by the wayside, as it seems a bit unseemly given my age and girth. :whistling:

I've never bought a strap, per se. I've always found something to use somehow and repurposed them. This is in keeping with my objet trouvé philosophy. And they've never been leather. One of my favorites was a plastic dog leash that I picked up at a yard sale for a quarter. I had an F-style at the time, so the wrist loop slid over the scroll, and the other end where the buckle was, I cut that off and bent an inch of the strap back and superglued it, fit a piece of insulated wire through the gap, and wound that around the tailpin. I missed losing that when the mandolin was stolen. :( This would work if you ever get an F model. Otherwise ... :confused:

Americans are fat...thus we have long strap material in the thrift shops...LOL

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Yep....hang from those high bars and presto, all the short shrinkage over the years reappears!