Sully's Instrument Straps
Hangin’ around fine musicians everywhere
Last Updated on 2/21/2012. Happy Birthday Sis!
About My Vintage Straps
Sully's vintage straps are handcrafted from cleaned and reconditioned select old/vintage leather.
Each instrument strap is a unique creation and inherently different from every other one. The leather could have distress marks, indentations, surface cracking and other blemishes naturally acquired over the years.
These straps are made for daily use and each shoulder piece is lined with new suede leather.
I will custom fit and finish each strap to the length and attachment points given by the buyer.
Most mandolin straps would work for a small guitar or open-back banjo if you like a small shoulder piece.
Most guitar straps would work for a heavy five-string banjo.
To purchase a strap,
email me and we’ll chat.
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Good vintage leather takes time to locate, and I’m always looking. I try to have 8 straps available but don’t always succeed.
Sully's Hats & T-Shirts
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Vintage Instrument Straps: Page 1
Although I've had no reported problems from my vintage straps, some of the vintage leather that I use may have been originally dyed and I recommend that the straps not be left in contact with the finish when the instrument is being stored. But I do it all the time and never had an issue.
Guitar/Banjo #581 $185 plus shipping
A nice guitar might prefer this addition as much as abalone and fossilized walrus. The color is dark brown. It’s a hefty, full size strap and would prefer a big shoulder and a full size guitar or heavy Mastertone style banjo.
The shoulder piece is 11 1/2" long and 1 click shy of 3” wide. The leather is thick and putty soft, check free, and has some slight surface wrinkling present. There are a couple of very small dings and a short surface scratch that are noticeable only by a close inspection. I replaced the original edge stitching with artificial sinew, hand sewn into the existing needle holes. There was plenty of real estate for me to add the two rows of oiled leather buck stitching along each side and the lighter color makes a pretty contrast on the dark brown leather. The buck stitching was worked thru hand punched diagonal slits which not only looks nice but helps make the already supple leather even more flexible. Including the suede leather lining on the bottom there’s 1/4" of thickness.
The old western rein strap paired with the shoulder piece is 9/16" wide and very nice quality leather with a disposition, color, and character that matches the shoulder piece well. The leather is very soft and supple and I skived the thickness just slightly to level things out leaving a substantial feeling strap which works just right with the heavy duty shoulder piece. The strap fits tight enough in the carefully cut and shaped strap slots to keep the shoulder piece in place once it’s adjusted for position.
A beautiful strap made from beautiful vintage leather that would bring out the best in an older instrument. Although it looks obviously well aged, it is not overly distressed looking and personally I’d have no reservations at all about hangin’ a newer instrument from it.
Guitar/Banjo #579 (with thanks to MK)$135 plus shipping SOLD
Like most of the older English reins I come across, this one is short. With adjustable attachment points on the front and back the maximum total length I could finish it would be about 47”. If this requirement doesn’t eliminate you and your instrument you might want to check this one out. It’s an absolute peach of a strap perfectly sized for a small guitar or open back banjo.The shoulder piece is made from a thick and butter soft piece of used but not abused vintage leather of noticeably fine quality. At 11” long and 1 3/4” wide it would do fine on most any guitar or banjo but aesthetically would probably prefer something smaller than a dread or heavy, tone ringed banjo. The medium brown leather is lightly distressed and will form to your shoulder as if it were made of soft putty. I added the artificial sinew edge stitching, hand sewn into hand punched needle holes, which sets off the appearance and draws a little attention to the original hand dressed edges. There’s no checking at all present nor any battle scars worth mentioning.
The hand laced English rein is made from high quality English leather and has been broken in quite soft and supple. The darker brown leather strap is a beautiful contrast to the lighter brown shoulder piece and the lighter brown lacing has developed a color and character that matches the shoulder piece just ducky. The 5/8” wide rein fits tight into the carefully cut and shaped strap slots and, once adjusted for position, the shoulder piece will stay where you put it. Once custom finished for length and attachment points some of the hand lacing will be in front of the shoulder piece and some behind it.
The photo does a fair job showing how nice this one looks. But until you hold it in your hands you can’t imagine how good it feels.
Mandolin #144 $85 plus shipping
This comfortable and rugged looking mandolin strap is made from two matching pieces of dark oil vintage harness leather, well broken in and very soft and supple.The shoulder piece measures 8” long and 1 1/2" wide. The leather is excellent quality stuff and fairly thick without at all feeling too bulky for a small instrument. It's a section I cut from a longer saddle strap most of which had aged to a condition that was unusable for just about anything but this part cleaned up and reconditioned really nice. It’s very flexible, has a wonderful, pleasant vintage character, and the leather is rock solid and will last a lifetime.
The western rein strap passing thru the carefully cut and shaped strap slots on the shoulder piece is only 3/8" wide and I skived the thickness to just under 1/8” and it will aesthetically handle anything in the mandolin family and would do an equally fine job on a uke or parlor guitar. Strength-wise it'd hold muh banjer no problum. I added the detail of the strap guide, made from a skived section of the rein, to compliment the plain and simple handmade look of the shoulder piece. The strap fits tight and snug into both the guide and the strap slots and it will not slide thru the shoulder piece once it’s properly adjusted for position. Already formed on one end is a headstock or scroll loop which has been thinned a bit more to pass thru a tight scroll opening or neatly slide around the headstock. The other end will get a sewed on standard button tab at the buyers specified length for a clean looking perfect custom fit.
If you’ve not yet honed in on an exact strap length you may want to shy away from this one. Otherwise, measure carefully. This will probably be the last mandolin strap you’ll ever have to buy.
| Vintage Strap Links:
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