The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm having a problem keeping the headstock end of my dobro steady when playing while standing up. Right now I'm just using
a guitar strap with a shoestring tied to the headstock for a strap. Will a wider strap, with a wider/heavier strap around the headstock help with this? If so, what is a good leather strap ya'll could recomend, and I don't mean the one that Elderly has for $140
Can I buy a good strap for under $50?
BTW- I'm enjoying this dobro playing, even more than I thought
I would

Terry

Terry:

I also am a beginner with the resonator. Here is a link to a website where I bought my strap. I am happy with this strap and especially the price.

Here's the link:

http://www.dcmusicstore.com/Guitar-Dobro-strap-PM1

Hope this helps!

Bruce

I've been using a strap from Long Hollow Leather with good results - reasonably priced too:

http://www.longhollowleather.com/

Hi Terry,
I like these.

Beard strap.

Terry, I just bought a really nice all leather Dobro strap from "Sulleys Straps" from Pat Sullivan's web site. They are under $50.00 and are first class. No buckles or other hardware to mark your guitar. He is great to deal with and will make the strap to the length you want with room for adjustment. Mine was shipped about two days after I ordered it. George

Terry, Should have read: Sully's Straps.

A thicker strap might help a little, but you gotta keep the dobro steady with either one of your hands or a finger or two. Seems to depend on what style you play. A lot of bluegrassers can anchor the right hand on the cover plate because they use the left for muting. Those of us who mute with the right hand use the extra fingers of the bar hand on the nut or where ever possible.

Terry Sneed wrote:I'm having a problem keeping the headstock end of my dobro steady when playing while standing up...
Terry

Dobro playing, to me, requires the very best of straps because it is doggone difficult to play the beast when it's bucking around. There is one strapmaker who makes the very best of straps and I would not play my dobro live without one of his straps. Yes, they are expensive but so is your instrument and the strap is arguably a large part of your instrument. Bobby Poff makes the best dobro straps bar none. I've used almost every variation known to man and his straps make all the difference in the world.

http://www.rpoffmaker.com/

I would not play a live gig with a dobro without one of his straps. Honestly.

Al

How are you holding it with the strap? I always thought you put your right arm over top of the strap then around the outside and under so the strap has a half twist around your right arm.
That seems to hold it in position for me.

Larry that's exactly what I do with my right arm, and it helps with the cone end of the dobro. But it's the other end at the keyhead that's trying to move around. I'll try a bigger strap, and I've been tinkering with trying to hold my pinky against the nut, or close to it as possible to help hold it more steady when playing.
Thanks to all.

Terry

I can't say that I have tried that many, and I have been using a Folk of the Wood dobro strap for the past few years, and though it isn't bad-it still kind've shifts around.

The state-of-the art strap nowadays is the Bobby Poff strap, and I have one which is on the way as a late Christmas present, should arrive any day.

The trouble with some of the dobro straps that I have tried, is that even with your right arm as an "anchor," they still shift around.

Bobby's straps simply stay put. It's one less thing to think about while you are playing. There is a reason that the top pros are using them. These straps seem to be in a class of their own.

I ain't much help, i can't play anything, or sing for that matter standing up..i loose my balance, and have just about gone over many times. My arthritis is so bad, i can't hardly stand right now. But i can sure relate to the problems you guys have with standing up playing dobro. I might suggest you take a long look at the iolder players, some even deceast like brother oswald and see how he held his dobro. And how cousin Jody could stand up and play that steel with just a rope is mind boggling.....George

I have good luck just using an old , wide, rough worn leather belt with heavy boot shoe strings on the ends. Holds my old National metal Duolian in place O K !! No slippage !! And I loved the old sounds of Brother Oswald and Cousin Jody !! (& doesn't cost anything !!)

If you're playing bluegrass, your lefthand ring & pinky fingers (maybe middle too) would usually be trailing the bar as a "default mute" (Rob Ickes, Stacy Phillips DVDs, VHS', and SP's books) and headstock-subduer. Combine them with a light bar touch (one often _wants_ a little rattle in the sound), as much economy-of-bar-motion as possible, and the half-twist w/ right arm noted above, and a strap that doesn't slither around on your shoulders, (puff, puff, puff) ...for me, these go a long way to tame the headstock.

My strap is homebrewed from that classic Fender-style two-piece 2" leather guitar strap with the 2nd (1" wide) piece replaced by some 1" nylon webbing from the hardware store threaded in where the 2nd piece went, with a plastic quick-disconnect to fit the webbing at the bitter end. Adjusting buckles came with the disconnect, for length adjustment. The free half of the disconnect laces on to the headstock w/ soft shoelace.

The strap is rough leather on one side -- hangs right onto my shirt. I don't get along with cloth straps because they slither around. I trimmed away some of the leather width at the other end to make the half-twist more comfortable. HTH, Chris

If you nailed the strap to your shoulder the peg head would still move if your shoulder moves. You will have to learn to not dance while playing!

Robro Ron

The Beard strap is the best one I've found. At the peg head there is a loop the strap fits through. The more pressure you apply the neck to the guitar , the tighter the pressure the strap applies to the head stock. In addition , there is a strap lock loop at the tail piece end to keep the strap from coming off the end pin. The guitar , for me at least, remains very stable when played standing up. There is also a release in the center of the strap if it needs to be seperated in the case.

John

It sounds like you may some other problem than just a strap. My first Dobro had a fishing cord for a strap - one end tied around the headstock, other around end pin. Never had any of the problems you mention.

Try different lengths of strap, the height for your wrists should be close to what you have with your pedal steel. Try holding the guitar firmer with your right hand and arm so it will not tip. You can experiment by playing open string runs / rolls while letting your left arm dangle at your side. Try to do this until you can play without the guitar tipping. The left hand is for playing the holding the bar and playing, NOT holding the guitar.

Thanx,
Jim

I've never had that problem and I use a cheap 2" wide nylon strap. On the headstock end I use that little quick-detachable thingie (Planet Waves) which only has a 1/2" or less nylon strap going around the headstock. I think anchoring the instrument with the right hand through the strap does the trick for me.

Good luck!
Dave

I've been using a strap from Long Hollow Leather with good results - reasonably priced too

Mike, I bought myself a strap from Long Hollow and I like it a lot! It's a leather, 3" wide with a silver cross sewed into one end. Very nice lookin strap, and don't shift around to bad. under $50 to.
As far as the problem with holding my dobro steady, I bought myself a folding stool around 3' high. It's a lot easier to play sitting on the stool than trying to stand up and play. Besides, I can't stand up very long anyhow because of my aching back.

Terry

No, you can't buy a good dobro strap for under $50. You get what you pay for. If you haven't used a Bobby Poff strap for dobro you don't know what you are missing. NO shifting, an absolutely stable playing surface. His newest strap uses a swivel to connect the beavertail end pin strap to the main body of the strap, you no longer need to twist the strap when connecting it to the end pin of your dobro. You simply forget you are wearing a strap and just play. What is that worth to you? Add a Schaller straplock and you have true state of the art. Sure, they are pricey, but it's a lifetime purchase: you can pay $175 for a plain leather strap or over $1000 for one of his highly decorated 'green dragon' straps. Every pro player I can think of owns at least one of Bobby's straps, they are that good.

http://www.rpoffmaker.com/

Having trouble playing a Dobro standing up? Adapt! Someone brought up Cousin Jody and how about Josh Graves when Flatt & Scruggs used one mic? I'm old enough to remember him from that era. I can remember seeing him do two string slants way up by the string nut with the cone lifted up to the mic, Josh standing right up on his tiptoes. Try that for fun! Plus they were all bobbing and weaving around the mic. Josh never missed a note. Yes, times and equipment have changed but if it could be done then it can be done today. Adapt!

Chris Morrison wrote:If you're playing bluegrass, your lefthand ring & pinky fingers (maybe middle too) would usually be trailing the bar as a "default mute" (Rob Ickes, Stacy Phillips DVDs, VHS', and SP's books) and headstock-subduer. HTH, Chris

It seems to me that it doesn't really matter what kind of music you are playing, those are always good techniques to employ...

I've had my strap from Bobby Poff of Wyoming for several months now, and as Michael Hardee wrote, if you haven't tried a Poff strap - then you don't know what you are missing!

The whole playing standing thing is like many other aspects of improving oneself on a musical instrument. If one stays diligent in their practice, the improvement will come.

Practice using at least a respectable quality strap, standing up, and after awhile you won't think twice about it.

Josh Graves and Cousin Jody from an historical aspect aside, there are still a number of groups whom practice the "one microphone" look, and utilize the choreography of moving back and forth from the mike for solos. Always fun to watch.

Good post Mark! You're much more the diplomat than I! It IS fun to watch a one mic presentation. But it's a bear to learn. I know from experience. As much as I like to watch it I hated learning to do it! It's difficult to get everybody to park their ego!