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Topic: Reso Strap (Squareneck) |
Rick Langdon
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 28 Nov 2012 11:47 am |
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Any recommendations? Something that works well and reasonably priced. Nothing fancy. Will need to start playing standing up (shoot, I am just getting good enough to play sitting down ...  )
_________________
-- Rick
Featured demo (played on Appalachian Reso): https://soundcloud.com/rick-langdon/als-workshop
-- Play on!! |
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 28 Nov 2012 11:58 am
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I snipped this from a previous thread. You can probably find other similar posts in a search.
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Michael Maddex
From:
Northern New Mexico, USA
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Posted 28 Nov 2012 2:44 pm
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Rick, you do not need a special strap designed for Dobro®. These are nice and usually very expensive. You could get a regular cheap long nylon strap (which you may already own) like this:
 http://www.elderly.com/accessories/items/PWSL-BLK.htm
and a quick release connector for the headstock like this:
 http://www.elderly.com/accessories/items/DGS15.htm
and you could be in the stand up reso business for about $10 not counting postage. Of course, vendors other than Elderly will carry these items. YMMV. HTH.
_________________
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert." -- Arthur C. Clarke |
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Dave Thier
From:
Fairhope, Alabama, USA
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David Venzke
From:
SE Michigan, USA
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Posted 28 Nov 2012 7:43 pm
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I can recommend the dobro straps from Levy's Leathers. I have two Levy's Leathers straps (black) and a pair of strap locks (I think they're Wilkinson's). At this point, they're all basically new and I'd consider selling one strap and a strap lock to a fellow reso player.
The Levy's is a PM1: Levy's Dobro Strap
The nice thing about a strap like this is it is designed wider (2.5") where it goes over your shoulder which is more comfortable than a narrower strap. Also good quality leather is just more comfortable in general.
Send me a PM or email if you're interested in one of the Levy's and a strap lock. |
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Kevin Lichtsinn
From:
Minnesota, USA
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Posted 29 Nov 2012 6:00 am
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| I got the softest leather strap I could find. A nylon strap will slip and your dobro will be unstable. I use a quick disconnect up on the headstock (Planet Waves makes them)and for a few cents you can use a rubber faucet washer on the other end. Go to resohangout.com for threads on this. |
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Peter Jacobs
From:
Northern Virginia
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Posted 29 Nov 2012 6:51 am
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What Kevin said -- I use a 2 1/2" soft leather guitar strap with a Planet Waves quick-connect. Resos don't weigh much (compared to a banjo), so no nee for anything exotic. Also, I like being able to completely remove the strap -- some straps designed for resos require you to tie a loop around the headstock.
_________________
Peter
---------
www.splinterville.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@splinterville6278/videos |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 29 Nov 2012 7:31 am
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I know you mentioned cost- but I have to step in here with an unqualified recommendation for Bobby Poff straps.
I've used a standard strap with a clip-lock as Michael posts, works well. Also liked the Webb straps very much... but I really wish I'd gotten a Poff strap years before I did. Expensive at around $275 (! I know!) but beautifully made with a swivel connector at just the right place in the lower part of the strap that makes it fit the weird twist-over-your-arm thing you have to do for stability- and the result is a rock solid stability to the stand-up position. I mean solid like playing it sitting on a table. The swivel is the trick, and man, it really works.
I balked at the cost, but sure 'got it" once I had one. Kind of like buying a Telonics volume pedal!
_________________
Stop by the Steel Store at: www.markvanallen.com
www.musicfarmstudio.com |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 29 Nov 2012 9:07 am
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| Mark van Allen wrote: |
I know you mentioned cost- but I have to step in here with an unqualified recommendation for Bobby Poff straps...
I balked at the cost, but sure 'got it" once I had one. |
You can actually get a Poff strap at Elderly for $225. Mine is a lot fancier than the basic model in terms of decoration, and if I can figure out how to put up a photo here I'll try later. For standup playing, which is what I'm doing most of the time whenever I'm not playing at home, my Poff strap has become almost as important as the guitar itself. You really need to have a sense of stability when playing a dobro standing up. It's not like a flattop guitar, electric guitar, or banjo, that are just sort of hanging there with a large surface area resting against your body.
I received my Poff strap from Bobby in 2007, and compared to the Folk of the Wood dobro strap I used for several years prior, it's like night and day. And the Folk strap is even dobro-specific. For those of you that have played a fair amount of baseball, a Poff strap compared to a flimsy inexpensive strap is like the difference between using a Major League quality ball glove vs. some entry level thing you get on-the-cheap at K-Mart. When that hot grounder comes screaming toward you at shortstop, you just don't have the confidence that you're going to nail it with the K-Mart glove. Yeah, they're both ball gloves, but that's where the similarity ends between the K-Mart job and the pro model.
A minimum of $225 is a lot to swallow for a dobro strap, particularly when you're just starting out. But after you've played standing up for awhile hopefully you'll be in a situation where you can try someone's dobro hooked up with an R.Poffmaker strap for a few minutes then like Mark V, you'll say "oh yeah...now I get it."
Another high end alternative, but from what I understand at a considerably lower cost than Bobby Poff's straps are from Martin Gross of Germany. Martin is an outstanding dobro player along with being a great leather worker (and he has even designed his own dobro capo). I know a number of pickers that would put Martin's straps up against Bobby's and some even prefer them.
Check out Martin's website, when you get there click on "straps" under "Quick Links:" http://www.martingross.com/
At the very least, as others have recommended, in the $50 to $60 range you can get a Levy's or Webb dobro-specific strap. I don't know if he's still using them, but for years Rob Ickes has been a Webb guy. If it's good enough for Rob then it's gotta be pretty good.
_________________
Mark |
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Olli Haavisto
From:
Jarvenpaa,Finland
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 29 Nov 2012 11:47 am
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Olli, I have never seen that strap so I have no opinion of it, but what I have found in some straps over the years is that it's not just about the strap having some sort of material that keeps it from slipping, a lot of it is about the material being of a certain thickness and heft, and width across the shoulder, that gives one that dialed-in sense of stability. That's the great advantage of the Poff strap - it's beefy.
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Mark |
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Edward Meisse
From:
Santa Rosa, California, USA
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Posted 2 Dec 2012 4:51 pm
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I solved the problem by purchasing a stand. A forum member whose name currently escapes me makes some excellent ones.
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Amor vincit omnia |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 2 Dec 2012 6:17 pm
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Edward, I don't believe it's a problem per se to play with a strap, but there is a learning curve to playing standing up using one, albeit not that steep a curve IMO.
Variety is the spice of life and if one prefers a stand more power to you. But once you have the program dialed in, it's fun to play standing up with a strap.
Hey - if you your schedule allows, you should come to the Rob Ickes/Jim Hurst show on Dec. 14 in Sebastopol. You'll love it. And Rob will be playing standing up with a strap the entire time!
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Mark |
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Guy Cundell
From:
More idle ramblings from South Australia
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Posted 2 Dec 2012 7:09 pm
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"Call that a reso strap?.... This is a reso strap." (Croc Dundee reference)
While your leather strap may have been out contentedly munching grass in a meadow at some point, this one was eating water fowl and fish and talking down an occasional wild pig.
Actually, no. It is a farmed croc skin that I got in Broom, Western Australia. I had an upholsterer put the loop and the quick release on.
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 2 Dec 2012 8:18 pm
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That is a serious strap! 
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Mark |
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Rick Langdon
From:
North Carolina, USA
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Posted 3 Dec 2012 7:48 am
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| Mark Eaton wrote: |
| That is a serious strap! |
You ain't lying and the stories you could make up to tell on stage ...
_________________
-- Rick
Featured demo (played on Appalachian Reso): https://soundcloud.com/rick-langdon/als-workshop
-- Play on!! |
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Greg Booth
From:
Anchorage, AK, USA
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 3 Dec 2012 9:36 am
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It's getting cold in Anchorage...Greg has kicked into "winter quip mode." 
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Mark |
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Paddy Long
From:
Christchurch, New Zealand
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Posted 3 Dec 2012 2:35 pm
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Mark does Mr Poff have a website at all ??
_________________
14'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
08'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
94' Franklin Stereo D10 9+8
Telonics, Peterson, Steelers Choice, Benado, Lexicon, Red Dirt Cases. |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 3 Dec 2012 7:04 pm
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Paddy, site address below, most recent update almost a year ago in early January:
http://www.rpoffmaker.com/
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Mark |
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Paddy Long
From:
Christchurch, New Zealand
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Posted 4 Dec 2012 12:00 pm
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Thanks mate
_________________
14'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
08'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
94' Franklin Stereo D10 9+8
Telonics, Peterson, Steelers Choice, Benado, Lexicon, Red Dirt Cases. |
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Paddy Long
From:
Christchurch, New Zealand
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Posted 6 Dec 2012 5:25 pm
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Actually ordered one from Elderlys - in black to match my Beard MA6 
_________________
14'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
08'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
94' Franklin Stereo D10 9+8
Telonics, Peterson, Steelers Choice, Benado, Lexicon, Red Dirt Cases. |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 7 Dec 2012 4:04 pm
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Great move Paddy. You'll love the strap!
You'll figure it out once you take it out the shipping box: you want to be very careful with the swivel and how it relates to your guitar when not in use. When you're removing the guitar and strap from your person to set it in a stand, that metal swivel is going to want to bang into the instrument.
The design works like a charm, but I'm very careful not to let it bang into my Clinesmith once it's off my shoulder.
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Mark |
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