Have finished the first four retail examples, all using vintage belts, think they work very well with the existing patterns...
From left:
* Vintage steerhead-embossed belt w/amber jewels, bullet spots and nickel spots.
* Vintage tooled and dyed belt w/amber jewels & nickel spots.
* Vintage embossed belt w/green jewels, 'suit of cards' cutouts & yellow flatback jewels, vintage bullet spots and nickel spots.
* Vintage basketweave belt w/red jewels, vintage bullet spots and nickel spots.
Badger, that is some lovely work. Consider this here Gretsch fanatic very interested in a guitar strap. Maybe a belt too. Got any pics of your straps?
I wonder if any of our resident belt makers could do something like this?
I found this pic on Facebook and I really like the looks of this. More "tough" than flashy in my opinion.
If I supplied the shoes, could one of you guys do something like this?
Hey chief, sorry for the late reply! Is that a Ricky 340F I see as your profile image?
Just awaiting a large shipment of jewels, studs & cutouts from the US, then the good peeps at Regent Sounds on Denmark St will be sending down 'plain' black and brown 1" wide 50s-style leather straps, the type with the moveable 'sheepskin' shoulder pad, for me to embellish... my own Fender 'skinny' strap was a trial run a while ago, here's a pic:
The 'production' versions will have more embellishments in one of two main patterns up the 'front' of the strap: a 'run' of either the 'suit of cards' cutouts interspersed with three-in-line studs, or jewels & three-in-line studs – anything more would be overkill and prolly scratch yer guit fiddle! As with the pic above, there'll be stud / jewel / stud arrangements on the shoulder pad and the 'tail' of the strap, to match the strap colour / cutouts / other jewels, and catch the stage lights real nice... they'll retail for £50, which I think is pretty good value!
You can see the 'suit of cards' cutouts on these belts:
'Like' my Facebook page and you'll be kept up to date with when the straps are available...
On another happy note, my first endorsee, Jim Jones (The Jim Jones Revue) has been wearing his custom-made belt on stage, and very good it looks too!
In addition to the straps, I've also gotta make three more batches of belts, wallets & wristbands for a trio of new stockists: Regent Sounds (belts), Red Rooster Vintage (belts, they'll be at Twinwood this year) and, most excitingly, Born Bad Retro Clothing in Paris (belts, wallets & wristbands)!
No probs, when you spot on the FB page that the 'blank' straps have actually arrived, decide whether you want red or amber backing in the cutouts (red is a nice contrast with a russet strap), and the colour of the jewels (red, amber, green or blue) and lemme know via FB message... the straps are good quality, and unbranded...
*Admin: apologies about going slightly OT but we ARE talking guitar straps here!* I play a 370/12, tho' sadly it doesn't get much of an airing these days!
As to the Tele, it's a Japanese v-neck model that's about 15 years old. I aged it (with help from a luthier friend), put new pickups in (Nocaster bridge & US standard neck) and had it re-decal-ed as a 'double Esquire' – ultra lightweight, really resonant and a great neck... and far cheaper than a leftie Nocaster! By the time I'd spiffed up my Champ and made a speaker cab for it out of an old 40s radio cabinet, I needed to get a jewelled & studded strap together!
Spent most of last week on 'belt business', making display hangers for new stockists and putting another selection together for my friends at Cock-a-Doodle Vintage to take to the Twinwood festival and the Hemsby Rock & Roll Weekender:
I also started on the next batch, sorting / conditioning/ repairing / shortening belts for Born Bad Retro Clothing in Paris – we're going over for a long weekend in September, and I'll also be DJing once again at Le Tiki Bar!
And while waiting for some building supplies to be delivered (grrrr, three hours late!), I decided to teach myself how to stud lettering:
Still chasing the guitar straps, Fly Boy, will let you know when they come thru!
