Karl Derrick

Discreet,

Can you give me your button-to-button strap length?

Might as well work to a 'real' strap size


Karl

I don't think it's bad when you consider there's 10 hours of hand stitching alone.
That's me sitting hunched over with two harness needles sewing it one stitch at a time.

Buy another?

Nah, all my stuff will outlive me

Karl

Well, they're laid out and cut with a knife, lined with 1mm thick suede, glued together, stitched around the edge, then they are edged, stained and burnished. Then waxed and burnished. Take a long day each to make.
There's about £35.00 to £40.00 in material and fittings for each strap.

Going to be around £135.00 to £145.00 each, plus postage.

Karl

They'll be hand made and finished, but new.
I can age and weather them on a custom basis, for an additional fee.
I do this kind of work a lot for film and TV work.

I'm working out strap pricing at the moment.
There's a lot of top quality material here, over two square feet of leather in the main strap section, plus more than a full day's hand stitching for each strap.
Since the strap is lined, the entire perimeter has to be stitched so the lining and strap don't come apart.


Karl

Meanwhile back in Strapland....



I've been working on the tail retention method.

As I've said, I really don't like removing a load of material from the strap in the form of parallel horizontal slots. I've never liked this 'standard' strap attachment method.

On some of my heavy duty shoulder bags, I use Durable Dot snaps to attach the shoulder straps.
These are not to be confused with the cheap, tinny snaps found on budget leather items. These are NATO spec military fasteners used on cars and boats to hold the rain covers on.


There are two on the bottom of this closure flap. They are very strong.

I wanted to check how much load they'd handle, so I attached a couple to a leather strap and hung my entire 13 Stone weight off it from a tree branch. Finally got bored waiting for the snaps to fail and came in for tea.

I think they'll hold a bass

[attachment=168946:fatmaxbacksmall.jpg]


Karl

I'll put up an official interest thread in the classified section when we have all the details worked out.
But I'll count you among the interested for the present

I'll make the strap to the measurement provided by the client, so long or short is a bit philosophical

There will be no width options, as adjusting any of the measurements has a knock-on effect on all the others, proportions, etc.
Suffice to say, the strap is 5" wide at the widest point.

I'm attempting to make the most comfortable bass strap possible


Karl

Ok, you're on the list

Yes, a standard design.
It will be available in Brown or Black leather,
left or right hand versions,
made to the length specified by the client, with a few inches wiggle room for fine adjustment.

I need to work on the strap fastening method for the tail end.
Don't like them horizontal slots


Karl

Discreet,

I really appreciate the vote of confidence in the strap project. Thank you.



If you'll bear with me, I'd like to get the details nailed down first.
Just to make sure we get things right.

So, I'd like to go ahead with a full prototype of the strap and test it first.

You're at the very top of the 'Interested' list

When these are ordered, I'll need people to send the actual measurement of the strap they want, from one button, around the body, to the other button with the bass in the desired playing position.

A simple measurement, button to button, of the strap they currently use would be ideal.

I'll use this as the middle of the adjustment range. I expect the strap will be able to adjust several inches in either direction to allow for different clothing thickness and fluctuation weight, etc.

How does this sound?



Karl

Thanks you guys.


Karl

The specific shape evolving is dictated by the need to translate a 2D shape to fit a 3D object, you

The curved shape of the strap wraps your body. It hugs you very close, causing all the weight of the bass to be distributed as evenly as possible.
This, combined with the soft leather the strap will be made from, should alleviate the need for any padding at all.
In fact padding will increase the point loading and make the strap less comfortable, not more


Karl

I think that if we're going to take an animal's life,
it's only right that we shouldn't waste any of its body.


Karl

Leather is a by-product of the meat industry.
They kill cows for beef, and the skins would just be discarded if they weren't used to make leather.

I respect others' choices, though.
To each his own.




Karl

Thank you very much. Appreciate the help.



Karl

So, here we are with a rough mockup of the ergonomic strap.

As laid out, it's about 125cm button to button.

The tail section is adjustable in and out, but you can see the range is limited because of the curve of the main section.

Please bear in mind this is really rough 'Suitcase' leather, and is just a mockup to show proof of concept.

[attachment=168879:mockup.jpg]



Karl

Natural, undyed Oak tanned leather is a boring kind of beige/mushroom colour. I buy them through-dyed from the tannery.
These are dyed a lovely mid tan.


Karl

Thanks very much, very useful info.

One more thing, if I may.
The make and model of your bass, and the distance between the front and back strap buttons, the length of the body.

I appreciate the help!



Karl

As I've said right from the word go, each strap cannot be patterned to order for each indiviudual player.
There has to be a 'standard' front end with an adjustable length tail.

When you buy an off the shelf strap, say a 'cobra hood' type, there will be a fixed distance between the strap mount hole and the ideal position of the top of the shoulder.

Karl

Something else that's becoming increasingly obvious is that, as a contoured strap, it cannot possibly have a range of adjustment of 50cm

I think that, as the strap is curved along its length to fit the player's body, the straps will need to be ordered in a 'size'. There will be an adjustment range in the given size but it can't be all things to all people, and the curve dictates a finite length to the adjustment tail.

I've mocked up the shape of the strap in cheap, rough 'suitcase' leather and it's extremely comfortable.


Karl

Working out some ideas now.

Rather than have a separate 'pad' which slides up and down a long strap (which doesn't stop the slippage issue anyway), I'm working on the premise that the strap will be adjustable for length at the rear end only. Like your standard 'Cobra' type strap.

Can someone please supply me a meaurement from the front strap mounting point to the top of the left shoulder (assuming a right handed player).

Many thanks,


Karl

Some good idea, thank you.

At the end of the day, it's a strap. Its form must to a greater extent be dictated by its function.

Past experience has shown that unless I ask 500 people what they want, the survey sample is ususally too small to be significant enough to base design decisions on.

I think best thing would be to make one and see if you guys like it.




Karl

Oh, Skin-Jobs are not for sale

Those are really good ideas, thank you.

I'll make the prototype available for playing with. I don't know how many people I could get it to.....

The hitch: If everyone I meet wants something different in a strap, I'll never be able to satisfy everyone. I'll need to settle on a design which appeals to the broadest market, otherwise every strap will need to be patterned from scratch. I couldn't charge enough to make it worthwhile.

The goal here is to design a broad appeal strap, pattern and prototype it, then make them all the same. There will be variations available in colour and size of course, but the pattern will be the same.

Having said that, of course I'm up for individual strap projects. But, if you bear in mind that designing, patterning and hand making an individual strap might take a couple of days, it won't be £35.00

The goal with the 'ideal' strap project is to put a well thought out, practical, hand made leather strap into the hands of bass players for as reasonable a price as possible. Considering of course that I need to make a living




Karl

So here's an example of the soft leather I was talking about, lined with the 1mm suede and hand stitched.

All of my work is hand stitched, no sewing machines. I think it looks miles better (machine stitch has one good side, one bad side), is harder and longer wearing and is a traditional craft in need of sustaining. The sitiching is so much stronger there's no comparison.
Hand stitching, and the use of the best materials, is why I'll never be able to compete with factory produced straps on price. But as they always say, you get what you pay for

This is a contour strap on this bag. It follows the shape of the body, distributing the weight evenly. I can carry a shedload of heavy stuff all day and not get sore or tired.


[attachment=168754:contour.jpg]





Karl

Punching a few holes isn't a problem

Leather and slide buckles haven't been a success traditionally. Usually the leather is too thick for the slide and it doesn't move through the buckle when you want it to.

Here's a bag I made using the leather I'll make the straps from. Soft and very strong.
This design is based on a WW1 Officer's map case.

The belts are also my own design. I needed to come up with a comfortable equipment belt for use by film crews. the buckle is a Cobra-S tactical buckle.
I want to incorporate them in the bass strap design.

This kind of traditional but contemporary twist I love.

[attachment=168736:bestsmall.jpg]

[attachment=168737:MK2 Setbelt.jpg]

Sure will.

I'll have a play tomorrow and see what my brain will tell my hands to do



Karl

I try to take a holistic approach with my design work.
I'll get the function and features, then the final shape, then the pretty stuff.

I'll bear a quick adjustment feature in mind, but everyone will want a specific feature and every feature added drives up the price of each strap.

The final strap will be a reasonable compromise between quality/materials/labour/features and price.



Karl