Chienmortbb Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 (edited) [quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1474019918' post='3134958'] A guitar playing pal of mine had a harness made, that sits on both shoulders and spreads the weight. He swears by it. They are available commercially, for example, [url="http://www.slingerstraps.com/harness-strap-guitar-strap.html."]http://www.slingerst...tar-strap.html.[/url] There's a Planet Waves version that's available in this country. May be worth a try. [/quote]I tried the Planet waves one but it seemed to put the bass on your hip not on your gut, meaning I was turning around to play. More stress on the back Sold it after 2 weeks. However I had a light weight soft leather (Rotosound) strap on my acoustic and I tried it on my bass. So much more comfortable that the Levys stop I had been using. I'm now considering ordering some leather and making a wider version. Edited October 24, 2016 by Chienmortbb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
number six Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Sadowsky neoprene strap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ixlramp Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 (edited) As long as the weight is on one shoulder there will always be some degree of problem no matter how wide or padded or well designed the strap, it's an unbalanced load on the body. When you spread the load on two shoulders you instantly half the stress on each, plus the benefit of a balanced load on the body. If you use the 'leather' ends/buckles from a 50mm strap, plus bulk raw material 50mm nylon webbing, several 50mm buckles and 2 wide shoulder pads you can experiment and make your own two-shoulder strap quite cheaply. Another problem is the astonishingly bad balance of almost all basses on a strap, with more weight on the top horn button, that tries to pull the strap forward over your shoulder, yet another stress. You can fix this by moving the rear button to the front and top of the body, much closer to the neck, this also helps by shifting the bass to the right to bring the nut closer, a position closer to that when playing sitting. To get equal pull on each end of the strap and true balance, the strap buttons need to be equal horizontal distance from the centre of mass, when the bass is at playing angle. The conventional locations, even if balanced when the bass is horizontal, cause a rapid increase in unbalance as you raise the angle of the instrument. The centre of mass shifts towards being under the top horn button. The best strap button placement i have seen is the one used by Warr Guitars and Touch Guitars: perfect balance from near-horizontal to near-vertical. [url="http://www.touchguitars.com/models-specs/u8/"]http://www.touchguit...odels-specs/u8/[/url] Essentially: 1. Back of lower horn. 2. Front of body at the top and roughly halfway along the length of the body. It's amazing how such bad bass design has been continued for 60 years and despite the obvious problems is still mostly unquestioned. Perhaps 'rock band culture' makes it 'uncool' to be ergonomic and healthy. Edited November 6, 2016 by ixlramp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hubrad Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 Yup, a well-balanced heavy bass can still be comfortable, while a badly-balanced lightweight bass will most likely still cause problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobthedog Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 On 13/05/2016 at 11:19, funkyjimbob said: Used the new Gruv Gear SoloStrap Neo 4" last night for an hour or so at jam night and have to say it's amazing. I didn't know I had the bass on. It's wider than the Comfort Strapp and is definitely more comfortable. I paid £55 total in the end from the US including Import duty and can safely say it's worth it. Holy dead thread resurrection Batman! I recently took onboard a Sire V7 Five, which I love, BUT.. It weights more than the Titanic (somewhere between 4.9kgs and 1billion metric tonnes). Having been a user of Comfort straps for years, which I love, I thought one of those will help. It did not, but due to my size. The buckle (even with the short end up front) rested on my collar bone. Ouch to the point I could only play the Sire for any length of time whilst sitting down. I then tried a Neotech Bass Strap, a similar problem. Note all straps were the super duper extra longs, the main issue being the neoprene part is too short. Finally after much tooing and froing with the US and customs, my GruvGear SoloStrap Neo 4" arrived this morning. Absolutely fantastic! Per funkyjimbob, I could only get this from the US and paid $104.74 ($67.99 plus $36.75 shipping) plus £21.38 customs (incl Royal Mail £8 handling charge) which is far too much money but appears to have solved the problem. The neoprene bit comes right down to the front of the bass and, for this man, 4" is perfect. For those of you with a heavy bass and with spare cash to flush, this is a recommended route. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 (edited) Anyone know what strap Mark is using in this thread? Looks super comfortable! @Bobthedog have you got a v1 or v2 Sire? The v2 V7 and P7 seemed to have shaved a bit of weight which makes them much more comfortable to wear. My P7v2 5er is a svelte 4.4 kg. Edited July 4, 2020 by Al Krow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobthedog Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Al Krow said: have you got a v1 or v2 Sire? The v2 V7 and P7 seemed to have shaved a bit of weight which makes them much more comfortable to wear. My P7v2 5er is a svelte 4.4 kg. It is a V2 Alder body and is the heaviest bass I have ever owned. I did just weight it before posting, so pretty sure the 4.9kgs is correct. To the point I was getting close to thinking of moving it on. It is beautifully built and plays well, unbelievably so for £450, however. I almost have to stop the Dingwall floating away in comparison. Edited July 4, 2020 by Bobthedog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 1 minute ago, Bobthedog said: It is a V2 Alder body and is the heaviest bass I have ever owned. I did just weight it before posting, so pretty sure the 4.9kgs is correct. To the point I was getting close to thinking of moving it on. It is beautifully built and plays well, unbelievably so for £450, however. I almost have to stop the Dingwall floating away in comparison. Ah ok - mine is the P7 version of the very same bass - and I have to agree with all the positive comments about the bass. Sounds like yours is at the heavier end or vice versa with mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted August 1, 2020 Share Posted August 1, 2020 @ead - if you check my YT clip a few posts back, you'll see the strap I was referring to. Looks VERY comfortable. I should probably see if I can get Mark to tell me - as no one from the forum seems to know! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted August 1, 2020 Share Posted August 1, 2020 @Al Krow Did you check Richter straps as they make very large and comfortable ones ? I have a Springbreak III which is 11cm wide and well padded ! And it's made in Germany. https://www.richterstraps.com/screen/page/springbreak3-nappa 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 12 hours ago, Hellzero said: @Al Krow Did you check Richter straps as they make very large and comfortable ones ? I have a Springbreak III which is 11cm wide and well padded ! And it's made in Germany. https://www.richterstraps.com/screen/page/springbreak3-nappa Cheers for that @Hellzero - it does seem that the strap width is the key! The Richter does look great and 4.3" / 11cm as you mention, but looking like £100 inc P&P Mark from Talking Bass came back to me and he's using a Levy 4.5" (around £75 inc P&P) and several Minotour 4.1" / 10.5 cm (around £45+ inc P&P) which he also recommends highly and are a bit more affordable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 (edited) I was about to write to check Levy's straps too @Al Krow. I had one that I bought at the Musik Messe in Frankfurt at the Levy boot many moons ago. A great strap too that lasted around 10 years of quite intensive playing, rehearsing and touring (before falling in pieces). So if they are cheaper, go on, buy one. I still have what looks like an indestructible strap too, but not sold anymore : the Gerald Reese SlapStrap. I also tried the Gruv Gear DuoStrap as used by Damian Erskine, but didn't like having the bass just under my chin (I'm 1,82m with large shoulders and the usual vintage belly 😁 ). There was a SlapStrap for sale a while ago here : Edited August 2, 2020 by Hellzero Spelling 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 Interesting about the Gruv Gear Duo. I couldn’t get comfortable with that at all, either, despite my best efforts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Bay Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 I have a few from Hypnotic straps in Poland, very reasonably priced and superb quality and comfort. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 On 04/07/2020 at 16:48, Al Krow said: Anyone know what strap Mark is using in this thread? Looks super comfortable! @Bobthedog have you got a v1 or v2 Sire? The v2 V7 and P7 seemed to have shaved a bit of weight which makes them much more comfortable to wear. My P7v2 5er is a svelte 4.4 kg. Late reply, but it really looks like a Minotaur straps, the square logo is very close. I do have 2 of those and also 2 of the Harvest Leather straps, both very high quality. The Harvest are my favorite, slightly more expensive than the Minotaur but very very good quality leather & manufacturing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 17 minutes ago, Sven said: Late reply, but it really looks like a Minotaur straps, the square logo is very close. I do have 2 of those and also 2 of the Harvest Leather straps, both very high quality. The Harvest are my favorite, slightly more expensive than the Minotaur but very very good quality leather & manufacturing. Thanks - that would tie in completely with what Mark responded to me. (His other strap being a Levy). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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