ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Buying An Acoustic Guitar Strap

Updated on February 14, 2011

So you want to get a strap for your acoustic guitar, but with such a huge range to choose from, how do you know which is the best guitar strap for you? Here are some things to consider when buying a guitar strap.

Materials

Guitar straps are made from a variety of materials. The most common include:

Cotton - cotton straps are lightweight, and are probably the most comfortable to use, especially if you’re going to be playing for a long time. They’re available in a wide range of colours and designs.

Synthetic materials – many straps are also made of synthetic materials. These can be more durable than cotton.

Leather – a lot of people like leather straps. These are hard-wearing, but often more expensive than other types. Imitation leather guitar straps are also available, and are a good choice if you don’t want a bit of dead cow hanging on your shoulder. The choice of designs is a bit more limited with these straps.

If you want something a bit different than the average, you might want to get a custom guitar strap. These are available from many sites, and you can choose the design (your band logo, perhaps), colours etc. These are naturally more expensive than a standard strap, but having a strap that expresses your own personality, or which is a work of art in its own right, can be a nice touch.

Features

Many straps have padding, to increase comfort. This may be built into the strap, or take the form of a separate piece of material which sits on the shoulder, and through which the strap is threaded. Padding is important, because you want a strap that’s pleasant to use, not one that cuts into your shoulder.  Having said that, since acoustic guitars are lighter than electrics, a strap which feels uncomfortable with a heavy electric guitar might be fine when used with an acoustic.

Guitar straps should also be adjustable so you can get the right length to suit your playing position. Nearly all straps are adjustable, but not always in the same length range, so if you’re especially tall or short, this is something to be aware of.

You can also get straps with strap locks. These prevent the strap from coming off the peg on the body of your guitar and sending it falling to the floor – this can happen if the hole in the strap is too big or stretches over time, and is obviously something you don’t want! You can also get strap lock systems to fit to your guitar itself, so you can use ordinary straps more safely, but if you don’t want to mess with the hardware on your guitar, choosing a strap with a built-in strap lock is a good alternative.

Neotech Acoustic Guitar Strap

Source

Straps Specifically For Acoustic Guitars

Many straps aren’t made specifically for acoustics. These can be used for an acoustic guitar, but one thing to be aware of is that many of these straps are designed to fit onto guitars with strap pins at each end. Some acoustic guitars have these, but it’s common for acoustics to just have a pin at the base, and not at the heel of the guitar. So to use a strap like this on a guitar without the necessary pin, you’ll have to tie it (securely!) to the headstock.

Straps that are designed for acoustic guitars can have ties at one end, so you can do this easily.

Another option is to fit a second pin to the guitar, but this can be risky if you don’t know what you’re doing, as it’s easy to damage the guitar. If you’re not sure what you’re doing, have it done for you by a guitar repair person.

What if you have a nylon string acoustic guitar which has no strap pins at all? Most players of classical and flamenco guitar don’t use straps, since these musical styles are generally played sitting down. But there may be situations in which you want to play a nylon string acoustic standing up, in which case you’ll either need to get pins fitted to your instrument so it can take a normal strap, or use a special strap that doesn’t need them.

These classical guitar straps are similar to ukulele straps, and attach to the instrument at the sound hole, and to your body by a loop that goes around your neck. They look very different to ‘normal’ guitar straps, but are easy enough to use. They can be used for steel string acoustics too.

Where To Buy Acoustic Guitar Straps

You can get guitar straps in any music store (although guitar straps for acoustic guitars in particular can be harder to find) , but for the best selection and lowest prices, it’s worth looking online. Internet retailers typically have lower overheads than physical stores, and will often pass the savings on to you. Plus they don’t have the same space restrictions, so can often offer a wider range of straps to choose from.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)