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Cool Straps on the Cheap
A while back I bought a Levy's leather strap for $20+ and messed up the shoulder pad part while trying to modify it. I really wanted a strap like this but wasn't going to spend another $20 to get one. I went to a local shoe repair shop and bought a piece of scrap leather for $3. I cut it to match the messed up shoulder pad and was back in business. Then I got my Les Paul and wanted a cool tooled leather strap for it. Looking around the music stores, nothing I even vaguely liked was under $50. No way was I going to spend that much on a strap. I went to several local thrift stores off and on for a week or so looking for a good piece of leather. I ended up with a long belt made in Chile that had a nice pattern pressed into it, leather wrapped buckle, and which was 1.5 inches wide. It cost $1.95. I cut the belt roughly in half and punched holes for my strap buttons in the newly made ends. Then I bought a $4 piece of leather at the shoe repair shop and made a shoulder pad with cuts in either end to let the belt through. The strap looks awesome with the paul and I made it myself. All for about $6.  |