Well I did it! Internal straplocks...

C

Casey

Guest
Well I took the plunge... My wife freaked when she saw the hole in my bass... But I took hand tools (not power tools because I dont own them) and I did yet another straplock mod (I did it to my previous bass) So far I'm almost done with the rear internal straplock and it's looking factory done. I'm using all hand tools, I have bits and a hand driver no power tools here. I have to finish sanding down area surrounding it and just finish it up then I have the upper horn to do that's going to be a bit harder :P

Seeing how my thumb is very curvy it was hard getting the whole straplock down and even with the body which I'm still working on but it's very very very close to being done and is taking quite a bit of time doing it all by hand with small bits and files and such... But I'll post pics as soon as I'm done :)

It's gunna be sweet! All you guys that have been doing these little mod guides of em have finally converted me over to the recessed straplocks :P
 
I like the look of the recessed locks but I dont wanna scratch my bass trying to fit my strap in the dark.Which strap locks are the safest do ya reckon Casey?I remember Lex & Malk both mentioned their starp locks have failed them on occasion & they dropped their basses.
 
thumperton said:
I like the look of the recessed locks but I dont wanna scratch my bass trying to fit my strap in the dark.Which strap locks are the safest do ya reckon Casey?I remember Lex & Malk both mentioned their starp locks have failed them on occasion & they dropped their basses.
Click to expand...

That sucks...
 
jay said:
thumperton said:
I like the look of the recessed locks but I dont wanna scratch my bass trying to fit my strap in the dark.Which strap locks are the safest do ya reckon Casey?I remember Lex & Malk both mentioned their starp locks have failed them on occasion & they dropped their basses.
Click to expand...

That sucks...
Click to expand...

I've owned 1993 streamer for about 7 years now, with recessed locks, and its yet to fail me.
 
yup, 3 times the first week... the shop swapped the strap-side of the straplocks with others they had in stock and luckily it never happened again :?
 
I'm using some dunlop dual design straplocks... Atleast thats what they called them a few years ago when I got em. They have worked great for me since I started playing bass (same pair to!) The outter part is a bit wider than the hole itself so scratching up your bass shouldnt be a problem.

I ran into a problem when setting mine up... The hole I made is a wee bit bigger than the straplock, The outter peice covers it up good but the part thats sitting in there wobbles a bit, I figure some wood filler/epoxy mix will fit that up pretty good, I dont plan on taking these off so it shouldnt be a problem and should be stronger than before :)

Plus it's going to look alot nicer... Really shows off my thumbs "curves" now without 2 big bolts sticking out of it :P
 
Well I'm almost done, As I mentioned before I made the holes a bit big, although the outter part (flush) area of the straplock is flush with the body, I shaped the hole a little weird though It's carved inwards making it more flush with the body.

I'll be filling in the hole so everything fits super tight with some marine resin ala jaco :)

I'll try to get some pics up tonight if my cameras batteries dont die on me.
 
I still have a little work to do on them... Some more sanding and smoothing out here and there... This is hard to do without power tools!
 
While I was doing it... I was shaking the whole time :P Sooooooooo worried I was going to mess something up and a couple of times there I thought I did. You should of seen the tools I used... I "drilled" the hole out with different sized of screw driver bits lol... And ended up widening the upper part of the holes with a pocket knife and file/sand paper... I figure later tonight I should hopefully be done with it.

Ii got the missing skin and cuts on my hands to prove I used a knife :P
 
Nice work man!! It takes some serious testicular fortitude to take a knife to your Warwick...I'm not sure I'm up for the challenge.... :wink:
 
my wife came down stairs and saw me going at it on the bass... She freaked out and reminded me that I said "you will never see me taking sharp objects to this thing!!" :P
 
Well I finished it! They look pretty sweet on my thumb too :) ALOT of hard working doing it with bits and a hand driver/knife :P But it's all really good looking... I had to use a fiberglass resin (without the fiberglass) to fill in the gaps between the straplocks but everything fits nice and tight now, I also used a little resin on the screws before I screwed the straplocks in place so nothing is going to come loose here :P

I just got ahold of the bass day 98 video and noticed victor wooten has 3 of the outter straplock peices attached to his strap, 1 in the upper horn position and 2 on the rear position for quick adjustment for different styles. I tryed this out with my strap and it comes in pretty handy :)

I suggest if your going to do this, Use power tools :P
 
Yeah I saw Bootsy Collins used to fit a strap pin to the lower horn of his bass as well as the top for different playing angles.On a Fender,a lower horn strap pin will give more of an upright balance.Your new strap locks would be perfect for doing that coz they're flush mount & would be less visible.
Good job btw Casey,it would've taken guts to work on your bass without having power tools. :wink:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top