Fitting a strap to a Fluke

I would like to fit a strap to my tenor Fluke but am not sure where to put a strap button. I don't want to put it on the base as I don't want to lose the ability to stand the Fluke up when not using it - it saves carrying an instrument stand with me.

If you have fitted a strap button to a Fluke, where have you placed it and have you any hints about drilling into the plastic body?

I don't own a Fluke - but regarding drilling into a uke - I have used a pin vise to do mine.

Geoff,

I put the strap button on my Flea on the side near the base. If you'll notice on the side of the instrument, there are visible ridges with gaps in between where (I suppose) Dale added reinforcement while keeping the instrument very light. I drilled in the gap between the ridge closest to the base that still allowed the instrument to rest on a flat surface. On the Fluke, it would be between the bottom ridge and the next one up. (My Flea is at my office, so I've attached a photo of the Fluke to indicate the area that worked for me.) This works really well. I hope I explained the process clearly enough.



An alternative is to get a classical guitar strap, or one of the uke straps from souldier.com, which attaches through the sound hole but is removable. My Souldier strap gets almost all the use these days, and it works wonderfully on the Fluke and the Flea.

Good luck!

When I go to my office tomorrow, I'll take a photo of the Flea and post it, too.

uke1950 said:

I don't own a Fluke - but regarding drilling into a uke - I have used a pin vise to do mine.

Click to expand...

I have already fitted strap buttons to regular ukes. I have small hand drill that does the job very nicely. I also have a pin vise which I used to mark where the hole is to go to get an accurate start point.

hendulele said:

When I go to my office tomorrow, I'll take a photo of the Flea and post it, too.

Click to expand...

That will be very helpful. Thanks.

It looks like you're suggesting the area I was thinking of.

Have tried a classical guitar style strap. I found it OK with the Fluke but not so good with the Flea. I currently use Lori's uke leash which is OK up to a point but having fitted a strap button to other ukes, I have found it much better. I still tend to play sopranos strapless but larger ukes I definitely feel the need for a strap.

There is a loop at the base of the neck for a lanyard. You might try running a boot lace through it.

I use a Uke Leash on my concert neck Flea. No button needed.

–Lori

Hi Geoff,

Here's the photo of my Flea. I hope the ridge lines show enough to give you an idea of what I did.

On my Flukes and Flea ukes, for a strap, I use an adhesive square that is for mounting cable bundles with a zip-tie, and I stick this on the back of the uke, near the edge that would touch the floor when standing, and then tie the other end of the strap to the headstock.

This is an example of the zip-tie mount:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BSJHLE

The adhesive holds really well, and in 3 yrs, NEVER had one come off and using these does NOT require the drilling of any holes, nor compromising the flat bottom. Just use a string or length of shoelace to tie your strap through the holes in the zip-tie mount.

I can post a photo later if needed.

To go with my previous post above, I have added some photos of the adhesive cable-tie mount installed:

Geoff,

Instead of going for a strap, I had Magic Fluke put these "Grip Strips" on my tenor Fluke. It's a piece of high-friction rubber with an adhesive backing, to help you keep the Fluke in place while you play. You can buy them separately, and it's probably easy to find something locally that will do the same job, rather than order these from the U.S.


Grip Strips

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I think I will probably go with Booli's idea. I had a look on Amazon UK last night and there are plenty of suppliers of zip tie mounts. I noticed that there were some with a hole in for a screw which would make them a little more secure.

Bill1 said:

Booli's idea is the best I have seen. I have used stick on velcro hook loop, and on lower cost plastic ukes I just drill two small holes and tie a loop of string on the base of the uke. If anyone from the Magic Fluke Company reads these pages, the idea of a purpose designed stick on loop may have some merit.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I started with velcro on the bottom, but since I like to place the Fluke/Flea ukes on the floor, the velcro was getting clogged with lint and fuzz and was hard to keep the velcro clean, so I removed the velcro and went with what you see above.

I showed my concert Flea with the zip-tie mount strap attachment to Jim Beloff, who was representing both Flea Market Music and Magic Fluke Company (MFC) with a booth at UKE NJ 3! in Morristown, NJ back on Labor Day weekend.

He was very impressed and said he would tell Dale Webb (owner/CEO of MFC) about it and I gave Jim my phone and email info, but never heard from anyone.

This was the second time I met and spoke with him and his wife Liz at length. They are both some of the nicest folks on the planet. However, I guess with his busy schedule all over the world, he forgot about me...

How to mount, and adhesive

Thanks for the idea.

"The adhesive holds really well, and in 3 yrs, NEVER had one come off"

On Amazon, many people say adhesive does not last. Do you think there has there been a change in the product?

"Just use a string or length of shoelace to tie your strap through the holes in the zip-tie mount."

Do you have a way of having the strap be snapon/off removable, or you just leave it on all the time?

AVMilholl said:

Thanks for the idea.

"The adhesive holds really well, and in 3 yrs, NEVER had one come off"

On Amazon, many people say adhesive does not last. Do you think there has there been a change in the product?

"Just use a string or length of shoelace to tie your strap through the holes in the zip-tie mount."

Do you have a way of having the strap be snapon/off removable, or you just leave it on all the time?

Click to expand...

The adhesive only lasted a few weeks on mine. It came off while I was performing so I had to quickly get hold while I finished the song.

Fortunately the holders I bought have a hole for a screw in them so I replaced the holder and secured it with a small wood screw. Hopefully it will hold for a long time now.

I use a uke leash. I thread a cable tie through the tie holder and make the loop big enough to thread the clip of the uke leash through it. The other end is fitted to the headstock in the usual way. Flea and Fluke are light enough that the narrow strap of the uke leash doesn't cut into you.

I have attached a strap to my Flea in the same way.

I've added a photo of my method of attaching a uke leash to my Fluke. As you can see the other end is attached to the headstock in the usual way. I prefer to attach between the tuners rather than by the nut as I find the strap gets in the way of my left hand attached next to the nut.

I've added a photo of my method of attaching a uke leash to my Fluke. You can see the screw head that attaches the tie holder to the body as extra security.

As you can see from the photo of the whole instrument, the other end is attached to the headstock in the usual way. I prefer to attach between the tuners rather than by the nut as I find the strap gets in the way of my left hand attached next to the nut.

View attachment 92479View attachment 92480

Tootler said:

I've added a photo of my method of attaching a uke leash to my Fluke. You can see the screw head that attaches the tie holder to the body as extra security.

As you can see from the photo of the whole instrument, the other end is attached to the headstock in the usual way. I prefer to attach between the tuners rather than by the nut as I find the strap gets in the way of my left hand attached next to the nut.

View attachment 92479View attachment 92480

Click to expand...

I like it! Very clever.
–Lori

Good very useful thread here. Thank you all for posting excellent pictures.
Those pics are super valuable for future users who find these threads down the road

AVMilholl said:

"The adhesive holds really well, and in 3 yrs, NEVER had one come off"

On Amazon, many people say adhesive does not last. Do you think there has there been a change in the product?

"Just use a string or length of shoelace to tie your strap through the holes in the zip-tie mount."

Do you have a way of having the strap be snapon/off removable, or you just leave it on all the time?

Click to expand...

The mounts that I have use a foam mounting area that come premade with a 3M adhesive, and I've not had problems with it coming off, but then again these ukes weigh very little and I dont try to pull the mount off with my body weight.

Since I use a bootlace or paracord for a strap (depening upon the uke and what I had on hand at the time) I have no reason to ever remove the strap, so I have not explored this function myself. Such a thin strap goes into whatever case I want to use and easily disappears.

Tootler said:

The adhesive only lasted a few weeks on mine. It came off while I was performing so I had to quickly get hold while I finished the song.

Fortunately the holders I bought have a hole for a screw in them so I replaced the holder and secured it with a small wood screw. Hopefully it will hold for a long time now.

I use a uke leash. I thread a cable tie through the tie holder and make the loop big enough to thread the clip of the uke leash through it. The other end is fitted to the headstock in the usual way. Flea and Fluke are light enough that the narrow strap of the uke leash doesn't cut into you.

I have attached a strap to my Flea in the same way.

Click to expand...

Sorry your zip-tie mount came off and did not stay attached. If you want to replace it with one that should hold better, maybe look for the ones with the genuine 3M adhesive in the foam-sticky attachment part. That is what I've used with no issues, but I am only playing at home with these and have not 'road-tested' them with gigging as of yet.

You can also use a dab ot hot-melt craft glue on the bottom of the mounting square, which will hold stronger than the foam's sticky and also should not harm the ABS plastic of the Fluke/Flea. I have done this too. It is the kind of glue that is sold in like 5mm wide x 40mm long sticks, that you insert into the back of a 'hot-melt glue gun' which plugs into the mains, and the glue is fed by a trigger and melted out the nozzle tip.

This kind of kid can be had for a few dollars at most hardware, and also craft stores. Be careful though, when the glue it liquified, it is hold enough to cause 1st degree burns and evoke some 4-letter words, but it cools to the touch in about 5 mins, and cures solid in about 20 mins, and will usualy not come off unless you get a fingernail or knife edge, underneath it along the outer circumference, and then it will basically just peel off, with little force required to remove it. However, it should hold, and I have tested it up to 5lbs which should be enough for a uke.

Also, the glue comes in different colors as well as clear or black, and you need to make sure that the GLUE STICKs you buy are the proper DIAMETER for the GLUE GUN that you have, as there are 3,5,7,10 and 12mm diameter glue sticks/guns here in the USA, and fatter sticks will not fit into a smaller glue gun.

I should add that you need to make sure to UNPLUG the glue-gun after using it. I accidentally left one plugged in over night and was lucky that nothing bad happened, but the TRIGGER is not a power switch, but a mechanical LEVER that feeds the glue into the heated nozzle tip, similar to how a caulking gun is used with it's mechanical plunger at the base.


hot glue gun ^


caulking gun ^

Hope this helps....