Attaching the strap at the headstock

phydaux

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Is there a good reason to NOT attach my strap at the headstock?

I attach one end of the strap at the tail button like normal, and then rather than attach the other end to the button at the heel of the neck, I attach it with cord around the head.

I find that this way the guitar hangs in a more comfortable, playable fashion.
 
I've done it both ways and I have no preference. If it is more comfortable one way or the other, that's the deciding factor as far as I'm concerned.
 
I will add that the new Flight ukulele straps...which sell for $10...not only come with a strap (it's a little wider than the 1" I normally prefer, but still far from a guitar strap) also come with a neat headstock adapter, which I have never seen included before (although I have seen guitar straps that include a string!). I'll be reviewing these and some other straps on my YouTube channel in the near future...but it's a really nice addition to a strap!

I also had some custom straps printed up by Killer-Q, and that wasn't very expensive (less than $60 for 7 of them) and a nice custom touch if you have a website or channel or company you want to promote (or even your own personal logo!)
 
I attach the strap on the middle of the ukulele's head stock and away from the nut. Keeps my hand from banging into the strap in first position. And, yeah, a strap adapter looks nicer than a shoestring. For larger instruments like guitar and bass, I prefer strap buttons for both attachments. Two button attachments on ukuleles feel too confining and tight for comfort.

Mah Doghair with strap adapter attached mid-head stock:

kala_doghair_FT_1818sign.jpg
 
I go to the headstock all the way up to baritone. Feels more "stable" to me. And I'm a big fan of the UkeLeash brand
 
Is there a good reason to NOT attach my strap at the headstock?

I attended a concert years ago where the (acoustic) guitar player had his strap attached at the headstock. After his song was finished, he began to speak to the audience as he rested his right arm on top of the guitar. The weight of his arm caused enough lateral force on the neck that the neck separated from the body and the whole mess went crashing to the floor.

I like the balance of a strap attached at the headstock, and I'm sure that was a freak accident, but I'm careful to never rest my arm on the instrument...
 
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I attach the strap on the middle of the ukulele's head stock and away from the nut. Keeps my hand from banging into the strap in first position. And, yeah, a strap adapter looks nicer than a shoestring. For larger instruments like guitar and bass, I prefer strap buttons for both attachments. Two button attachments on ukuleles feel too confining and tight for comfort.

Mah Doghair with strap adapter attached mid-head stock:

I never thought of this! I'm going to give the mid-headstock strap a try. Does it ever mess with the tuners in your experience?
 
I can stand up and dance around for an hour and tuning is fine on the six instruments I have setup this way (tenors and baritone). However, you may have to nudge the adapter strap out of the way to tune the G string. If you have Gotoh UPTs you don't even have to do that. The last few times I made my own adapter straps by cutting up an old leather strap and punching several holes to adjust tightness for optimal position (I use a screw in rivet). The ready made strap adapters only have one setting.

Here's my home-brew adapter on my RC Baritone 6:
RC_Baritone6_fr_0076WLR.jpg
 
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Well, I'm going to assume the question is actually about guitar since it's in that subforum.

For guitar I find running the strap to the headstock pushes the body further to the right than I like. I mount a button on the heel of the neck when I get a new guitar.

I'm sure it's totally a matter of preference.
 
I don't have a leather tong/toggle on my headstock, so when i have my strap at the headstock, the strap comes back at me at an angle so that it slightly gets in the way of my fretting hand. That is if playing comfortable style with thumb over the neck. Just enough to annoy me without actually interfering. Classical style with thumb behind the neck is fine, and i imagine that toggle would give a good break angle to put the strap out of the way.
 
When I was toying around with mandolin I used a 72" rawhide bootlace as a strap. Will probably to the same with my uku.
 
As Turf3 said above, this topic is about guitars rather than ukuleles.
Photos of players of acoustic guitars from the sixties (Great Folk Scare) mostly show straps fastened at the headstock. The one exception seems to be bluegrass players with Martin dreadnoughts.
These days, most guitarists have a heel-pin installed (if the guitar doesn't come with one).
All of my acoustic guitars have heel-pins for the strap.
A couple of my ukes have heel-pins. My metal body reso-uke came that way and I installed one on another uke.
My standard mandolins fasten at the headstock, but my octave mandolin fastens at the heel.
I don't see a huge difference.
Dylan with head strap.jpg
Bob Dylan in the sixties with head mounted strap
Dylan with heel strap.jpg
Bob Dylan later with heel mounted strap
 
From StewMac's Website (go there for textual comparison):
View attachment 132791

On my guitars with pointed heels (Martin and Goya) I have fastened the pin at 5.
On my guitars with rounded heels (Gibson) the pin is at 4.
My brother has a guitar with the pin at 3, which is fine if it is anchored in the tail block.
My 1950 LG1 came with the pin at 1. I didn't like the balance and it was tearing up the lining of the case. It is now at 4.
An Epiphone 12-string I used to own had the pin at 2, but I moved it to 5.

I would avoid 1 and 2, and be very careful to catch the tail block if you use 3.
 
From a quick trawl through photos of bands/guitarists on google, it looks like attaching straps at the body started to appear with solid body guitars then this gradually spread to include all types during the 60s and 70s.
My preference is for body attachment because headstock attachment tends to push the guitar to the right.

Vintage
 
I do this (attach one end of the strap to the headstock, just above the nut) with a Lakota Leathers mandolin strap. I normally install tailblock and heel buttons on all my guitars, but there's not much room on my Martin T1K heel.
 
Well, I'm going to assume the question is actually about guitar since it's in that subforum.

For guitar I find running the strap to the headstock pushes the body further to the right than I like. I mount a button on the heel of the neck when I get a new guitar.

I'm sure it's totally a matter of preference.

This is the way I set up the straps on all my guitars and ukuleles for that matter. It is the most comfortable and stable position for me. If the OP is more comfortable with it attached to the headstock then go that way, no harm, no foul.
 
I usually play seated but for my acoustic guitars attaching strap at the headstock provides much better balance of the instrument for natural playing position. Attaching the strap at the heel is if you want to play it like an electric guitar and hang it in the groin area or lower so that you can look like your favourite 80s glam rock star.
 
I usually play seated but for my acoustic guitars attaching strap at the headstock provides much better balance of the instrument for natural playing position. Attaching the strap at the heel is if you want to play it like an electric guitar and hang it in the groin area or lower so that you can look like your favourite 80s glam rock star.

All of my instruments have two buttons and they all sit high on my abdomen. Strap length is adjustable you know........so no need to have it at groin area if you don’t want to.
 
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