Fender’s alternative to strap locks taking the world by storm

For years guitars have been falling off their straps; for years they’ve been taking damage. And for years people who care about their guitars have been fitting strap locks to prevent this problem. So no problem then? Well not until you forget the strap with the lock heads on… or until you get a second or third guitar…

Strap locks work great, but they can get a little expensive if you have several guitars; but Fender have come up with a cheap, incredibly simple and highly effective alternative. They cost under $2 for a pair, are pretty durable, and they are easy to move to a different guitar, installing in seconds. And THEY WORK GREAT! We can’t recommend them enough. Strap Blocks are available from Amazon, and most music stores. Check out the Guitar Savers Strap Block, for an even cheaper, unbranded version.

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Original Fuzz handwoven Peruvian guitar strap

I was lucky enough to receive an Original Fuzz guitar strap as a gift this year, and I’m absolutely delighted with it. Firstly, they look great – somewhat reminiscent of the woven straps produced by Gibson, and other companies in the 1970s. Mine is called Rust Stripes, but there are a lot of cool designs to chose from – with names like Kurt Vile, Doug Martsch, Duane Eddy, Cusco and Dick Dale. I play a lot of older instruments from the 60s and 70s and these straps suit my vintage guitars perfectly.

Vintage styling

Original Fuzz Peruvian strap - rust stripesBut better still is the fact that they are so well made, of high quality materials, and each one is unique. The patterned side is actually hand-woven in Peru, under fair-trade conditions – “Each strap is as unique as the artisan that crafted it.”

And they don’t suffer from some of the failures off other straps. It’s thick; the woven ‘pattern side’ is backed with a similarly thick plain fabric – but one that has sufficient friction to reduce slipping and neck dive – something you normally need a wider leather strap to achieve. The end pieces are rigid leather- they shouldn’t deform in the same way that thinner straps do. And they are long; mine has a maximum length of 5 foot; sufficient for all but the lowest slung guitars.


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