Guitarists who want to express their style with personalized guitar straps have plenty of innovative options. The following five shops have a great variety of custom design choices, and they produce straps that look amazing. You can also create DIY versions for inexpensive personalization.
Ethos Custom Brands
Ethos makes some of the most expensive but intriguing personalized guitar straps on the market. Made the finest Italian leather, their designs combine colorful leather shapes and textures to create a truly unique look. Their strap styles come in three design styles: their premier V Series, the Flag Series (leather straps portraying flags of nations), and the Dragon-Hide Series (crocodile patterns airbrushed over fine leather). These luxury leather straps range from about $120 to about $387. You can add names, initials, or custom logos and graphic designs by contacting the company with your request.
Strap Graphics
Another excellent company, Strap Graphics, has a large variety of design possibilities. They are less expensive than Ethos and do not use luxury materials, but they have some great personalized straps ranging from about $59 to $99. On their home page, you find the material of strap you want (polyester, leather, suede, etc.), then click "Design This Option" to add your custom text or images.
Couch Guitar's Vegan Straps
This strap design belongs in the Most Original category. Couch Guitar makes vegan guitar straps. They do not use animal products of any kind (no leather), but instead use refurbished vinyl from vintage cars. Their upcycled product discovery process helps clean landfills, and they let you wear a piece of classic car history around your shoulders. Prices range from about $20 to about $70. They occasionally are able to make custom straps, but they ask you to contact them to see if they can accommodate your custom requests.
K'La Straps
If all the brooding, dragonish leather guitar straps above are too grim and you need something a little more bedazzled and studded with bling, check out K'La Straps. The company uses a crystal-inspired fabric that creates luminous effects in any lighting situation. They mesh the fabric with polypropylene to create the effect, while also making the strap extremely durable. You can customize your strap as you desire (choose color, lettering, leather, trim, and other options). Their straps range from about $30 to about $150. They also have a Take Our Style Quiz page that helps you find the perfect strap design.
Leathersmith Designs
Maybe you shrug your shoulders at the bling. Maybe the elaborate designs of Ethos are nice, but you prefer a high-end leather guitar strap that has a simpler design philosophy. If so, Leathersmith might be the choice for you. (This is not to say that they can't make elaborate designs if you request it, but they have a sparser visual look overall.) Their straps average around $127, and you can choose different options such as lettering, color, pattern, concho, padded options, and length.
DIY Tips
There are many ways to make your own personalized guitar straps. One of them is to use your old jeans to make a quality, sturdy strap. You only need:
- Your old jeans
- Buckle and rings from an old bag
- Needle and thread
- Scissors
Just grab those supplies and follow the steps in this video to make your own jean guitar strap.
Another fun DIY option is to make your own guitar strap out of belts. By "belts" the builder means either the belts you wear or seatbelts from a car. The process is fairly simple and does not require complicated tools (mainly a screwdriver). Follow the steps in this video to make your own belt guitar strap.
A Small But Crucial Accessory
In the world of guitar accessories, you could make the case the guitar strap is the most important. You hang all of your music on it. You might as well make it look amazing while it does such an important job.
