How To Make The Totally RAWKIN' Guitar Strap of Epic Awesomeness (Out Of A Cheesy Old Poseur Belt from Goodwill)

Earlier today, I was making one of my regular checks of Goodwill. Not much interesting to be had this time around, but I did pick up this cheesy old studded leather belt for $0.99, just because it reminded me of the kind of silly things I used to wear in my teenage poseur days (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth). I had no plans to do anything with it, but I couldn't just leave it in the shop.

A little later, RavingChild was doing his guitar practice, and it struck me how lame the safety-orange nylon strap that came with his guitar was. Too bad we couldn't find something better....

Then suddenly, the sky went dark and there was a deafening rumble of thunder. The earth at my feet split open, and a fiery chasm gaped before me. Out of the burning depths rose a huge demon with bat wings of fire, clutching a gleaming razor-edged guitar. He raised his hands above his head in the heavy-metal devil-horn salute and roared in a voice like a thousand dragons gargling kerosene, "USE THE BELT, YOU GOOBER!"
"Ya think?", I said
"YOU THINK THAT I CAME ALL THIS WAY TO LOOK AT YOUR PRETTY FACE?"
"Well, maybe...", I said
"JUST MAKE THE STINKIN' GUITAR STRAP. BY THE WAY, INSTRUCTABLES IS HAVING SOME SORT OF CONTEST ABOUT MAKING STUFF OUT OF BELTS."
"OK, thanks, Mr. Demon Guy", I said.

And thus was born The Totally RAWKIN' Guitar Strap of Epic Awesomeness. Tremble before its epicness. Or its awesomeness. Or possibly both.

Step 1 Gather Your Tools and Materials... OF RAWK!!!!!

Materials:

A leather belt, preferably with spikes or studs or some other totally rawkin' embellishments - about 46" or so.
A short black shoelace, bit of Paracord, or something similar - about 10"

Tools:

Leather punch
Scissors or razor blade
Hobby knife

Comments

[pennyf24]

This is a great instructable. I really enjoyed reading this... I am thinking about making one for a cousin of mine who would appreciate such an interesting piece for his guitar.... or maybe even my brother... Now I have noticed that this works out well for the youngling but what about someone who's alot older... will it still work out to be the same? Do I need to use 2 belts etc. etc... I would love to know :D

[RavingMadStudios]

Really, it all depends on the belts you find. I've seen extra-long belts that would work just fine by themselves, even for a full-grown person. Two shorter belts could also work, you'd just buckle them together in the middle. I'm actually working on a two-belt strap right now, mostly because I founda couple of great belts at Goodwill this weekend. I'll post pictures (or a new Instructable if the process turns out to be different enough to document separately).

[pennyf24]

Neat! :D I need to see if my Brother will give me back my guitar! LOL! Though he probably uses it much more than I ever have :D

[Wasagi]

Sweet! I love this project, and your writing is great!

[mdog93]

aaw man, this was my idea too... only thing is i didn't have any old belts long enough. In fact i only had one, and was going to try and find more- but now i won't bother. Great minds think alike :)

[RavingMadStudios]

Hey, go ahead and do it anyway. If you want to, you could call yours The Even More Epic Guitar Strap of Ultimate Awesomeness or something. If all went well, a bunch of others would jump on and we'd wind up a bunch of Arduino-controlled, LED encrusted, duct tape reinforced, pop-tab chainmailled guitar straps that fit in an Altoids tin. It would be AWESOME!

[ElusiveGreen]

I like it

[mdog93]

haha, i haven't even got enough belts to do it :P

[ElusiveGreen]

I am highly amused by your intro. XD

[RavingMadStudios]

Thanks. I'll pass that on to Mr. Demon Guy next time he drops by to drink all of my beer.

[digitalenigma]

I have had a strap similar too this for awhile, but it was made from a cheap pleather / plastic type belt so to get around the lack of strength of the belt i just cut off the ends, sewed it to a cheapo Fort Bryan strap using thick nylon fishing line, seen this and figured i would post a picture of my trusty old cheapo strap
which usually looks cooler then any other strap in the room minus other spike straps >:P

[RavingMadStudios]

Nice! Awesomeness abounds!

[kelseymh]

Truly outstanding! I gotta ask, in the interests of awesomeness -- are those bloodstains on the pointy studs?

[RavingMadStudios]

Gosh.... I hope so. Rock & roll takes no prisoners!