Have you ever had your guitar fall off of its strap? I have, and I figured out a way to make your stock strap buttons a little bit more effective with just a few items that you can find around your household. I call them Cap-Locks. The Idea is to have a couple of washers and bottle caps put on your strap buttons. These help to prevent your guitar from falling off of its strap. This also gives your guitar a unique look, and helps you to save money. I am going to show you how to make cap locks.

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies.

If you wish to make Cap-Locks, you are going to need a few things to make them.

You are going to need:
1. A screwdriver.
2. Washers that have a hole larger than your strap buttons, and that are larger than your bottle caps.
(One washer per strap button)
3. Bottle Caps (Metal)
4. A drill
5. A guitar with strap button(s)

And these items are not necessary, but are useful:
A dremmel/pocket knife
Screws larger than your original strap button screws.

If you have all of these items that are needed, then please proceed to the next step.

Step 2: Optional Step: Remove Logo From Your Bottle Caps.

If you are like me, you don't want your guitar sporting a certain name brand. (Bud Lite, Budweiser, etc...)

I took my dremmel, and used a sanding tool on it to remove the Bud Lite logo.
I choose not to keep the logo. (Either way, you still have to drill a hole in the cap.)

However, if you're content with the name brand on the bottle cap, then move on to the next step.

Step 3: Remove Your Strap Buttons, and Drill a Hole in the Bottle Caps.

Remove your strap buttons with a screwdriver, and then set them, along with screws, aside. Hook your strap to the strap buttons before you do anything else, and then take a drill bit slightly smaller than your screws for your strap buttons and drill a hole in the center of your bottle caps. Afterwards, you will need to take your screws and wear the hole in the cap to where it will easily rotate around the screw.

If your strap buttons have short screws, you may want to dent in the bottle cap to where it will fit the strap buttons better.

After this has been done, go to the next step where you will assemble the Cap-Locks.

Step 4: Assemble Your Cap-Locks.

You will need to put together your Cap-Locks now. To put them together, you will need your washers, strap buttons, and bottle caps. The first thing you should do before you begin to assemble your Cap-Locks is put your strap on the strap buttons, if you haven't already.

Afterwards you are going to need to assemble the Cap-Locks in this order

Screw - Bottle Cap - Washer - Strap hooked to the strap buttons.

To do this, you need to:

Take your bottle cap and put the screw through it. Afterwards, you put the screw-cap combo through the washer. The washer must be larger than the bottle cap, if you want to protect your strap. Afterwards, you place the screw-cap-washer combo through the strap button with the strap hooked to it.

You should have something that looks like the diagram.
Repeat for other Cap-Lock.

Step 5: Put Your Cap-Locks on Your Guitar.

Just put your Cap-Locks on your guitar like you would replace a pair of guitar strap buttons.
Your buttons should be firm on the guitar. If not, you need to replace the stock screws with a larger set of screws.

That is all it takes to make cap-locks.

Questions and Answers are in the next step.

Step 6: Q&A About Cap-Locks

Q: Will this cause any damage to my guitar?
A: It will not damage the guitar if you installed a washer.

Q: Will it be hard to change my strap buttons back to normal?
A: No, all you have to do is remove the cap and washer from the screw.

Q: How do I change straps?
A: Cap-locks are designed so that your strap cannot be removed without removing the entire Cap-Lock.

Q: Will the cap eat away at my strap?
A: It shouldn't if you have a large washer on your strap.

Q: My strap button feels wobbly, What do I do.
A: You need to get larger screws for your strap buttons.

Q: Could plastic bottle caps be used?
A: I wouldn't reccomend it.

Q: Will this denigrate the value of my guitar.
A: Not really. All you are doing is modifying the strap buttons.

These are just a few questions I have been asked about Cap-Locks. If there are any other questions, please contact me.