Guitar Accessories

In these troubled times, there have been two key things that have been keeping the smaller guitar shops open (the ones that are still alive anyway). In the last few years we've seen a lot of guitar shops close, get bought out, or minimize their stock. The two things that have kept the good shops going are 1) repairs, and 2) accessories.

Now, what we've noticed is that since the first electric guitars started coming out, there have been numerous companies coming out with just about everything imaginable to bolt, screw, strap, or glue to guitars, and some have been great, and others have been down-right weird. Here is a list of some of our favorite items you find floating around the guitar stores.

Straps: Though something most people just grab and go, there are differences and things to concider when looking at straps. One is overall strength. You don't want a strap that can fall apart or break, thus we recommend looking over the thickness, especially at the ends, and the material itself. As far as materials the straps are made of, the main uses are nylon, cotton, and leather (there are some newer materials, but these are too various to get into, so we'll stay with the basics). Generally there really is no this-is-better-than-that when it comes to materials, and it depends on your playing style as to what's best. Nylon moves around more, which is great if you play in a style where you move your guitar/bass around a lot. Leather is good for staying put on your shoulder more rigidly; it will move, but not as fluidly. Cotton is a good middle-of-the-road of these; more fluid than leather, more sticky than nylon, but if you're really sweating, they all get sticky. Strap length is another thing to consider. When buying Levy's straps, we always look for an "XL" in the model number, as these are extra long. On average, leather straps only go to about 52", which is a bit short for some of us. Even some "extra long" leather straps by other companies are only 56".

Ernie Ball is renown for their long straps. Their nylon ones (the cheapest straps we ever buy) go to just shy of 6', and their leather straps go to 60". The nylon straps seem cheaply made, but the worst thing we ever noticed with them is the leather ends stretch a little on heavier instruments (like my Jazz Bass). They seemingly change up their designs on their leather straps every so often, but the current ones have some funky designs including studded, snakeskin patterns, and so on.

Dunlop makes some high quality straps. They've been making really sturdy nylon straps for years (still using one of the first ones they released about 10 years ago) that adjust to 6', and we've found their BMF leather straps adjust to 60", and are a great soft leather. These go for about $10 less than the Ernie Ball leather straps, and are exceptionally more comfortable.

Levy's Strap has become an industry standard, and we find their straps at pretty much every reputable (or big-box) guitar shop. As mentioned, if you like your strap longer, keep an eye open for "XL" in the model number. They do make some of the softest leather and suede we've come across, and their nylon (very thick) and cotton straps have some major lastability (we have some from 1994 that show no signs of wear, and Aaron's been using the same Levy's leather strap with skull graphics religiously since 1998). Also worth mentioning for you wireless users, Levy's make the MM4 wireless holder that they claim will work on any strap, but seemingly is designed for leather straps. This is leather and uses hook-and-loop fasteners, and has never failed us in holding the bodypack.

Another strap company that's been gaining some momentum in our area is Souldier Strap. They make custom straps that harken back to the designs of the 60's, when guitar straps and camera straps were groovy. We see a lot of these in the area, but can't seem to get our heads around the prices (usaully $25-$35 street). If you're into those retro designs, and are looking for the whole American crafted aspect, these straps are made right in Chicago.

Locking Tuners: Some love locking tuners, some hate 'em. We tend to fall on the side of loving locking tuners (Aaron of Guitar-DNA has outfitted nearly every guitar he's ever had with locking tuners). Generally the most common are Sperzel, which we've used a lot, and with great success. Schaller makes a similar locking tuner that actually has a higher gear ratio; thus finer tuning (these can be found as OEM on some Fender Deluxe models). Also worth noting, Guitar Fetish has introduced a "Sperzel-Style" locking tuner on their website (www.guitarfetish.com) that go for $32.95 (about half of what Sperzels go for), which are designed to directly replace those Epiphone tuners that never want to stay in tune. The great aspect of locking tuners is not only the stay-in-tune factor, but the quickness of string changes. With locking tuners, a it can take less than 5 minutes to change strings on your guitar; just unlock, remove what's left of the old string, pull the new string through, tighten the lock, and tune. No sitting and winding.

Straplocks: We're pretty much split down the middle on what straplocks we like. Generally, half of us are fans of Dunlop Dual-Design (although we have many Original style) straplocks. These are great in that we've never had an issue with them. They use a C-clip that never comes off the lock. The common fear is that they'll pop out of the strap button, but we've had sets that are still in use from 1992 that have never failed us. The trick is to squirt a little WD-40 on them every so often to keep them working smoothly. Dunlop also has had som flush-mount locks, which can be seen on old Warwick basses (now making their own straplock), and Fodera basses as well.

The other half of us use Schaller straplocks. These are a bit more of the industry standard, and were OEM on American Fender and Gibson guitars (and basses) in the 90's. The main thing we stress is USE A DEEPWELL SOCKET WHEN ATTACHING THESE TO YOUR STRAP. If it's a newer strap, be sure to tighten them every time they start to get loose. We have experienced nut-loss on these, making the guitar fall and eliminating the point of straplocks. Another thing we see A LOT is people who put the locks on upside down so the locks slide on 3ms quicker. This is a not good idea, in that if the locking pin that goes into the strap button fails, theres nothing to catch. We recommend... no, INSIST that the locks open side be up, for added safety.

There have been some new comers to the straplock world, and we haven't really looked into them much, as they just seem to be re-hashing existing designs we don't feel a need to stray from. There have been leather straplocks, and straps with mountable clips (like DiMarzio) that we never really liked. We never commit to a strap to the point of skrewing them dirrectly into the guitar, and plactic clips can (and have) break.

Guitar Bridges: Admittedly, we don't change out guitar bridges too often. What we have noticed is for Tune-O-Matic style bridges and tailpieces, Tonepro's locking stuff seems promising. We like Graphtech's Stringsaver saddles for their smoothness, and ease on strings. For trems, we really don't get into these much, and for the most part only have some Bigsby trems on our Gretsch guitars (hence the interest in locking tuners). Floyd Roses seem to be popular for metal shredders, but these can be hit or miss. We've used some that are spectacular and stay in tune phenomenally, and some have proven to be about as good as Fender vintage floating trems... with springs missing.

Bass Bridges: We generally tend to like high-mass bridges, specifically Leo Quan. We tend to use Fender basses more than anything else, and the Leo Quan Badass Bass II is a great replacement for standard "vintage" style Fender bridges as it uses the existing 5 hole pattern, making it unnecessary to drill more holes, and the Bass III is designed for those American Standards post-'95 that are string-through-body. These come either pre-slotted, or blank, were you have to file the string slots. Those who want lighter bridges might like the ones by Hipshot. We also have used Kahler trem bridges for basses we wanted to put whammy bars on. These require less routering than the Hipshot trems that are designed around the classic Fender Strat-style floating trems.

Another thing worth mentioning in the accessory department, is Fender's No-Load Tone pot. This is a 250k pot available split-shaft or solid, that bypasses when turned all the way up. These are great when you want the stripped-down sound of a guitar or bass without a tone knob (even with tone knobs maxed, there's still SOME resistance), but don't want to go without a tone knob all the time. These come with the resistor for tone applications, but can be used as volume knobs as well. With bypassing at the 10 spot, there's less concern with the pot resistance, as more than likely you'll have it bypassing anyway. These also are de-dented to sit in the 10 spot, kind of like active blend center spots on a lot of basses, thus don't turn accidentally as much as standard pots.

There are plenty of accessories out there that we haven't mentioned, but have more than likely tried, and/or have an opinion on. Feel free to comment away on what we may have missed.