jblakey - Posted - 12/19/2016:  05:58:20

Hi Guys,

   got a little free time over the week-end and I put together a pair of these toggles for attaching my guitar strap to my Goodtime.  I had been looking at banjo strap / adapters / etc for a while now, but I just bought a really nice guitar strap (from Zelikovitz leather in Ottawa), and I wanted to use that strap, darn it!:)

So, a quick trip to the dollar store, and I came home with some wooden dowels (just the right size to fit through the hole in my strap) and some black Paracord.   Here's the step by step:

1.  Drill a hole (I think it was a 1/8") through two small pieces of dowel (about an inch long each)

2.  Clean up the holes with a file or a reamer.

3.  Cut a piece of Paracord, about 6-8 inches.

4.  Pull out the white inner strands from the Paracord.

5.  Seal the ends of the Paracord with a lighter.  Hardly any burning is necessary.

6.  Push the ends of the Paracord through the hole in the dowel. 

7.  Tie a knot.

8.  Pull it tight.

9.  Done!  Now, repeat so you'll have a second on for the other end of the strap.

String these through the appropriate brackets, then slide them through your strap holes, and you're done (other than adjusting the length of your strap for an hour).

I'm liking this solution to this problem for a couple of reasons:

1.  It's cheap - 3 bucks will buy enough materials to do 10 banjos.   And the materials are easily available.

2.  It's easy - you need to drill a hole and tie a knot.  That's about it.

3.  You can put them on the banjo without needing to remove any of the hex nuts or hardware

4.  The hollow Paracord sheath is skinny enough to fit in very small spaces.  And it's plenty strong (200 lbs test according to the internet)

5.  The strap can be easily removed without needing to remove the toggles from the banjo.

6.  The Paracord and wooden toggle SHOULDN'T mar your banjos finish.

7.  There are many colors of Paracord available, and you could paint the toggle however you want - go crazy!:)

I was thinking about making these from some Delrin rod, which would be super SUPER strong, but the small wooden toggle seems plenty strong already.

Anyhow, hope this helps,

Thans,

jason

 

Alec Cramsie - Posted - 12/19/2016:  07:09:05

Great job Jason, looks good 😎

rudy - Posted - 12/19/2016:  07:36:58

Well, I like it, but I'm a sucker for a clever, quick, inexpensive, and useful  idea.  This one checks all the boxes. You could also use a flat and round button slightly larger than the strap hole diameter.

I use Dunlop Strap-locs, but that entails permanent alteration and higher expense.

Mike Rowe - Posted - 12/19/2016:  08:15:28

Nice, nice, nice!

RevSpyder - Posted - 12/19/2016:  10:14:21

This is really good. I also like Rudy's suggestion about the buttons. Thanks for sharing this.

fmazz - Posted - 12/19/2016:  12:21:45

Great idea! gotta try this one. I just got a new Goodtime myself and I will be repurposing an old guitar strap for her to wear :)

GrizClaw - Posted - 12/19/2016:  13:54:29

Like it, nice job!