Project description
I am commissioning a one-off guitar strap and want to work with someone who does real hand tooling, not a printed or stamped pattern from a machine. The strap needs a full-grain outer layer around 8-9 oz thickness so the tooled design holds crisp lines after wet-forming and carving, backed by a softer 4-5 oz lining layer that gets skived thin at the edges before gluing so the shoulder section doesn't feel stiff or boxy. Total shoulder width should sit around 3 inches (about 7.5 cm), narrowing to roughly 1.5 inches at the strap ends where the strap connects to the instrument.
For comfort I would like a foam or suede-backed pad sewn into the shoulder area rather than just doubled leather, since I play standing for two to three hours at a time and a stiff strap digs in after the first set. The tooled artwork itself is open to the maker's interpretation but should center on a nature motif — vines, oak leaves, or a similar organic pattern — carved and beveled by hand, then finished with an antique dye so the recessed lines read darker than the raised surface. Please avoid anything geometric or overly modern; I want it to look like it belongs on a well-loved instrument that's been played for years.
Length needs to be adjustable from about 40 to 58 inches using a traditional leather tri-glide and a row of at least five to six punched holes, not a metal ratchet buckle — I want the whole thing to stay leather and brass. End tabs should be a folded and riveted style with a strip of soft leather or nylon webbing reinforcing the hole so it doesn't stretch and tear over time; stitching should be saddle stitched by hand with waxed thread, not machine sewn, so it matches the rest of the construction quality.
I'm flexible on exact color — dark brown, honey tan, or oxblood would all work, and I'm happy to defer to whatever takes the tooling and dye best. Please share photos of similar tooled work you've completed before quoting, along with your estimated turnaround. I can provide reference images of the pattern style I like and rough measurements from my current strap if that's useful for sizing. Budget and timeline are listed in the project details; I'm open to discussing a small deposit before work begins given the custom nature of the tooling.
For comfort I would like a foam or suede-backed pad sewn into the shoulder area rather than just doubled leather, since I play standing for two to three hours at a time and a stiff strap digs in after the first set. The tooled artwork itself is open to the maker's interpretation but should center on a nature motif — vines, oak leaves, or a similar organic pattern — carved and beveled by hand, then finished with an antique dye so the recessed lines read darker than the raised surface. Please avoid anything geometric or overly modern; I want it to look like it belongs on a well-loved instrument that's been played for years.
Length needs to be adjustable from about 40 to 58 inches using a traditional leather tri-glide and a row of at least five to six punched holes, not a metal ratchet buckle — I want the whole thing to stay leather and brass. End tabs should be a folded and riveted style with a strip of soft leather or nylon webbing reinforcing the hole so it doesn't stretch and tear over time; stitching should be saddle stitched by hand with waxed thread, not machine sewn, so it matches the rest of the construction quality.
I'm flexible on exact color — dark brown, honey tan, or oxblood would all work, and I'm happy to defer to whatever takes the tooling and dye best. Please share photos of similar tooled work you've completed before quoting, along with your estimated turnaround. I can provide reference images of the pattern style I like and rough measurements from my current strap if that's useful for sizing. Budget and timeline are listed in the project details; I'm open to discussing a small deposit before work begins given the custom nature of the tooling.
Design and multimedia Cash, Bank transfer
