Monday, August 14, 2006

Paracord Guitar Strap

Here is the paracord guitar strap I just completed. The guitar strap is about 6 ft long in finished length and is adjustable.  I used short pieces of paracord to tie it to a fixed length.

Using square knotting/macrame type knot work took about 90 feet of olive drab paracord and 50 feet of maroon, and I added leather guitar attachments(sewed on), which I took/scavenged from another guitar strap I had.

Total time to make the strap was around 6 to 7 hours, with such long lengths to work with taking a lot of time to keep untangled.

And J. Pruitt's photo of the strap with his guitar.
 

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those colors look good together.

Anonymous said...

Thats is the bomb right there.

Anonymous said...

I'm a Belgian guitarist and I tried a couple of times to make such a strap myself, but it never worked. Where can I find a tutorial? Or can you make one for me... please... I really liked the one you made for Instructables :p

Stormdrane said...

There's no tutorial for the strap, but I did find a hemp jewelry booklet(Hemp Happy) a couple of months ago that has the same knot pattern in it. Some of the projects in the booklet look like they'd work well with paracord, so I bought it. There's an Amazon.com link for it on the right side of the page.

Anonymous said...

I've found it on a dutch site: http://www.hobbydoos.nl/knopen/macrame.asp
In dutch it's called: Verspringde weitasknoop. There's a lot more on this page.

Amy said...

I ran across this a while back, and would like to make one for my husband! Do you have any additional pictures that you could email me? Is the strap adjustable?
mrsamywhite@gmail.com

Thanks! :)
Amy

Unknown said...

I saw this and thought that it would make a great rifle sling. I used OD and Black for mine. I just can't seem to find a cam buckle that will close on the knots. Any ideas? I think I could get away with using a ladder buckle but I'd rather have a cam. Thanks.

Stormdrane said...

I haven't come across any buckle/cam that would work with the thickness of the knotted paracord.

I just used a couple strands of paracord to tie the strap to itself at the length I wanted. It works, but a buckle would be nice and much quicker at adjusting length...

Anonymous said...

Could you send me some information on how to make one of those straps...emily_davis5@msn.com

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

So what is this knot pattern called?

Stormdrane said...

The knot pattern is just series of alternating cobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnets, and is also sometimes called square knotting.

Anonymous said...

Could you please tell me the diameter of the paracords used?

Thanks a lot

Stormdrane said...

Mil-spec/Type III/MIL-C-5040H 550 paracord/parachute cord is about 1/8 inch or 4mm in diameter.

Commercial grade paracord, some is made in the US, some may be imported, is usually the same size(1/8"/4mm diameter), but there may be fewer and lower quality inner strands, and it's not tested for strength/durability like the government issue paracord is.

Either is fine for decorative knot work, but I prefer the mil-spec quality cord.

Anonymous said...

I am not sure from the picture but this looks like a "wide solomon bar". If it is not, the wide solomon bar looks very similar and instructions can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lZss5Tzp54

I love your work. very inspiring.
Greetings
Dude

Stormdrane said...

The guitar strap was done with eight working ends, where the wide Solomon uses six. They are both common variations of square knotting/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnets, often found in macrame and sailor's fancy knot work.

I saw some printed examples from a 130 year old book several years ago, so that's where I first saw them before making the belt, guitar strap, and wide bracelet that I've blogged about. ;)

Anonymous said...

How did you fasten the butt end? The only guitar straps I've ever seen have one end w/ the plastic for the adjuster and the other end is usually sewn to the strap. I have a friend who asked me to make him one. Thanks!!!

Stormdrane said...

One end of the knotwork is sewn to the underside of one of the attachment pieces, and the strap goes through the other attachment piece, where it is adjusted for length, and I used a couple of spare pieces of paracord to fit through both straps holding the extra length together against the strap, tying them in place to finish.

The paracord knotwork is too thick to use the sliding adjustment piece that came off another guitar strap of thin/wide nylon webbing, so that's just how I finished this one.

Anonymous said...

Hey man, I found this forum and he mad a guitar strap and I can't find his braid he used. I think he took 2 cobra braids then joined them, I'm wondering if you could belp me. here's the link.
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=190881&highlight=paracord+guitar+strap

Thanks! ^_^

Stormdrane said...

@Anonymous, The knotting pattern of the guitar strap you linked to is a variation of square knotting/cobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnet that shares the center strands.

I did a blog post on the pattern several years ago(January 2008) and there are tutorials out there for it, also called a Wide Solomon Bar(see TIAT demo on YouTube).

The shared center strands can have a different pattern depending on how you use them. Your link shows many more strands used as 'core' strands to knot around for a wider/thicker strap, done by adding more strands of paracord at the start.

Slap That Co. said...

Hey, stormdrane I had purchased the rope for a guitar strap a couple of years ago, but never found the tutorial or time to make it. Is this tutorial right, just not tightened enough?
http://www.free-macrame-patterns.com/alternating-square-knots.html

Stormdrane said...

@Peter, Yes, that's the same pattern. You can work the knots close together or space them out. ;)

Slap That Co. said...

I am unsure of how to finish off 8 strands of rope. I want to attach them to a strap hook like this one so that I can just put the hook through the center hole of the strap to lock it in place.
strhttp://www.usalanyards.com/wide-strap-non-swivel-hooks-hm-6311-50.aspx
Do you have a suggestion of a knot I could use to do this?

Stormdrane said...

@Peter, With a hook/clip like that, I'd run all the strands around the clip, then pair off the strands and tie a square knot or two back around each of those pairs, to secure the cord to the attachment.

Some folks might just wrap the strands around the attachment and then backbraid them into the knot work, like splicing(haven't found any good online examples done with 8 strands). And then cover that section with a Turk's head knot.

Or possible wrap around the attachment, then sew the strands in place to secure them, and cover that section with a knot.

Or run the strands around the attachment, then pair off the strands and tie lanyard knots back round each pair to secure them...

stonefly said...

Stormdrane,
I like the stap but want one that has tight knots similar to the one here: what type of knots does this one use? https://www.etsy.com/listing/150213219/paracord-custom-guitar-strap?ref=cat_gallery_8

Thanks,
Ron

Stormdrane said...

@Ron, The strap in your link is woven, similar to this paracord bracelet, just wider.