I recently bought my first electric guitar. It has the strap that connects to the body instead of the headstock like I am used to on acoustics.
However, the guitar is HEAVY and this is painful on my neck and shoulder.
Would it hurt the guitar to attach the strap at the headstock? It’s an Epiphone Les Paul with the bolt on neck.
I know, I’m an idiot about these things, but humor me, if you would.
And, for future reference, what is the lightest style of electric? I like the small body of the Les Paul and wouldn’t want my guitar to be any bigger. But I’m thinking I might not be keeping this guitar for very long…
I am having the time of my life, though. For someone who only every played cowboy chords and folk songs, it’s keeping me off the streets in my retirement using youtube to learn to play “Sleepwalk.” Now that I’ve got that down, I’m working on “Harlem Nocturne.” FUN FUN FUN!
pohjonen, you could always sit down to play guitar, then there’s no need for a strap.
That said:
Attaching a strap to the headstock is all kinds of a bad idea. It would at best look stupid and probably damage the guitar. Some straps for acoustic guitars have attached at the headstock, but acoustics are very much lighter guitars than electrics, so straps that attach is unfortunate places have less unfortunate results.
There are many guitars lighter than a (imitation or genuine) Les Paul. In fact, nearly every style of electric guitar is lighter than your guitar.
Aye, it would. Eventually the weight of the guitar would bow the neck sideways or warp it. I have a '72 Les Paul Custom that weighs something like 55 lbs. (approx. :p). I use a Planet Wave strap with one of these cool shoulder-ma-pads. The thing is still heavy but it doesn’t leave scars after every session anymore.
Telecasters are very light but have a particular sound. Strats are almost as light and have pretty much what I consider to be a generic rock sound. Paul Reed Smith guitars are light and at the high end ($3000+) are very light. My favorite guitar, my Schecter Elite 1, weighs about the same as a Strat and plays and sounds beautifully. If you really want to go light tho, you pretty much can’t beat Steinburger GT-Pro, which weighs in at just 7 lbs. A lot of people think they look silly, but I personally like the look; mine also plays like a freaking dream. An excellent rock and jazz guitar, IMO. (I can also recommend their bass guitars. I have a 5 string that I love to play.)
Glad you’re having fun! Making noise is one of the greatest, most joyous things that I know how to do; it’s right up there with sex and snowboarding, IMO.
How will attaching the strap to the headstock solve the problem of pain in your neck and shoulder? Your shoulder will still be the same weight as before.
How much does the guitar weigh? 7-9.5 pounds is the average, near as I can tell for solidbodies - below that is considered very light, and above that is considered heavy. There was a period in the 70’s where heavy was favored - the thinking is that = more resonance and sustain. LP’s made then were 10lb+; Jerry Garcia’s handmade guitar Tiger was a ridiculous 13.5 lbs.
All of this is a way to say - weigh the guitar; if it is much past 9lbs, you might consider a lighter guitar as a starting place.
Yeah, add me to the chorus of those saying get a wide or padded strap. Or, like Zakk Wylde, who in the 90s strapped his Les Paul on with a length of hardware store chain for hour-long Ozzy sets, “Just lift weights and eat steak until it doesn’t hurt anymore.”
I bought a pad for my strap. It slips over your strap and closes with Velcro.
I too had issues with the weight of electric guitars. I found a PRS S2 Mira semi-hollow that weighs 6.5 lbs. Thats much better on my back than a 8 lb Fender or even heavier guitars.
The less wood means less weight. Single Cut Electrics are heavier than double cut electrics. Solid body is much,much heavier than semi-hollow.
a couple examples. I prefer the look of a single cut. But my back insists on a double cut. Less wood means less weight.
Electrics are designed for young teenage studs that would hang a boat anchor around their necks if it attracted chicks. Us older and wiser men know what a back spasm feels like after playing too long with a heavy electric.
Alright. The thing is I am sitting down. Without the strap the damn thing slides around on my leg like a wet fish trying to get away from me. I need the strap to keep it in position. I also hate that the chord attaches at the bottom.
It would take the weight off of my neck and angle it out.
According to Epiphone, this Les Paul weighs about 7.9 lbs. I guess it’s not as heavy as it feels.
I started out in my teens doing folk music on a nylon-stringed classical guitar. Later I moved to a steel-strung country-style guitar. For those acoustic guitars, there was no problem with attaching the strap to the butt and the headstock (behind the nut). The position felt comfortable, with the sound-hole somewhere near my right kidney and the upper octave frets in front of my navel.
I went in to a couple different music stores to ask this very question because connecting the strap to just the guitar body feels odd to me – everything shifts to the left a bit and it feels like I’m over-reaching to play first-position chords. The consensus from the sales people (all are performing musicians) is that the neck of an acoustic guitar tends to be sturdier and is reinforced while the body is hollow and pretty light, so the downward pull of the body on the strap isn’t making the neck bend (like an archery bow, with the strap being like a bowstring) all that much. In contrast, the body of an electric guitar, with its magnets and electronic stuff is generally heavier than the body of an acoustic guitar. Furthermore, electric guitar necks tend to be thinner than acoustic necks* (from E1 to E6 across the fretboard) for a lot of reasons. The salient result for our discussion is that it’s easier for gravity to bend a neck just with the leverage of the strap attaching to the headstock (behind the nut).
In fact, looking back on my early college years, I realize now that I was unintentionally doing that with my refurbished Lyle hollow-body electric, and none of us could understand why some notes and chords sounded just a touch flat while the rest of my output seemed on-key. I probably should have just moved the left strap-anchor to the body, rather than selling the thing as junk. :smack:
When you attach both ends of the strap to the body, gravity will not be leveraging force against the neck in (basically) the direction of your strumming.
–G!
*Of course there will be some exceptions. I made a point of searching for a relatively wide-necked guitar and ended up with a Gibson Les Paul; I found that Schecter, Fender, Ibanez, and PRS/LTD necks were so thin that my chords felt cramped. And my friend recently found a line of wide-necked electric guitars that the maker advertises as being designed for people with big hands/fingers. I can hunt for the name if anyone is interested.
I don’t think an LP is all that heavy, but if you’re used to playing an acoustic, it’ll take some getting used to. A 2.5" - 3.5" wide adjustable leather strap should do it for you. And be certain to get a “strap-lock” or something like that because LP types have an unhealthy tendency to fall off the strap at the neck side.
I’ve known players that tape a strip of kitchen sponge to the bottom of their instrument. keeps the instrument from sliding.
Morrisman does guitar and bass play along lessons on youtube. See that tape on his bass? Thats the sponge. He’s flipped the bass up and explained its use in other videos.
Morrisman is my favorite for just relaxing and playing along with R&B. It’s really good practice for barre chords and strengthening up the hand. I love R&B anyhow and it’s a lot of fun strumming along. It took me a couple months to get my hand strong enough to play for very long. Now, I don’t give barre chords a second thought. They’re just as easy as open chords.
I used the standard leather straps for quite awhile. It scratched my neck and I wanted something different. The cloth strap is just more comfortable. It’s less stiff and it lets the guitar flex and move as needed. The cloth straps have leather tabs on each end where it attaches to the guitar. Comes in brown and black. I have a black one on my electric and brown straps on my two acoustics.
Oh, never get a cord with the molded plastic plugs. If one of the wires break inside the plastic, you’re screwed. Get the kind with chrome plugs, as you can repair it if one of the wires break.
