Anyone who is familiar with Big Black, Rapeman, or Shellac is probably familiar with Steve Albini, each of those band’s nerdy yet creepily aggressive front man.
Now I’ve seen pictures and heard about his hip strap, which is like a guitar strap except its custom made and goes around the hips instead of the shoulders. And, obviously, he doesn’t have to hold on to the guitar to keep it dropping to the ground, but how the hell does this thing work?
In all the times I’ve seen Albini, it’s always looked to me like it’s just a regular guitar strap, just very long. It would actually make some aspects of playing guitar easier, I think, but obviously no one else thinks so, since no one else does it.
I really can’t answer your question. But, I can answer the other, pressing, Steve Albini question.
What’s really in that metal box?
Yeah, a hip strap is an interesting idea… that’d take the pressure off your back, which I know would help some players. Not sure it’d be more comfortable to have it all on your hips, though.
Well just for you all to see I found a picture and it is pretty clear that there is no strap going around his shoulders.
Well here’s some more pictures that might better explain it. It looks like it just wraps around his waist once then comes back and hooks onto his guitar. So I guess I answered my own question.