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Old 11-29-2016, 08:39 AM
Fran Fran is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: London, England
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Default To drill or... not to drill a strap pin in your Martin's neck heel

Problem is, I have a bit of a belly, well I am past my 50's so it comes with the vintage and the abuses of yesteryear, no big deal, I am widowed and have 3 grown up children in the mid 20's only one of which still lives at home with me, while the other two flew the nest a few years ago.

Due to my belly, playing my Martin OM-42 (not a dreadnought shape) sitting down is a bit of a problem. The guitar slides off my leg and it is difficult to keep it still. I tried using a strap which helps lots but since there is no other strap pin in the front part of the body I've been using one of those shoe laces behind the nut through the head stock and still I find it very uncomfortable for my fretting hand because that frigging string gets in the way of my hand and prevents me from say comfortably fret a full barre' F major chord on the first fret or a C/G Major as the string is at an angle that reduces the free hand movement in the first position.

The only other option I've been told is to have someone drill a pin on the side of the Martin's heel, but I've spent 4 G's on that guitar and it pains me to let some luthier butchering my proud and joy.

What are the alternatives, bar the string on the head stock and the strap pin on the heel? I remember once seeing a strap that had this safe clip that go through the sound hole, is there such a thing or has anyone here adopted yet a safer approach?

Thanks in advance for your valid suggestions.

Last edited by Fran; 11-29-2016 at 09:13 AM.
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Old 11-29-2016, 08:46 AM
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DenverSteve DenverSteve is offline
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Hello and welcome to the group. There are plenty of recent (and past) threads on this you can search on but you can just install the strap button like millions of us do. Price of the guitar, to me, doesn't matter as that's the first thing I do with every new guitar. You can also adjust your seated position to more of a classical hold which may help. Standing, with the strap, may also help you position your guitar more comfortably. Installing the strap button is a simple operation, think 2 minutes. But, if you're not comfortable doing it, any tech or repair person would likely do it for you while you wait.
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