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View Poll Results: Front strap button/position poll: What would you do? | |||
Don't drill a hole in that beautiful, new guitar! Tie to the headstock! | 27 | 22.31% | |
Don't be such a baby! Drill the back of the heel and use your existing strap locks!! | 19 | 15.70% | |
Suck it up, drill the 'Taylor position' hole and buy a new set of strap locks. | 71 | 58.68% | |
Return the guitar. You don't deserve anything this nice and new anyway! | 4 | 3.31% | |
Voters: 121. You may not vote on this poll |
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#46
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I drilled every Martin I’ve ever owned, so I have no problem drilling good guitars. However, I’ve converted my style and only play sitting down. So I no longer have the need to drill & no longer set my guitars up that way. On the occasion that I play standing, I tie the strap on.
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#47
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Front strap conundrum - to drill or not to drill
You bought it to play it, right? And you play standing with a strap, right?
Just do it. Even I’ve done it, and I ruin everything I touch. If you’re nervous about it, practice on a beater or a scrap piece of wood first. I tried it on my old Sigma before I took a drill to my new D-18. Wrap several layers of tape around the drill bit at the depth you want the hole so you don’t go too deep, and put tape on the guitar so you don’t accidentally scratch it. So easy even I could do it. Next step—drill the end pin and install a pickup!
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2015 Martin D-18 1982 Martin HD-28 2013 Taylor 314ce 2004 Fender Telecaster MIM 2010 Martin DCX1RE 1984 Sigma DM3 Fender Mustang III v2 Last edited by ChrisE; 12-29-2019 at 06:33 AM. |
#48
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Whether you drill for a strap button depends on why you bought the guitar. If you bought it for a show piece or as a collectable, no. If you bought it to play it, drill it.
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#49
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It’s not the Crown Jewels, The Stone of Scone, or the Elgin Marbles, it’s a guitar - drill it!
Hope that makes sense! The usual disclaimers apply......IMHO, YMMV etc.
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John Brook ‘Lamorna’ OM (European Spruce/EIR) (2019) Lowden F-23 (Red Cedar/Claro Walnut) (2017) Martin D-18 (2012) Martin HD-28V (2010) Fender Standard Strat (2017-MIM) |
#50
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I've drilled holes on all my guitars, installed pickups, bridges etc.. Guitars to me are tools of the trade, made to be played. My guitars are not idols, they are just wood made to play. Pro's do it all the time. I like the battle scars from playing. I play a Taylor 814ce right now.
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#51
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I always put that blue painters tape on the area where I'm going to drill to prevent slippage.
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Barry Sad Moments {Marianne Vedral cover}: My SoundCloud page Some steel strings, some nylon. |
#52
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I am still wondering why the strap button on the treble side of the heel is being called "The Taylor Position." I have a '58 Goya and a '62 Martin that have both had buttons in this position since before the Taylor company was formed.
My Gibson does not have a pointed heel, so I put its button in the centre of the heel. I don't like the base of the heel as the guitar tends to tip forward.
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Jim _____________________ -1962 Martin D-21 -1950 Gibson LG1 -1958 Goya M-26 -Various banjos, mandolins, dulcimers, ukuleles, Autoharps, mouth harps. . . |
#53
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For now, if it's stressing you out that much, mount/tie it from the headstock to the rear. When the "New Guitar" novelty wears off, then add the strap button to the guitar.
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#54
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I have been playing with the strap tied to the head stock and it's okay. I've acclimated to it well enough to make it work although it still feels funny. As it turns out I'm going to take it to my authorized Martin repair take for evaluation of a few things so while there I'm going to have him install the a button in the 'Taylor' position and then buy a new set of strap locks for one of my old, well-worn and comfortable Levy straps.
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#55
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I wouldn't have an issue with adding a pin. I added one to my Indiana Madison myself. I put it on the heel because that is where the Indiana Scout pin is.
The Scout came with a front strap pin. That was good enough for me so that is what was done on the Madison. Both of the Takamine's have the strap pin in your "Taylor" position. I like that much better. Johnny Cash tied the strap to the head stock. I have done this also. I prefer a strap pin. I have a mandolin with the strap tied to the head stock. I tied it off between the tuners because it got in the way at the nut. It will get a pin in the near future. May take it in to have done. I want it in the "Taylor" position and that runs the risk of hitting the truse rod with the drill and screw on mandolin.
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2007 Indiana Scout 2018 Indiana Madison Quilt Elite 2018 Takamine GJ72CE 12-String 2019 Takamine GD93 2022 Takamine GJ72CE 6-String 2022 Cort GA-QF CBB 1963 Gibson SG 2016 Kala uke Dean A style mandolin. (Year unknown) Lotus L80 (1984ish) Plus a few lower end I have had for years |
#56
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Quote:
If you want a strap, get on with and get over it.
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NOT from Queen - he's much cleverer I am English, so are all my spellings Two guitars I'm happy with . . . |
#57
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Quote:
I held off on my vote for a while to make sure "The Taylor Position" was what I though it was. At any rate, it's easier to call it that instead of the undertheheelonthesidefacingthefloor position.
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Pray, Hope, and Don't Worry - Padre Pio |
#58
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I put a front strap button on my 1996 Taylor 412 after a long deliberation. I don't play it standing up so my indecision and not using a strap anyway is weird.
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I don't have a bunch of guitars because they all sound just like me. 1984 Carvin LB-40 bass 1986 Carvin DC-125 two humbucker 1996 Taylor 412 La Patrie Concert 2012 American Standard Telecaster 1981 Carvin DC 100 Harley Benton LP JR DC Bushman Delta Frost & Suzuki harmonicas Artley flute Six-plus decade old vocal apparatus |
#59
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In my experience most people call it "the usual position".
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stai scherzando? |
#60
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Of all the occasions I could possibly save 10 bucks on, taking a drill to an expensive guitar is hands-down the worst I can come up with. If someone came too me and asked which option I would choose -- a very real risk of dinging up a 2k guitar BUT save $10, or spend $10 and eliminate the risk -- why would I even think about this?
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"I've always thought of bluegrass players as the Marines of the music world" – (A rock guitar guy I once jammed with) Martin America 1 Martin 000-15sm Recording King Dirty 30s RPS-9 TS Taylor GS Mini Baton Rouge 12-string guitar Martin L1XR Little Martin 1933 Epiphone Olympic 1971 square neck Dobro |