Official Luthiers Forum!

What do you think of installing a strap button on the FLAT surface of the heel where it meets the back of the guitar? It seems to me that this positioning would result in the strap hanging perfectly straight from the player's shoulder down to the instrument, rather than twisting to bend around to the side of the heel. If it matters, I'm talking about an acoustic guitar. Your thoughts? Thanks for any input.

It's been done on lots of guitars.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

It will result in the guitar twisting forward so it doesn't hang flat against your body. Better to put it on the side of the neck's heel.

Personally, I would not put it there. It would make the guitar want to constantly roll forward for one thing. It could also be a problem for putting the guitar in a case since the body could be resting on the strap button. I've seen a couple photos of guitars that were badly broken when the case was dropped and the force went through that button into the neck.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I agree it would probably make the guitar want to roll forward. If the strap button on the tail block is not placed at least slightly closer to the soundboard than the back this can also happen. It makes the guitar uncomfortable to play for most people.

I wouldn't put it there either and won't if asked to by my customers. What the others said are some of the reasons.

Need more information: What kind of guitar and does it have a bolt on neck? The possibility of a bolt on neck is a big deal in the trade and there have been many mishaps with people drilling into bolts. So it's a good idea to have some rare earth magnets and some familiarity with what's out there.

On acoustics and this is not a rule but guidance I install the button on the right side of the heel while facing the guitar for a right handed player. I usually go 7/8th" inch from the end of the heel where it meets the body and about 1/3rd of the way down the neck heel.

This is not cast in concrete and the style of the heel, presence of neck bolts can change things slightly for me on this location.

But generally speaking on an acoustic of conventional design 7/8th" from the body joint 1/3rd of the way down from the fret plane gets me there.

Another reason why I don't like putting them through the heel cap is come neck reset time when we are wrenching on the neck to get the sucker off we have weakened that area. On a Guild which already are prone to the heel breaking off this would be the end of the heel to drill a hole in it....

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Ann Arbor Guitars

I think most builders cringe whenever they see a guitar leaning up against a wall, or laid on a table on their back, or on the floor, or, or, ...

At least you don't often see a guitar on a table face down, well, not very often anyway.

A strap button sticking out the bottom of the heel is eventually going to be slid across a table top and boink = a busted button or the lower portion of the heel broken off or something else that's not good.

Some times things have been done a certain way for a long time cause it's the best way to do it.

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Brian R, Wood Mechanic
N8ZED

Thanks everyone for the great input! I'll revise my plan and go to the standard side-of-the-heel mount for the strap button. Again, thanks for sharing your sage wisdom!

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that you can tie the strap on just above the nut and not use the second strap button at all. It's something you could try and if you don't like it you could install the second strap button. I don't like a button at the heel position, but don't mind it tied above the nut.

Steve a couple more things that I do if you are interested. I've installed hundreds of strap buttons and our shop does this for free if someone is getting a full set-up. It's fast, easy and safe and some of these things help in that respect.

Once you have determined where it goes and where it can go on the individual instrument:

I predrill the hole and then break the edges of the hole hand turning a large counter sink bit backwards. I'm just trying to bevel the finish edge so it resists chipping out in the future. Two or three turns is all it takes. Probably an unnecessary step but we do all the details anyway.

I also put a small drop of liquid wax (Howards Feed-n-wax) on the tip of the screw to lubricate the screw on it's way home.

The felt color is selected to match the binding color.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

That kind of attention to detail is inspiring. Thanks for sharing Hesh.

You are very welcome Leo, thanks for the thanks

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Ann Arbor Guitars