Moxie & Oliver: Moxie & Oliver Guitar Straps

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Moxie & Oliver Guitar Straps – How it all began

This is the very first guitar strap I ever made. Not just the first pattern, but the very, very first strap. It’s the Sugar Skull Guitar Strap in Antique Black. It looks like it was from September 10, 2007 – just 5.5 short years ago.

Since that first strap, guitar straps have become my biggest seller. I currently have a collection of 113 handmade leather guitar straps on my website, and some come in multiple color combinations, so I can’t say offhand how many options there really are but I’d guess over 200. The customer favorite by far is the Personalized “Smokey” Guitar Strap since you can make it completely, 100%, yours by adding your own inscription.

I never thought I’d be in the business of making guitar straps. I’m “tone-dumb” (apparently I’m not really tone-deaf, though most of the time I feel like I am) and tried playing guitar for about a year in the 8th grade. It was grunge, I lived in Seattle, I liked guys with long hair. Needless to say, it didn’t take. I never actually managed to play a song on the guitar.

So, for those of you with an ear for music and a penchant for picking, I’ll make you some killer straps. I like to say that a beautiful strap makes you a better musician, since it will inspire you to practice (maybe that was my problem all those years ago!). I added thirty or so to my website recently, and here are a few of my favorite of the new ones: