Reproduction Western Belts

[Mr Badger]

Just thought I'd share a few pics of gals wearing my belts during the fashion show at the Rockabilly Rave near Hastings this past weekend – the gals are wearing jeans and tops by my third stockist, Lady K Loves... they look really great!

 

[flat-top]

I wonder if any of our resident belt makers could do something like this?

I found this pic on Facebook and I really like the looks of this. More "tough" than flashy in my opinion.
If I supplied the shoes, could one of you guys do something like this?

 

[Fly Boy]

Have finished the first four retail examples, all using vintage belts, think they work very well with the existing patterns...

From left:

* Vintage steerhead-embossed belt w/amber jewels, bullet spots and nickel spots.
* Vintage tooled and dyed belt w/amber jewels & nickel spots.
* Vintage embossed belt w/green jewels, 'suit of cards' cutouts & yellow flatback jewels, vintage bullet spots and nickel spots.
* Vintage basketweave belt w/red jewels, vintage bullet spots and nickel spots.

Badger, that is some lovely work. Consider this here Gretsch fanatic very interested in a guitar strap. Maybe a belt too. Got any pics of your straps?

 

[Mr Badger]

Badger, that is some lovely work. Consider this here Gretsch fanatic very interested in a guitar strap. Maybe a belt too. Got any pics of your straps?

Hey chief, sorry for the late reply! Is that a Ricky 340F I see as your profile image?

Just awaiting a large shipment of jewels, studs & cutouts from the US, then the good peeps at Regent Sounds on Denmark St will be sending down 'plain' black and brown 1" wide 50s-style leather straps, the type with the moveable 'sheepskin' shoulder pad, for me to embellish... my own Fender 'skinny' strap was a trial run a while ago, here's a pic:

The 'production' versions will have more embellishments in one of two main patterns up the 'front' of the strap: a 'run' of either the 'suit of cards' cutouts interspersed with three-in-line studs, or jewels & three-in-line studs – anything more would be overkill and prolly scratch yer guit fiddle! As with the pic above, there'll be stud / jewel / stud arrangements on the shoulder pad and the 'tail' of the strap, to match the strap colour / cutouts / other jewels, and catch the stage lights real nice... they'll retail for £50, which I think is pretty good value!

You can see the 'suit of cards' cutouts on these belts:

'Like' my Facebook page and you'll be kept up to date with when the straps are available...

On another happy note, my first endorsee, Jim Jones (The Jim Jones Revue) has been wearing his custom-made belt on stage, and very good it looks too!

In addition to the straps, I've also gotta make three more batches of belts, wallets & wristbands for a trio of new stockists: Regent Sounds (belts), Red Rooster Vintage (belts, they'll be at Twinwood this year) and, most excitingly, Born Bad Retro Clothing in Paris (belts, wallets & wristbands)!

 

[Mr Badger]

I wonder if any of our resident belt makers could do something like this?

I found this pic on Facebook and I really like the looks of this. More "tough" than flashy in my opinion.
If I supplied the shoes, could one of you guys do something like this?

The issue would be one of 'access', chief! It'd be extremely difficult to get the holes for the prongs in the studs right when you're working from the 'outside in', as the upper would be unsupported, and then you'd have to try and bend the prongs inwards and make 'em flush with the upper, otherwise shredded hosiery and / or tootsies would occur! My guess is that the person who did this pair either bought 'em like that, did it themselves but had a cobbler fully remove the sole for proper access before starting work, or just has too darn much free-time on their hands!

It's quite easy to stud the shaft / straps on engineer boots, but that looks like the work of a genius / looney tooney!

 

[Fly Boy]

Hey chief, sorry for the late reply! Is that a Ricky 340F I see as your profile image?

Just awaiting a large shipment of jewels, studs & cutouts from the US, then the good peeps at Regent Sounds on Denmark St will be sending down 'plain' black and brown 1" wide 50s-style leather straps, the type with the moveable 'sheepskin' shoulder pad, for me to embellish... my own Fender 'skinny' strap was a trial run a while ago, here's a pic:

The 'production' versions will have more embellishments in one of two main patterns up the 'front' of the strap: a 'run' of either the 'suit of cards' cutouts interspersed with three-in-line studs, or jewels & three-in-line studs – anything more would be overkill and prolly scratch yer guit fiddle! As with the pic above, there'll be stud / jewel / stud arrangements on the shoulder pad and the 'tail' of the strap, to match the strap colour / cutouts / other jewels, and catch the stage lights real nice... they'll retail for £50, which I think is pretty good value!

You can see the 'suit of cards' cutouts on these belts:

'Like' my Facebook page and you'll be kept up to date with when the straps are available...

On another happy note, my first endorsee, Jim Jones (The Jim Jones Revue) has been wearing his custom-made belt on stage, and very good it looks too!

In addition to the straps, I've also gotta make three more batches of belts, wallets & wristbands for a trio of new stockists: Regent Sounds (belts), Red Rooster Vintage (belts, they'll be at Twinwood this year) and, most excitingly, Born Bad Retro Clothing in Paris (belts, wallets & wristbands)!

That's excellent news! I've liked your page - count me in for a suit of cards strap - a russet leather 50s style? I could even provide the unbranded strap if that worked for you? Found some great ones online a wee while back, vintage style, if a little too long (I wear my straps at a respectable height!) I cut them down to size a bit and they work out great.

It is a 360F in the picture - well spotted! Sadly it isn't mine! Is that gorgeous Tele in your picture a 'Nocaster'?

 

[Mr Badger]

That's excellent news! I've liked your page - count me in for a suit of cards strap - a russet leather 50s style? I could even provide the unbranded strap if that worked for you? Found some great ones online a wee while back, vintage style, if a little too long (I wear my straps at a respectable height!) I cut them down to size a bit and they work out great.

It is a 360F in the picture - well spotted! Sadly it isn't mine! Is that gorgeous Tele in your picture a 'Nocaster'?

No probs, when you spot on the FB page that the 'blank' straps have actually arrived, decide whether you want red or amber backing in the cutouts (red is a nice contrast with a russet strap), and the colour of the jewels (red, amber, green or blue) and lemme know via FB message... the straps are good quality, and unbranded...

*Admin: apologies about going slightly OT but we ARE talking guitar straps here!* I play a 370/12, tho' sadly it doesn't get much of an airing these days!

As to the Tele, it's a Japanese v-neck model that's about 15 years old. I aged it (with help from a luthier friend), put new pickups in (Nocaster bridge & US standard neck) and had it re-decal-ed as a 'double Esquire' – ultra lightweight, really resonant and a great neck... and far cheaper than a leftie Nocaster! By the time I'd spiffed up my Champ and made a speaker cab for it out of an old 40s radio cabinet, I needed to get a jewelled & studded strap together!

 

[Fly Boy]

No probs, when you spot on the FB page that the 'blank' straps have actually arrived, decide whether you want red or amber backing in the cutouts (red is a nice contrast with a russet strap), and the colour of the jewels (red, amber, green or blue) and lemme know via FB message... the straps are good quality, and unbranded...

*Admin: apologies about going slightly OT but we ARE talking guitar straps here!* I play a 370/12, tho' sadly it doesn't get much of an airing these days!

As to the Tele, it's a Japanese v-neck model that's about 15 years old. I aged it (with help from a luthier friend), put new pickups in (Nocaster bridge & US standard neck) and had it re-decal-ed as a 'double Esquire' – ultra lightweight, really resonant and a great neck... and far cheaper than a leftie Nocaster! By the time I'd spiffed up my Champ and made a speaker cab for it out of an old 40s radio cabinet, I needed to get a jewelled & studded strap together!

That's some gorgeous kit you've got there - I like the look of both axes and the speaker extension is fab too - great idea, might have to do my own at somepoint! Not to go horribly off topic and annoy the mods, I'll chat guitars elsewhere soon. As for belts/straps, I'll keep an eye on the Facebook page and will be in touch!

 

[Mr Badger]

That's some gorgeous kit you've got there - I like the look of both axes and the speaker extension is fab too - great idea, might have to do my own at somepoint! Not to go horribly off topic and annoy the mods, I'll chat guitars elsewhere soon. As for belts/straps, I'll keep an eye on the Facebook page and will be in touch!

Cool, picked up a massive order of jewels, studs & cutouts today, and will hassle my compadres for the straps...

 

[Mr Badger]

Spent most of last week on 'belt business', making display hangers for new stockists and putting another selection together for my friends at Cock-a-Doodle Vintage to take to the Twinwood festival and the Hemsby Rock & Roll Weekender:

I also started on the next batch, sorting / conditioning/ repairing / shortening belts for Born Bad Retro Clothing in Paris – we're going over for a long weekend in September, and I'll also be DJing once again at Le Tiki Bar!

And while waiting for some building supplies to be delivered (grrrr, three hours late!), I decided to teach myself how to stud lettering:

Still chasing the guitar straps, Fly Boy, will let you know when they come thru!

 

[Fly Boy]

Spent most of last week on 'belt business', making display hangers for new stockists and putting another selection together for my friends at Cock-a-Doodle Vintage to take to the Twinwood festival and the Hemsby Rock & Roll Weekender:

I also started on the next batch, sorting / conditioning/ repairing / shortening belts for Born Bad Retro Clothing in Paris – we're going over for a long weekend in September, and I'll also be DJing once again at Le Tiki Bar!

And while waiting for some building supplies to be delivered (grrrr, three hours late!), I decided to teach myself how to stud lettering:

Still chasing the guitar straps, Fly Boy, will let you know when they come thru!

Good stuff Badger - I'm building a new custom tele/gretsch hybrid at the moment which will be looking for an equally stand out strap!

 

[Edward]

One of these would be a very present for my old Strat...

 

[Mr Badger]

One of these would be a very present for my old Strat...

Still waiting on the straps to decorate, Edward, will be sure to let your good self and Flyboy know when they turn up...

 

[Mr Badger]

Hey Edward & Fly Boy, apparently, the straps are on their way to me, so I'll be able to give you an ETA at Regent Sounds in Denmark Street pretty soon... BTW, I made a delivery of a dozen belts, five wallets and half a dozen wristbands to Born Bad Retro Clothing in Paris over the weekend, during a trip to DJ at Le Tiki Lounge and catch up with friends...

Here's the collection I delivered to Born Bad on Saturday, I was really pleased with it:

And so were Célia & Ivan!

I also dropped off some 1 3/4"-wide decorated 'garrison' belts with Elie at the super amazing Duke Shop:

 

[Mr Badger]

Hey folks, it's the first *BAM-BALAM BELT GIVEAWAY!*

We've got one lovely belt left over from our recent trip to Paris, and you could be its new owner in our first giveaway! Up for grabs an original vintage 1.75" wide brown leather garrison belt, hand-decorated with 'suit of cards' cutouts and green jewels. The belt has holes at 29-33" so do measure through the waistband of your jeans with a tape measure to see if it'll fit... to bag the belt, just 'Like' our Facebook page, 'Share' the *BAM-BALAM BELT GIVEAWAY!* post on your Timeline, and tell us why you deserve the belt in the comments below the post... our favourite reason, posted before 12 midnight GMT on Friday 20th September 2013, will win the belt! Simple! We'll then message you for your address and pop the belt in the post...

 

[Mr Badger]

Our 'belt giveaway' ends in under 90 mins!

Meanwhile, here's a prototype decorated guitar strap I made for a true 'street racer'-themed guitar, with 'traffic light' colour jewels on the front, blue ones on the strap to deter the po-leese, and a red tailight...

 

[Mr Badger]

A certain gent from Glasgow was the lucky winner of my first Facebook belt giveaway (inspired by Marineabilly's regular events on his brilliant blog), and he's pretty chuffed with it!

Still awaiting the guitar straps to decorate, but recently had a coupla custom jobs on – the first one was for a 'real western-style' belt, while the second necessitated something simple and classy:

 

[Mr Badger]

Hey Edward, Fly Boy, guitar straps! British-made, handcut, 1950s-style leather guitar straps with a moveable sheepskin-backed shoulder pad & roller buckle, embellished with studs, jewels and 'suit of cards' cutouts made by the same American firm that supplied motorcycle and western wear companies back in the 1940s and 50s... coming exclusively to Regent Sounds in London's Denmark St this Friday afternoon (29th November), priced at £50 per strap! I'll also be servicing 'em with half a dozen belts, a couple of wallets and some wristbands...

BTW, the shop is situated right above where the Stones, Kinks, Pretty Things and countless other great British R&B bands recorded in the 1960s:

 

[Two Types]

Keep up the good work.

 

[Mr Badger]

Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the support, Two Types. Slow-going, but I think I'm getting somewhere...