Our Special Approach – What makes us different?
Guitar Strap Engineering – Re-imagined
No Plastics
We know what hot property the environmental view on plastics and synthetic materials derived from petrochemicals is proving currently. We admit, when we launched Uber Doofer, we were as much in the dark about the global threat of plastics as everyone else, but this actually strengthens our case for the use of leather – an elegant and durable material made from a natural basis for over 5000 years. We don’t use plastic materials and that includes foam rubber in our products. Padded straps, even the expensive end of the range will always degrade because the foam rubber insert breaks-down long before the leather, creating a dust-filled void, surrounded by two thin films of light leather that has far less structural integrity. This is shortening the life in use of the product by building-in a big element of obsolescence. For the strap to truly stand the test of time, leather is far more durable, so we major on that, THROUGHOUT. All of the leather we use is UK sourced and selected personally for the job. This also of course minimises product miles necessary to make Uber Doofers. We didn’t set out to have this as a major influence, but it is a convenient by product of being handmade in Yorkshire from British materials.
The Power of Observation
Through years of observation, we’ve discovered how straps wear during the course of their lifetime of use. So we’ve incorporated subtle but we feel important features into our designs:
- The teardrop button hole – The majority of strap manufacturers make straps with a circular hole and a slot associated so that it fits over the strap button. Our experience shows that as this wears on the shoulder of the hole, where the slot meets the circle, the leather goes soft with time and use, making it possible that one day you think it is “on” properly when in fact it isn’t. This is when that major accident can happen and you snap the headstock clean-off! Our teardrop button hole protects against that disastrous potential.
- In our “loop-through” design, the width of leather around the slot has been mathematically optimised, so that the design offers the maximum practical strength in-use.
- We know how metal hardware can damage the instrument in the case of heavy buckles, so we only have one design available that is produced for the traditionalists who are prepared for the damage this can do to a guitar’s finish. We know what creatures of habit some players can be so we offer these always with a very friendly warning about the potential for “dings” and “scratches”.
Okay, let’s imagine that you have spent over £1000 on your favourite “squeeze”. Not uncommon these days, but the experience we have of straps supplied with new guitars is that they tend to be made DOWN to a price, rather than UP to a standard. While the guitar you bought is the major element of the package of course, large corporations attempt to squeeze every last drop of profit out of the deal by cheapening everything else as far as they possible dare. Given the experience we have in the leather industry internationally, it would be easy to imagine that some of the new straps we’ve seen are turned-out, mass-produced in high volumes overseas for about $2 a unit. And they think that you want to hang your treasured £1000 from that??????
Made by players for players, you’d buy an Uber Doofer because, as the advert says…..