Review : Walker and Williams Guitar Straps
This time I am writing about a line of guitar straps that I have discovered in the last month from a company based in the United States called Walker and Williams. I know as do all of you that there are zillions of straps out there. When you decide that you want a strap made of real leather and not some faux thing, the number of makers falls. Then when you start to think about stitching, quality of leather, quality of materials and what is on the inside of the strap that list gets really short. Let me tell you why for me, Walker and Williams are the BEST leather guitar straps out there for the money.
The example to the left is one of their straps that has an embossed alligator pattern. It’s not actual alligator, it’s leather, but the fit, the finish, and the quality of both the tanning and the embossing is impeccable.
As I live in Canada, I discovered the product line via an Amazon seller based in the United States. Now I buy direct. Not quite as quick as Amazon, but I get to deal directly with the maker. Even with all that considered, my cost for a Walker and Williams guitar strap (I have now bought six so far) is less than $70 CAD. Compare that to a similar quality strap from a fine Canadian maker like Levys and the price difference is substantial, and in my opinion, so is the quality.
You might think, oh well Levys are made in Canada, and these Walker and Williams things probably come from overseas. Nope, the company’s business is in Oxnard California and has been a going concern since the late 1800s making leather gear for horses and the kind of leather equipment that those opening the American frontier required.
In addition to the strap example, they also do custom straps, straps with colour embossing, embossed patterns on leather straps, Italian leather as well as a line of woven straps. The woven products look good in the photos, but I have not bought one. In the carousel below, you will see a VERY SMALL sample of what the company offers.
Not a guitar player? No problem, the company does mandolin straps, banjo straps, saxophone straps, ukulele straps and purse straps.
I understand that not everyone is a fan of leather. If that’s you, you are in the wrong place, no offence intended. I personally prefer leather and am buying Walker and Williams straps as I can afford them to replace all the non-leather straps that I own. I’ll gift those or donate them to young players. I was buying Right-On straps from Spain because the first editions were leather and they have an elegant length adjustment system. The company may still do leather but everything in stores for the last year has been what they call Vegan leather and I call vinyl. It looks similar but feels, smells and wears completely different and to be blunt, I hate it.
Why would I invest the time to write about guitar and bass straps? Because playing is a joy and comfort matters. Ditch that crappy strap that you hate, and instead of buying a manufacturer T-Shirt and becoming an unpaid advertisement, invest in yourself and get a truly awesome strap.
Thank you as always for reading. Please subscribe to be notified when new articles or podcasts go live. Until next time, I’m Ross and I bid you peace.
