Gig bag strap repair

[Sousaswag]

Hey all,

Picking up a new horn on Saturday the 20th. I won't disclose what it is yet until it is in my hands, sorry Some of you already know what it is, but I tend to not disclose things and get over-excited until I physically have it!

The gig bag it comes with has a broken strap. I've PM'd some of you about what options I have in regard to gig bags as I'm not yet wanting to drop almost $700 on a Cronkhite, so I thought I'd consider other bags, but maybe repair is an option.

The photo I have of it is pretty grainy, enough that I can't tell what brand it is, but, if it were you, would you repair or replace? How do you feel about broken strap repair, and where would you take it?

Not totally sure what I'm going to do, yet. IF it's a brand worth repairing, would you take that route, and would you trust it?

If NOT, I'll probably find the closest-fit Miraphone bag until I splurge on a Cronkhite.

Thanks!

No, it's NOT the Tuono. That one's already been purchased and is living with a friend until the end of the school year when I can get a flight out to get it

[the elephant]

Places that deal with stitching heavy stuff and have the knack for repairing stuff they are unfamiliar with would be a luggage repair shop, a boot and shoe repair place (or an actual cobbler if you have one in your area), and a saddler. In Texas I had an excellent saddler MAKE me a nice leather bag for a horn in exchange for a year of lessons for his son. It was very nice, but it was sold with that tuba. It was also about 25 pounds!

[bone-a-phone]

I've had some luck getting bags repaired locally by shoe repair people or luggage repair. Someone with a big heavy sewing machine.

[Sousaswag]

Luggage repair was my first thought. Thanks! I'll probably price it out before I do anything, but it's another option.

[sweaty]

I took my hard case to a shoe repair shop. They fixed the hinges and replaced the handle with a better one.

[bloke]

Even from really good repair people, I receive grimaces when shown failed strap hangers on old cordura bags.

- It's a considerable amount of weight to support.
- When mounting it on one's back, often - momentarily - only one strap receives the entire burden of the weight.
- A strap support really needs to be uber-supported from the INSIDE of the cordura nylon, and the padding is in the way of that.
- Knowing that musical instruments are expensive, I could imagine that they're thinking about a $40 - $100 repair gig vs. a $10,000 lawsuit.

[bort2.0]

Get the bag first, then decide.

It could be worn out in other ways as well, in which case it's best to offload it for whatever you can get and then buy something better.

[bloke]

Get the bag first, then decide.

It could be worn out in other ways as well, in which case it's best to offload it for whatever you can get and then buy something better.

If it's a really fine back, you might try sweet-talking Mr. Superfine.

[Rick Denney]

Red Oxx Claw shoulder strap.

https://www.redoxx.com/claw-shoulder-strap-92008/p

Cheaper to buy a good one than pay for a repair.

Rick “has broken straps from Pro-Tec” Denney

[the elephant]

https://www.redoxx.com/claw-shoulder-strap-92008/p

Their weight ratings ng only covers the strap itself. Why don’t the give the weight rating of the product as used (meaning with the stainless hardware? I have had terrible experiences using stainless to support any sort of weight. And that design of swivel hook. The tuba is literally suspended by two very small pins of bendy stainless. Do they have a warranty that covers hardware failure up to the value of tuba repairs? If so, I might get one of these. Thanks for the link.

[Rick Denney]

https://www.redoxx.com/claw-shoulder-strap-92008/p

Their weight ratings ng only covers the strap itself. Why don’t the give the weight rating of the product as used (meaning with the stainless hardware? I have had terrible experiences using stainless to support any sort of weight. And that design of swivel hook. The tuba is literally suspended by two very small pins of bendy stainless. Do they have a warranty that covers hardware failure up to the value of tuba repairs? If so, I might get one of these. Thanks for the link.

I carry my Gotz Supersac with my Hirsbrunner in it using that Red Oxx strap.

The pin is 7/32" in diameter (I just measured it). 304 stainless steel in its weakest form is about 70 ksi ultimate tensile strength. The yield point, where deflection exceeds only 0.2% is well over 30 ksi, making it just slightly less strong than structural steel. When forged, as these clamps are, it will be work-hardened and stronger. (Stainless steel work-hardens significantly.) At that diameter, even at minimum yield stress, the strength is over half a ton. Ultimate tensile strength well over a ton.

The wire that contains the ends of the handle on the wood case I use for the 184 is 1/8" mild steel, annealed enough to be bendable with regular pliers, formed into a circle with the opening through the eyelet that is affixed to the case. (Meaning: It's not a closed ring.) Inside the handle, the leather is reinforced by a piece of steel of maybe 20 gauge and 1/8" wide (but probably a fairly strong alloy). That's the handle used on basically every old wood tuba case. My handle broke, but not those rings. What broke was the metal strap inside the leather after the leather wore out. I replaced it with a new one a few weeks ago, so I know what it takes to bend those rings.

The eyelets I hung my tuba on while prancing around in Fiesta Texas were 1/8" brass, which has a tensile strength far less than stainless steel.

I don't think there is a strap made by anyone for any luggage-carrying purpose that is warranted for more than the cost of the strap, including the straps that came with basically any case on the market.

The swivel hooks on older Pro-Tec straps are made the same way, but the ones I broke were on newer bags, which are made from pot metal.

Rick "wouldn't have recommended it without personal experience, plus maybe just a wee tad of expertise" Denney

[bloke]

ooh...
One of my favorites: a strap argument.

[Rick Denney]

ooh...
One of my favorites: a strap argument.

The first rule about strap-fight club is that we don't talk about strap-fight club.

Rick "forgot to mention that the Red Oxx absolutely, positively will NOT slip off my shoulder" Denney

[the elephant]

ooh...
One of my favorites: a strap argument.

The first rule about strap-fight club is that we don't talk about strap-fight club.

Rick "forgot to mention that the Red Oxx absolutely, positively will NOT slip off my shoulder" Denney

No argument, here. I pretty clearly stated that I am interested in buying one. I stated my concerns and asked why they chose to only give a rating to the strap and not the hardware. It is a legitimate question.

Keep in mind that you are conversing with the individual who is responsible for Irving Berg replacing the plastic hardware in the shoulder straps of the Tuxedo tuba bags with steel (back in 1994).

(He also very kindly paid to fully repair my tuba after the cheap, plastic hardware broke, sending my horn violently onto the stairs and then down several of them.)

I used my improved replacement Tuxedo bag that Mr. Berg sent me (with the nice, steel hardware) with that tuba, which I sold ASAP because the repairman did a craptastic job on the bell and bottom bow. (As the kids say: It never played the same again.) This incident led directly to my buying that 1958 Alexander 163 as well as to my becoming an apprentice brass repairman.

I have also had one of the ProTec bags lose a swivel clip because it was CAST and not forged. It had small bubbles in the load-bearing pin. That was another $750 horn repair, but the bag was used, so I had no recourse. I fixed that tuba (and it played just as well as it had before, thank you very much) and sold it with a new Cronkhite bag. I have only used Cronkhite bags since, except for the two blue Miraphone bags I have right now. And I only bought them out of a combination of immediate need and temporary poverty, heh, heh…

Rick, you should be paid a promotional fee for your fine advertising for Red Oxx; that was a very informative response, sir. Thanks!

[Rick Denney]

The biggest failure I had was caused by plastic hardware, for sure. But several times I’ve been really lucky to catch the case on the way to the ground after it slipped off my shoulder.

I didn’t say the Red Oxx strap was particularly comfortable, by the way. :) It stays put, but that grippy rubber could not be confused with padding.

Rick “dent bags” Denney

[bloke]

Regarding the argument joke, I didn't even read your posts, but only observed that they were long. Over and out.

[the elephant]

tl;dr — That was tl;dr

[cjk]

Regarding the argument joke, I didn't even read your posts, but only observed that they were long. Over and out.