Leather strap and Nitro finish

DarkskyZ

Forever noodling but loving it.
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Aug 10, 2020
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France
I feel kinda dumb asking this question after so many years but here I am...

I recently bought 2 PRS guitars with nitro finish (the super pair that are a Silver Sky and a Fiore).
I had nitro guitars before that but they were used and near vintage ones with well worn in finish.
I keep my guitars hung up on the walls with straps on, always ready to play so that means straps touch bodies. They never stay unplayed or moved for say more than a few days to a week if I am away.

In your experience, do I run a risk of leather eating the finish on my nitro guitars if I put leather straps on and leave them on ? What about just the leather tabs ? Don't most straps have them anyway ?

What is your experience with PRS nitro from the past few years, is it prone to finish burn ?
And if so, what kind of strap may I leave premanently on them without having to worry about ?

Thanks !
 
When I first started getting nitro'd guitars, I read way too many things online warning about reactions between the finish and chemicals used to tan leather, and even in the manufacturing of synthetics, plastics, etc. Decided it was better safe than sorry, and I just remove the strap when I'm not playing those. Better the slight hassle of that, than damage that I'd get pissed off about every time I look at the guitar (knowing I could have pretty easily prevented it!).
Maybe it's over-cautious, but again, really not too hard to take the strap on and off as needed, I think

And I'd 2nd what Toolmaster wrote - be careful with the wall hangers too. Most folks advocate using a piece of cotton cloth to cover the rubber that contacts the guitar. I keep mine in their cases, but if you're going to have them hanging or on stands, I'd cover up the contact points
 
Definitely make sure you get a nitro safe wall hanger. I use Hercules, but I also put custom cut black socks on them (thanks @Tosca ).

As for the straps, I'm hesitant to leave one on any of my nitro finished guitars. I switch to Schaller S-Locks on them so I can do quick strap on/off. Any poly finished guitar the strap locks stay stock, and the leather straps stay on.
 
I hang all my guitars on Hercules and always keep my quality leather straps on the guitars. I've never had an issue myself. YMMV
 
The wall hangers I have chosen specifically to be nitro friendly and I also have a PRS floating stand that I use for the "currently played" guitar which, if I am not mistaken, is said to be OK with nitro. Like @bodia I use the Hercules ones. I am still looking for a proper fabric tube I can use on them as they are the auto locking model. I'll have to look into that sock idea !

You are right this could potentially be a problem.

Putting on the strap everytime I play the guitar would be like having to open a case to access the guitar. I know as a fact that I only tend to play guitars at arm lengths and ready to play with a strap on. That is just how I am.
I used to have Schaller S locks on all my guitars before I had any PRS but now I hate the rattle they make, even the very latest improved ones.
 
The wall hangers I have chosen specifically to be nitro friendly and I also have a PRS floating stand that I use for the "currently played" guitar which, if I am not mistaken, is said to be OK with nitro. Like @bodia I use the Hercules ones. I am still looking for a proper fabric tube I can use on them as they are the auto locking model. I'll have to look into that sock idea !

You are right this could potentially be a problem.

Putting on the strap everytime I play the guitar would be like having to open a case to access the guitar. I know as a fact that I only tend to play guitars at arm lengths and ready to play with a strap on. That is just how I am.
I used to have Schaller S locks on all my guitars before I had any PRS but now I hate the rattle they make, even the very latest improved ones.
The daughter of a Forum member makes the covers. They're from cotton sock, I believe. She sows them up so you put on on each side of the hook. Visually, they look a little bit like putter covers. I use the Hercules auto lock hangers, as well. They work well on them.
 
I'd worry more about the wall hanger damaging the finish than the strap.

I bought my custom 24 used. The previous owner had left it on a wall hanger for too long and it damaged the finish by the headstock. It was a nice discount for me on an otherwise mint guitar.
Out of curiosity, was that a nitro finish on that CU24, or just really crappy material on the hanger? The poly-based finishes on the non-Nitro PRS guitars have generally been very safe for String Swings and Hercules hangers, and supposedly both brands won't react with nitro either (though note that John Mann found otherwise with a few Siler Sky guitars on String Swing hangers). So I'm curious what the combo was in your case.

I use the cut-off fingers of cotton gloves for my String Swings for my nitro-finished necks out of paranoia. I also take my leather strap off my Core PRS acoustic when not in use, since it has a nitro finish, again just in case.
 
I hang all my guitars on Hercules and always keep my quality leather straps on the guitars. I've never had an issue myself. YMMV
I use the PRS suede straps, and I had actually emailed their customer service asking if these were safe to leave on the nitro guitars. The response I got back was pretty generic, basically "we wouldn't recommend it" :(
 
Out of curiosity, was that a nitro finish on that CU24, or just really crappy material on the hanger? The poly-based finishes on the non-Nitro PRS guitars have generally been very safe for String Swings and Hercules hangers, and supposedly both brands won't react with nitro either (though note that John Mann found otherwise with a few Siler Sky guitars on String Swing hangers). So I'm curious what the combo was in your case.

I use the cut-off fingers of cotton gloves for my String Swings for my nitro-finished necks out of paranoia. I also take my leather strap off my Core PRS acoustic when not in use, since it has a nitro finish, again just in case.
Not sure what the finish is. The guitar is a 2017 core custom 24. I've been wondering. Anyone have any ideas what the finish would be?

I left the guitar on a stand on and off for a few weeks and I noticed a pattern imprinting on the finish where it contacted the stand. I've kept it in its case ever since. Because of that I suspect it is nitro.
 
I like Schaller strap locks. Easy on/off of the straps without concern of hanging straps getting snagged or making prolonged contact.
 
I have a pf09 nitro finished guitar. I have a leather strap. I keep the strap on all the time as the holes are so small on the strap and the buttons are so big on the guitar that I have to unscrew them to get the strap on. Hence I leave it. No sign of any problems so far. I have a leather strap on a nitro Strat and I leave that on too with no sings of problems
 
Not sure what the finish is. The guitar is a 2017 core custom 24. I've been wondering. Anyone have any ideas what the finish would be?

I left the guitar on a stand on and off for a few weeks and I noticed a pattern imprinting on the finish where it contacted the stand. I've kept it in its case ever since. Because of that I suspect it is nitro.
2017 would be poly
 
All of my guitars - a fair few nitro finishes - have Levy's leather straps permanently attached. I've been doing this since about 2010 when I gave up on Schaller Straplocks entirely because I decided that (for me) they were too much a pain to maintain... I've never had a problem with any of my guitars' finishes using Levy's leather straps.
 
I'd worry more about the wall hanger damaging the finish than the strap.

I bought my custom 24 used. The previous owner had left it on a wall hanger for too long and it damaged the finish by the headstock. It was a nice discount for me on an otherwise mint guitar.

For sure man. Every guitar hanger I have has a cloth over it so that does not happen, Sound advice
 
Not sure what the finish is. The guitar is a 2017 core custom 24. I've been wondering. Anyone have any ideas what the finish would be?

I left the guitar on a stand on and off for a few weeks and I noticed a pattern imprinting on the finish where it contacted the stand. I've kept it in its case ever since. Because of that I suspect it is nitro.
2017 would be poly
Yeah, I concur, unless this was some sort of special run, that should be a pretty standard "poly-based" finish from PRS. Not even the V12, the newer, better, finish.

Maybe email PRS customer service and ask them about it? If you supply the Serial Number they should (!) be able to look it up.
 
That is what I decided to try 2 days ago !
Not ideal but at least my guitars look better hanging without straps so that is a +. Time will tell.
I figure it this way: There's no ideal thing, there are only trade-offs. So in my case, it became a matter of priorities.

I like playing a clean guitar that's ready to do a session without any maintenance. The trade-off is that I lose a few seconds taking a guitar out of the case to play, and putting it back when I'm done. I lose ten seconds putting the strap on and taking it off. Every 4-6 months, I have to put a new humidipak in the case to keep the humidity at 45-50% RH, which also takes a second or two.

But there's so much less time lost to maintenance, trips to the tech, etc.

The bad news is that my studio doesn't look like every other bougie guitar player's studio with guitars hanging on the walls. The good news is that my studio doesn't look like every other bougie guitar player's studio with guitars hanging on the walls. :)
 
It's never too late to ask questions and seek advice. When it comes to nitro finish on guitars, it can be sensitive to certain materials, including leather. While leather straps can potentially cause issues with the finish over time, it largely depends on the specific type of leather and the chemicals used in the nitro finish. To minimize any risk, you can consider using straps with non-leather materials or using strap locks to prevent direct contact between the leather and the guitar's body. It's always a good idea to take precautions to protect your instrument. Additionally, you can check out this article on leather grades from https://vonbaer.com/blogs/blog/what-is-artificial-leather-and-is-it-good/ for more information.
 
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