Part of the fun of having a blog is being able to pimp awesome things or companies that I find. This is not an endorsed advertisement. I will always tell you if I sell ad space to a company here. This is stuff I use and love enough to share.
This week I want to share Couch (www.couchguitarstraps.com) with you.
Do not let their website fool you. They don’t only make guitar straps. They mostly make guitar straps, sure, but they also make things like wallets, belts, and camera straps. All of their products are made from recycled upholstery or vinyl, and are 100% vegan. Now, that sort of thing really doesn’t mean very much to me, hell I own a leather jacket and love steaks, but it’s always nice when I can get awesome things and they’re green and cruelty free. For those of you that do care about that, well, there you go.
The quality of their products is tremendous. When I first got my Les Paul, I knew I needed to get a heavy duty strap that I would trust the safety of the guitar to (with the help of some Dunlop Straploks). I happened to see what looked like a leather strap (actually recycled vinyl upholstery) with a neat design on it via BoingBoing and was linked over to the Couch site. Being a large guy, I sometimes have a difficult time finding straps long enough to wear my guitar at a comfortable height. The Couch straps measurements looked good, so I decided to pull the trigger on it. When it finally I arrived, I couldn’t have been happier. The strap is plenty long, with adjustment room to spare. It’s exceptionally well made, and has really stood up to the abuse I’ve put it through. It’s stitched really well and made out of great, sturdy materials. Even the tabs, the bits on the ends that hook on to the guitar, are high quality. This is usually a major point of failure and cheapness on straps, even though it’s one of the most important parts.
It’s gotten to the point that whenever I get a new guitar, especially if I think I’m going to use it on stage, I immediately order a Couch strap and buy a set of Straploks for it.
Then, when my old wallet started falling apart, I decided that Couch was the best place to get a new one. One problem: I love chain wallets, and they don’t make any. I shot them an e-mail about the possibility of adding a hole for a chain to the wallet. They agreed to do it for a nominal fee (cost of labor to do it, basically), and I couldn’t be happier with the wallet. It’s a great piece of work and is standing up to daily abuse even better than I had hoped.
So, I encourage you to click over to their site and check out what they have. If they have something that catches your eye, go ahead and get it. You’ll love it. It’s a great company with great products, and I want to send them all the business I can.
– B
Extant Musings 
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