WoodyD Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 I have a G-400, and find that the head stock dips towards the floor when you release it. as a learner, this is making it difficult for me to control the neck and position my left right. I have seem that the Iommi G-400 has a strap hook on the upper arc of the body. this seems like a great way to fix the problem with balance. has anyone modified their guitar by moving the strap hook to this position? does anyone know of any pitfalls in doing this? thanks for any feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyelcrrt1281733995 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 This is a fairly common complaint among SG players. You certainly can reposition the strap button, but it leaves a hole in one place, and makes a new one in another. If you're okay with that, its your guitar. Easier, though, to buy and use a 2-3" wide soft leather, suede or fabric strap and let the increased body contact help hold it up. Also, with only a little bit of practice, it becomes 2nd nature to always leave one hand on the guitar, either holding the neck up, or trapped under your picking hand or arm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyelcrrt1281733995 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Something else...if anyone else grew up watching all the country/western tv shows in the 50's/60's (I grew up halfway between Pittsburgh and Cleveland), one thing all those old time guitar pickers had in common. When they stopped picking and singing, they almost always wrapped their picking arm around the front of the guitar and took the guitar's weight off the shoulder. Sometimes, one or more players would actually hug their guitars in both arms, or set it in the crook of the elbow of their fretting hand. I never paid attention to that until after I hurt my back, and now I'm finding it very desirable to emulate them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokestack Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Moving the strap button won't always make much difference anyway. The SG is normally a light guitar...and the lighter it is, the more neck heavy it will be. [Heavy modern tuners don't help either] Like gary said, a wide "grippy" strap can help a lot. It's just a characteristic of the SG I'm afraid. It's always there but bothers some folks more than others. Balance on the strap is something that I've always been quite sensitive to. It's probabaly the reason for my never being a regular player of the SG...a guitar I love in every other respect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcwillow777 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Defintely in the strap. I don't have a wide strap for my G-400, only 2", but I do have a leather strap that has a suede leather on the back side, it's rough. The rough leather keeps my G-400 from the neck dive, I have never had that problem with this strap, and I don't have to hug my guitar either, it just stays put. I love the neck on my G-400. I really think the upper frets have better access than my Strat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodyD Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 Thanks guys. I will 'borrow' a buddy's wider strap and give it a try, see if it helps. or try a strap that doesn't slide about so easy. my main concern was that the Iommi G-400's upper arc was somehow reinforced to take the load of the strap hook being up there. didn't want to bugger a new guitar without checking on the possible consequences. thanks for the input, glad I posted here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RotcanX Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Eh, you work with enough SGs, you eventually get used to it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TVT Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 I moved mine on a "bolt on" SG to the back of the neck and no more dive! On the setneck it may leave a little less room to do so but I guess it can still be placed there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcwillow777 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Nice collection of SGs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEPI Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Eh' date=' you work with enough SGs, you eventually get used to it... [img']http://www.marantatech.com/Graphix/SG7.jpg[/img] Another war story...I agree, if you work with 'em long enough you just get used to it. I didn't have strap locks on a '63 that I gigged with for about 1 1/2 years as my only guitar, and just had the stock strap button. I'd gotten accustomed to the neck dive but my beef was, if whenever my hands weren't on it, (in between songs, taking a drink, wiping my hands etc.), it would fall forward; meaning the top horn would fall away from my body. The rather incredulous war story?: We've got the crowd really worked up, I put my hands up in the air and start clapping to the beat, so does the crowd. Before I know it, the strap releases from the strap button, down goes the SG and hits the base plate of my mic stand!!! The old round dome type.. Reflex had me on it and I grabbed it immediately, mega adrenalin rush, strapped it back up, hit a chord and much to my surprise she was still in tune!! We played the rest of the set, and on the break I inspected the damage to the bottom horn. About a 1" ding or I should say gouge but that was it...Sure wish I still had it..........J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob SG1281734027 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 This is a very common problem with SG's, especially G400's. As mentioned above, a good strap with either some width or some really good grip will offset this problem. Relocating the strap button won't help a ton, but will help some. I've owned a number of SG's over the years, from Gibson Standard, Epi Elitist to a few G400's and all of them had the neck dive issue to some degree. It's something you get used to as an SG player I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iStrumAmpGoBoom Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Happened to my G-400 but I bought a new strap and it stays in place :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanFoFyan Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 i have a nice 2.5 inch leather strap and it holds it in place almost always. i also changed my heavy chunky tuners for some light vintage keystone tuners and now there is virtually no neck dive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AS90 Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Welcome back 2008 :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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