Right before the big NAMM show in California last month, we were contacted by Rachael Becker at Heavy Leather NYC to gauge our interest in reviewing a couple of her company’s custom leather guitar straps. Now, we’ve always been big on guitar accessories here, but never that big on the non-electronic variety. However, given our efforts to branch out a bit in 2010, we agreed to take a look at her offerings. We ran into her at NAMM, fresh from delivering a new strap to Slash, where she said we’d be getting a handmade Black Beauty and Ballroom Blitz in the mail soon. And now that they’ve arrived, we’re having a hard time letting them go!

The Black Beauty is part of Heavy Leather NYC’s Western line. The base leather is a soft, 5/6 oz. cowhide lined with a soft suede. The top of the three-inch wide strap is hand-distressed, painted and studded with three vintage conchos. A heavy chrome buckle is employed to adjust the length of the strap. We were sent a ‘black on black’ Black Beauty, but you can also get it in black with maroon or black with gold colorways. The Ballroom Blitz is part of the company’s Rock-N-Roll line. It consists of a similar base leather and suede configuration, but the top has a metallic trim sewn on. It too has a large chrome buckle to adjust length to taste. The 2.5-inch wide Ballroom Blitz is available in three colorways – black, silver and gold.

The first thing that strikes you about these straps is that they are extremely well made. All of the sewn on detail is there to stay. The Black Beauty was a good fit with my Les Paul Custom. The strap was comfortable and well-balanced. The buckle, which I thought might be uncomfortable, laid flat across my back and was hardly noticeable. There was also little to no neck-cut from the edge of the strap as it laid across my shoulder. About the only downfall to the Black Beauty/Les Paul combo I could find is that the strap made the guitar that much heavier. The Black Beauty runs $169.

The Ballroom Blitz, with its smaller width, was a hit on my Stratocaster – not to mention the black and silver details on the strap looked awesome with my black-on-black guitar. Again, there is no concern with the large buckle or neck-cut. The strap has good balance and is solid without being firm or rigid. The Ballroom Blitz also looked and felt killer on my pair of Ibanez Talmans. The Blitz sells for $70.

Both straps prove once again that there is nothing that beats solid, handmade craftsmanship. Heavy Leather NYC delivers the goods with these two offerings. If these are indicative of the rest of Rachael’s line, then I expect other guitarists will be joining the likes of Lemmy, KK Downing, Uli Jon Roth and Slash by donning her Heavy Leather very soon. That’s our take anyway… your mileage may vary!

Check out pics of the Black Beauty, Ballroom Blitz and a Heavy Leather NYC custom pick pouch below. You can check out the full like of Heavy Leather NYC’s straps and accessories here.