This guitar strap depict Muddy Waters story.

Front of the strap: Muddy was born in 1915. into a sharecropping family in Mississippi . He lived in a wooden shack. What is left of the cabin is currently displayed at the Blue's Museum in Clarksdale. At age 28 he headed out to Chicago. He took the train out of Clarksdale.

Back of the strap: He arrived at Illinois Central into what must have been a very different world to what he was used to. Eventually he made it big at the Checkerboard lounge and recorded with Chess records, hence the checkerboard pattern on the shoulder .

This strap is hand carved and embossed not just painted, so the design is slightly raised and will not wear out in a hurry. I used 3mm thick vegetable tanned Italian modelling hide ( cow hide ) and it is padded with 3 mm thick Neoprene ( it retains its shape ) which is covered in pigskin lining leather . It has a buckle attachment which is covered in Kangaroo leather . The button holes are also reinforced with Kangaroo leather and the strap is hand stitched right around with a thick saddlery grade nylon waxed cord.