I guess because the strap essentially becomes a permanent feature. But that wouldnāt bother me too much because a) I hate fiddling around changing straps over and b) I have about 1% of the basses that @Al1885 has (three) so I donāt need too many straps to avoid having to switch them over!
This is one of the reason I try not to have a favorite strap lock that I canāt live without. It would most likely being more expensive and multiply that by half the basses Iād gig with would already buy a brand new American Fender,
Luckily I usually bring either my MusicMan or Fender their strap lock share the same design. On the other hand all of my custom basses came with Schaller S-lock, while itās not my favorite at least I donāt have to deal with too many systems.
I, on the other hand, am a total opposite. I like working on my basses a lot. from setups, mods, drilling, soldering, widening pick up and control cavities with a chisel and hammerā¦you name it. iāve messed up quite a number of times too and sometimes youāll find scars on my instruments. i call those learning experiences lol. for some reason, i find myself modding my basses a lot before i can truly call them mine.
Iām of the same mind as you!
I put strap locks on my bass, and the screws for my strap buttons were larger than the new screws for the locks.
I was terrified.
So my friend helped me shove a bunch of toothpick bits in there.
Still working today!
Thatās probably as bad a job as you can do, and it still worked, so with this helpful gem of a story + all the actually useful and practical info from @Barney and others, I think you got this.
Iāve done the same and now I have small fortune invested in Levyās straps. So many that they should probably send me an invitation to their company Christmas Party.
Quick highjack because I am also a coward and didnāt want to risk a learning to setup my bass.
My Sterling Ray4 was having fretting issues after being setup in a shop twice(only paid once)⦠they didnāt solve decent low action and no fretting.
Kept blaming on bass being cheap(not a brand they sell - represent).
I got pissed and looked for a proper one⦠expensive⦠90ā¬.
The sound the bass makes is completely different from what it has ever done.
So yeah⦠quality pays off!
He also said he would teach me basics to do āon the roadā.
I get being a coward but learning basic maintenance like setups will really pay dividends over time
Setting up the instrument is not a one time thing. You may find you need to adjust it pretty often over time. I have to do a minimum of four per year on my instruments as the humidity and temperature changes here, and thatās even with heat pumps/aircons going
Possibly the 2nd or 3rd thing I learned about bass earlier this year when I picked it up. We can get some crazy temp swings in Colorado (60+ degrees over 48 hours type of stuff) so I make a point to check my truss rod pretty regularly.