No Doubt DRU Shaped My Strap Design Today (Part 7)
One day, my friend and I went to check out guitars at a music shop in Ochanomizu.
In the early '90s, Ochanomizu was in a full-blown music-shop boom.
The most fun was the ESP store. They had signature guitars from James and Kirk of METALLICA, my favorite band, so I was thrilled. Of course, as a high schooler, they were way out of my price range...
As I was looking around the shop, I suddenly spotted a guitar I recognized from a photo inside a LOUDNESS album jacket...
It was the Prime from killerguitar — the Rasta color version. The texture and detail were incredible, and it genuinely moved me.
They also had DRU's whitefeather strap, the same one AKIRA TAKASAKI used. Picking it up, the concho-studded strap had this wild, American feel to it. I remember being blown away that something this cool could exist.
There was also the Killer Guitars Phoenix bass that LOUDNESS bassist Taiji used, along with the same DRU whitefeather strap he wore too.
Looking back, there's no doubt DRU had an influence on the design of my strap brand today. It made that strong of an impression on my life. I have enormous respect for it — including making sure I never end up making something too similar.
Back to 1993. Anyway, the instruments back then all had beautiful bird's-eye maple fretboards — everything about that world just sparkled.
To be continued.