Heavyweight 8 Ounce Leather Tool Bag For Your Motorcycle, from Rusty Knuckles

Heavyweight 8 Ounce Leather Tool Bag For Your Motorcycle, from Rusty Knuckles

For a long time we had been plotting on our own style of tool bag. We wanted a clean and classic design that could compliment any bike with flowing lines and choice style. Our concept is based on numerous sketches and going through our own tools to find the right dimensions and fork widths. These bags were made to fit wide glide, narrow glide, sissy bars, attached to the frame or a variety of other options due to the flexibility on how they are mounted with heavy duty zip ties.

The leather we use is a shoulder hide that comes in 8 oz weight and the options are currently for Chestnut Brown, Dark Brown, Black and Ox Blood Red. We do have some customization options on these bags, so get in touch with us. The D Rings are a great compliment to the bag as buckles tend to rattle and this is a quick cinch solution to strapping tight and rolling. Each bag is hand cut, riveted and sewn in our shop to insure the highest quality and made right here in North Carolina. If you ever have an issue with our bags ripping or tearing, send it back and we will fix for free as we stand behind our quality. 

Order one of our tool bags today

Custom Studded Denim & Leather Guitar Strap

The guitar strap is made out of 8 oz. leather that is tanned and softened to be an easily worn for hours upon end. The strap has screw holes cut out for a variety of mounting options and adjusts from 46" inches to 65" inches. If you are looking for a specific length, just let us know upon checkout and we can get the strap set up to your exact specs for a perfect right out of the shipping box.

For this guitar strap we use vintage black denim as the fabric, which is then glued and stitched to the heavyweight leather strap.

The guitar strap is 2.5" inches wide at full width and then tapers on both ends.

Check out this strap and more on our Etsy Store

Rusty Knuckles triple row studded Denim & Leather guitar strap

Rusty Knuckles triple row studded Denim & Leather guitar strap

Rusty Knuckles triple row studded Denim & Leather guitar strap

Details on our custom guitar with acid etched aluminum pick guard

Details on our custom guitar with acid etched aluminum pick guard

Rusty Knuckles Custom Leather Motorcycle Seat

Rusty Knuckles Custom Leather Motorcycle Seat

Creating a custom motorcycle seat is a lot of work and design ideas, but when it all comes together, there is no better feeling. Functional art is what drives us daily and make a seat that will reside on a custom motorcycle is one of our favorite endeavors. 

Want to buy this seat? Hop over to our Etsy page

Musical Artist St. Vincent, and Ernie Ball, has Developed the First Female Guitar!

Music artist St. Vincent, with the help of Ernie Ball, has designed the very first female guitar!

Annie Clark shares the inspiration behind her new signature Ernie Ball Music Man guitar, which was envisioned and designed by the Grammy-Award winning guitarist with support from the award-winning engineering team at Ernie Ball Music Man. Crafted to perfectly fit her form, playing technique and personal style, the St. Vincent model was designed and developed in Ernie Ball Music Man's San Luis Obispo, California factory. It is available in black or custom Vincent Blue, a color hand-mixed by Annie. Featuring an African mahogany body, Ernie Ball Music Man tremolo, gunstock oil and hand-rubbed rosewood neck and fingerboard, St. Vincent inlays, Schaller locking tuners, 5-way pick up selector with custom configuration and 3-mini humbuckers, the guitar also comes complete with Ernie Ball Regular Slinky guitar strings.

Read more about St. Vincent's signature guitar here!

To pre-order a guitar, visit: http://musc.mn/StVincentSignature

McSwain Guitars Proves That One Off Custom Gear Is Just As Important As A Great Song

McSwain Guitars Proves That One Off Custom Gear Is Just As Important As A Great Song

If you choose to use a guitar to speak your language and also as a visual selling point, McSwain Guitars might just be right up your alley. Amazingly precise detail work and known for their solid sound, these guitars aren't just works of art, but maybe the muse you need to kick out the jams. I found out about them through links on Vimeo and once I started to explore, I just had to report back and show what I had found. 

Custom ESP Guitar For Gary Holt of Exodus and Slayer Painted With His Own Blood by Vincent Castiglia

Custom ESP guitar for Gary Holt of Exodus and Slayer painted with his own blood by Vincent Castiglia

Do yourself a favor and dive into the detailed illustration work of Vincent Castiglia. He is renowned for his work with using human blood to paint intricate narratives and has now taken that level of detail upon a custom ESP Guitar for Gary Holt of Exodus and Slayer fame. The guitar was presented at NAMM this past weekend and ended up taking two months to paint and roughly 19 vials of blood from Gary Holt himself. 

Chewbacca Plays Bass and Rusty Knuckles Customs Made His Guitar Strap

Chewbacca Plays Bass and Rusty Knuckles Customs Made His Guitar Strap

Star Wars‬ fun fact, Chewbacca used to play in a band at the Cantina on Bass. When things didn't jive with Chewie's style of finger slappin', the lead singer's Imperial ways got the best of him. A fit was thrown and Chewbacca being the Rebel he is, knocked him out cold and left on a starship with another infamous smuggler. We are proud to have made his bass strap and to support Rebels all across the galaxy.

Check out more of our work on Flickr

Brand New Buzzoven Belt Buckles Just Posted To Our Webstore

Brand New Buzzoven Belt Buckles Just Posted To Our Webstore

Quite stoked about the huge response for the Buzzoven Belt Buckle, so we went ahead and started to produce some for our webstore. Each buckle is etched from aluminum plate and they are roughly 3.25" wide by 2.65" tall. Check into our webstore and order yours today.

Custom Belt Buckles Rolling Out From Rusty Knuckles

Rusty Knuckles custom belt buckle shapes ready for new designs

Cranking out new custom merchandise from week to week can be quite tough. It might be a line of guitar straps one week and next it could be merch associated with a brand new album about to launch as part our music label. Either way, we are neck deep here in the shop in a wide variety of projects. Keeping that diversity is what we enjoy the most and one in which keeps us constantly busy. 

Get in touch with us about custom gear for your band - ralph.knuckles at gmail

Rusty Knuckles Custom Leather Straps Are Made One At A Time And Built To Last

Muddy Roots custom guitar strap

Our custom straps are made from eight to ten ounce leather and built to last a lifetime with the proper care. Each strap is made by hand and absolutely unique from one to the next due to the varying types of leather and with the level of customization we offer. Feel free to get in touch with us about your custom project or to even match your guitar with the perfect strap.

New Custom Belt Buckles From Rusty Knuckles

Shovelhead belt buckle design from Rusty Knuckles

Creating new items is just something we wake up pondering over. It could be a new tshirt design, album cover, a belt buckle or maybe a new style of motorcycle bag. Whatever it may be, we labor for hours thinking everything through and thinking on what might be a great new product. 

Order one of our custom belt buckles from our Etsy store

How To Create A Unique And Custom Belt Buckle

How To Create A Unique And Custom Belt Buckle

Making anything from scratch requires a lot of preparation and an immense amount of research. A good while back, we got the itch to start creating our own line of belt buckles. After purchasing a really cool heavyweight bronze buckle from a street vendor in Seattle, I was looking at the design and kept thinking I can do this. That simple notion, sent me on a vast research quest reading upon lost wax casting, sand casting, metal etching and also machining metals in a variety of ways.

Building A Guitar Strap and Belt Rack From Scrap Metal And Reclaimed Wood

Building A Guitar Strap and Belt Rack From Scrap Metal And Reclaimed Wood

If you are going to be doing any type of trade shows or events for your company, having a unique look to your display is paramount. I learned early on that having a folding table with a drape cloth can work well, but it just didn't convey the message that I wanted to stand behind. 

We spend a great deal of time crafting great merchandise and working with many bands on truly unique items, so for our booth at events we want to stand out. Along with having unique show furniture I wanted something that would fit the vibe of our brand and had to be easy to break down, be a work horse of an item and to be stout in order for it last for years to come. 

Custom Guitars Made From Reclaimed Wood In Detroit, From CBS News

The final product of Mark Wallace's guitars, made from reclaimed wood in Detroit

Check out the original post on CBS News

"Detroit has more than 70,000 abandoned buildings. Among them is an old Cadillac plant that houses piles of wood. Where others see trash, Mark Wallace sees buried treasure.

Wallace started making guitars out of Detroit's reclaimed wood a year and a half ago. He not only enjoys making the instruments but also playing them.

"It feels great, as an instrument. It's also great to know that it's something I built and something that came out of the city of Detroit," Wallace told me.

Decades ago the wood for the city's buildings came from old growth forests where trees grew slowly. Wallace says the lumber has tight grain patterns and provides great resonance and sound. 

Custom Leather Straps For A Hot Rod Gas Tank

Custom Leather Straps For A Hot Rod Gas Tank

It can be a damn good feeling to see the work you just put a lot of time and effort into go onto a vehicle to be appreciated. Big thanks to Jose of the Road Devils Car Club and specifically the all active military chapter the Devils Brigade for the project. Need some custom work done, send us an email ralph.knuckles at gmail.

Diamondback Stringworks Announce The Release Of Their Latest Customized Guitar

Husky Burnette and the brand new "Snake Charmer" custom guitar from Diamondback Stringworks

Since launching Diamondback Stringworks in March 2013, 21-year-old A.J. Hancock has built custom guitars for such roots royalty as Peewee Moore, Husky Burnette, J.B. Beverly and Steve Earle. The business blossomed from a passion honed over the course of five years until Hancock perfected his skill at building one-of-a-kind banjos, electric guitars, mandolins and pick-ups.

Shaping An Aluminum Front Fairing For A Buell Race Bike

Shaping An Aluminum Front Fairing For A Buell Race Bike

Our english wheel is being put through its paces. After completing the wire frame to help shape out the style of the fairing, now it's time to get the aluminum rolled into the right shapes. Glad to have Mopar Rob over and helping out on the front fairing from time to time, on the Buell race bike.

Custom Leather Guitar Strap For A Martin Guitar, From Rusty Knuckles

Custom Leather Guitar Strap For A Martin Guitar, From Rusty Knuckles

When a custom order for a guitar strap comes in, we generally never know the full details of what type of instrument it is intended for. But when we receive photos such as this one from an elated customer, about our craftsmanship and gracing a beautiful Martin Guitar, we can't help but smile with a huge grin from ear to ear. Martin Guitars were established in 1833 and it is our goal with every custom product made to have that piece outlast it's owner and to be passed on to the next generation. We strive to keep Rusty Knuckles surging forward for decades to come.

Hazan Motorworks Walks The Line Of Beauty And Ridability With This Old Ironhead

Hazan Motorworks Walks The Line Of Beauty And Ridability

Reading through many blogs on music, art, design and of course motorcycles, there is a never ending parade of thoughts about how to walk a straight line. And to what exactly that proverbial straight line is vastly depends on what sub genre or niche is being spoken about. Unspoken rules are the norm and it takes a scholar to navigate through all the landmines, but then again if you are into the subject, you are generally a lifer within these niches.

Punk rock and hardcore is one of our mainstays and has been since late 80's as a young teenager. This genre seems to attract more diatribe than any other we have ever encountered because it is chock full of idealists and individuals whom are all relatively intelligent and the music is pure emotion spanning all subject matters. Sure, there may be fists flying and bodies moving in a form of break dance fighting that Zoolander would be baffled by, but it's fueled by passionate individuals whom challenge whats considered the norm.

What gets interesting though relating to thoughts about punk rock ideals on a bike build such as this one by Hazan Motorworks, is the fact that it is clearly a motorcycle and walks the tight rope of beauty and ridability. The same mindset of form and function that envelops punk rock is also a similar vibe within the motorcycle community. Every motorcycle becomes an extension of the rider through the physical riding stance and the way a rider adorns their machine. When looking at a few sites such as BikeExif the bike builds tend to get torn apart by readers and verbal assaults are the norm. Purists want a motorcycle too look great and seem ready for all types of riding. Artisans want to build a rolling sculpture that looks as good sitting in the garage as it does glistening down the highway. 

Hazan does one hell of a job of landing square in the middle and I can bet that with just a backpack with some basic tools and maybe some oil, a weekend 500 mile run is easily doable and heads will turn at every corner. Builds such as this one are a great reminder that individual creativity should be honed and perfected over time. Anyone can go buy pair of Red Wing boots, grow a beard and ride an old bike. Creating a new vision from scratch is the punkest thing one can do and is pure DIY through and through.

Is it an art deco barn find or a machine built from a singular vision?

The raw metal details speak volumes on the craftsmanship

Clean lines and ready for the wind

Harley never could imagine a futuristic build as this for an Ironhead

Desktop lathe and the remnants of aluminum shavings

Old To Gold, 6 Motorcyclists Reimagining The Way A Bike Should Flow, From Dice Magazine

Old To Gold, 6 Motorcyclists Reimagining The Way A Bike Should Flow, From Dice Magazine

Learning the details about why someone puts together a bike a certain way or their philosophy on things is a huge interest to me. Seeing the ideas behind the machine and the way an individual articulates their form of expression through two wheels is a feeling that will never fade away. Dice Magazine did a great job on this documentary and hope to see more.