- Really comfortable, thick strap
- Can be used with heavy guitars, not just bass guitars
- Takes away a huge portion of the weight off your back
- Double holes for maximum flexibility
- Little overpriced considering the materials used and the overall quality
- Plastic smell might be annoying after a while
- During hot weather conditions, you may feel extra heat while you're wearing this :)
Hello there, back again with another article for you! This time, we will be looking at Marleaux bass comfort straps. I wanted to experience whether a thicker and wider strap could ever help me with my heavier instruments. Therefore, I got myself the Marleaux bass comfort strap, which is basically a bass guitar strap and just wanted to share the experience with you.
Table of Contents
About Marleaux
Marleaux is a German bass guitar company that has been active since 1990. The company builds handmade bass guitars in one of the highest-priced, highest-quality segments you can purchase!
See Marleaux Bass Guitars here
Marleaux not only manufactures bass guitars but also features bass guitar strings, bass preamp pedals and high-quality comfort straps. In this article, I would like to feature their comfort straps. The reason I have chosen Marleaux was not to use it with my Ibanez SRC6 short-scale bass guitar, which is one of the lightest instruments I have ever seen. 
My choice was purely based on having a comfortable experience with my Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid PT-7. As you may have guessed, this guitar is a 26.5″, 7-string guitar that features a mahogany body.
I must say it’s pretty heavy, and standard straps don’t really feel comfortable, as they don’t have a wide area that surrounds your shoulders and takes that extra weight. Instead, they have the opposite effect: you almost feel like the strap cuts into your shoulder area. 
To prevent this problem, I started researching comfort straps on the market. Unfortunately, most straps that are made for guitars don’t necessarily claim to solve this problem. So I thought I should have a look at what bass players use, as they usually have to deal with more weight than we do with electric guitars.
Marleaux comfort straps come in 3 different sizes (or lengths). Apart from length, they are identical and feature a neoprene material that is 8.5cm wide.
Tech Specs
| Marleaux Straps | Tech Specs |
|---|---|
| Type | Flexible |
| Material | Neoprene |
| Width | 8.5cm |
| Adjustable Length | |
| Short | 85cm to 105cm |
| Long | 97cm to 122cm |
| X-Long | 105cm to 145cm |
| Colour | Black |
8.5cm is the width of the pad, and the base of the strap is 5cm in width. Both ends of the strap feature dual holes. This may probably be due to heavy instruments featuring double strap buttons to have maximum security with your comfort strap.
However, on electric guitars, you will be able to use only a single hole. I have tried using both by folding the end underneath the wider area, but the distance between the strap button and the bottom wouldn’t allow it. This is definitely for guitars/basses with double strap buttons 🙂 On the right strap button, I prefer using the first hole as shown in the image below. 
But for the left strap button, if we follow the same approach, you actually end up with the extra length of the strap end being in touch with your left hand when you play above the 15th fret.
The only solution is to cut this end, but I don’t think one ever would have a problem with using the 2nd hole, as overall, this strap is built like a tank! As presented here, yes! Marleaux bass comfort straps can be used with electric guitars as well!
The thick padding really works! This guitar is a pain in the neck (literally!) to play, but with the Marleux Comfort Strap, I don’t really feel the weight anymore. It’s a really comfortable strap and a safe/stable way to play these heavier, longer-scale length instruments. 
As for the size or length that you should be aiming for, I can only say it depends. I’m an average-sized dude with 1.75cm in height. I have picked up the long one, which is adjustable from 97 cm to 122 cm.
The long one is the most popular one with an average of 4.9/5 ratings. I have also gone through all the user reviews to see how they picked up the right size. It’s pretty simple; it completely depends on your body size. 
If you are a huge guy, you may want to go for the extra-long version. In order to be fully sure, I actually tried my regular strap on my Schecter and determined the ideal adjustment for this guitar. That length was around 102-105 cm, which perfectly lands in a large option. I believe I could even go for the short one, but then it would be limited in length in case I would like to extend it a bit more.
Review
To summarise, if you are after a solid and comfortable guitar or bass strap that would carry all the weight of your instruments, I would definitely recommend it. Just be careful with the version you are adding to your cart. It’s a bulky strap, so don’t expect a fine, thin strap. But this is where it shines. The pad really works, and you won’t have any pain in your shoulder area. Price-wise, it’s 66€ for all sizes. I would say it’s slightly overpriced. I would expect it to be in more like a 50€ price range. But given the fact that it’s made in the EU, Germany, I can understand.
Apart from the price tag, I must say, after a while, I started disliking the smell of the plastic coming from the strap. I believe the material used for the thick padding is pretty bad-smelling, and I’m not talking about the smell of sweat mixed with the materials on the strap here. It’s pure, fresh plastic smell! 🙂 Lastly, during hot weather, you may really feel the extra heat on your back around where the strap hugs you, it’s that large for a strap! 🙂 Also, these don’t look like mass-produced straps. Marleaux Company can be considered a boutique bass guitar company. So, no wonder, they are also able to supply one of the best straps around in this price range and still succeed with them! 
Pricing & Availability
I got mine from Thomann (as always), and paid €64 back in 2021. Currently, it’s priced at €66, which is just around 3% price increase in 5 years. So I think it’s nice to see the company is not becoming more greedy through these years. I think it’s already a lot of money for a strap, so better to see a stable price! 🙂
Check out Marleaux straps on Thomann here
Although it’s almost impossible to supply Marleaux’s accessories from any other online store other than Thomann, you may want to check out Reverb just in case these are available over there, too.
Check out Marleaux brand on Reverb here
I hope you have enjoyed this brief article. Thanks for visiting my blog and supporting me so far! I will hopefully see you in the next review here!
