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eshop at web store for Custom Straps Made in America at Action Custom Straps in product category Musical Instruments & Supplies

WIN up to $10,000 & use 10,000 Links to Made in the USA Products
Win up to $10,000 by using Made in America Secrets, it is the only website providing product specific links for Made in America Custom Straps, and 10,000 other American Made products. Finding any of the Made in the USA products in our database is made easy by using our search and navigation buttons. Clicking any of our links that result from searching for products connects the consumer to an online store that sells them.

Made in America Secrets is a unique search engine like tool that when used, returns only Made in America product providers and their web stores. We also are the only website giving away up to $10,000 for buying Ameircan made products. Our giveaway includes more too. Visitors can also WIN $100 and $1,000 just for buying Made in America products through our website. Check out our WIN $10,000 page it provides the complete details. No gimicks either we pay real money!

Since it's free - try our site next time you are looking for anything made in the US like American Furniture, American Apparel & Clothing, or even Watches that are Made in Detorit, Michigan. Check out our Gift Ideas tab when searching for Made in USA gifts it's quick and easy saving you valuable time. Also if you love Pinterest like we do, check out our Pinnables tab or go direct to our Pinterest Boards. These images are great as reminders for the next time you want to buy American Made products. Our research told us approximately 150,000,000 US consumers are either very interested or extremely interested in buying Made in America products. For them, one of the greatest deterrents to buying Made in America products is not being able to quickly find them. We solve that problem with Made In America Secrets it makes it easy for the US consumer to find and buy any one of thousands of Made in America products. The following are a few examples of these:


Made in America products in the Musical Instruments & Supplies category: American Made Custom Straps, Banjos, Loudspeaker Management Systems, Speaker Cabinets, Wood Guitar Picks, Fret Clearners, Guitar Strings, Bassoons, Bass Guitars, Guitar Scratch Pad, Folk & World Instruments, Guitar Protectors, The Vision DAC, Rack Gear & Processors, Leather Guitar Straps, Drums & Percussion , Amps, String Blocks, Cable Plugs, Leather Amp Handles, Church Organs. All from great American Made manufacturers. We link the consumer to thousands of Made in the USA products in over fifty categories.


Become a more informed American Made shopper by reading our buying tips
The Tip is 'Don't procrastinate'

For years I've been buying ink jet cartridges from a big box office supply store. These cartridges were made overseas and labeled with the well-known brand of a large American printer company.

One I remembered a local store that advertised quality cartridges. I had traveled by this local store hundreds of times but never stopped. This time I stopped at the local store. To my surprise I discovered that they carried the cartridge I needed and it was a Made in USA cartridge. Made in Chicago, to be precise, and it was half the price of the imported ones I had been buying for years. The quality is exceptional and they last longer too. Who knew?

After that experience, I make a point to stop at every store I can. By doing so, I've been finding more and more Made in America products. Occasionally the clerks don't know the country of origin; this can be discouraging but finding the origin information yourself isn't difficult I've come to realize.

Believe it not, there are actually a number of computers made in the US including laptops made in the USA.

When the label is not visibly displayed I use the other Made in America buying tips to help me find Made in US. If the store doesn't carry what you are looking for, use Made in America Secrets to find it and tell the manager about your experience at their store. If enough people are asking for Made in America products stores will begin to carry them.


Buying Tip Continued - Read more on Made in America Products by Action Custom Straps

Our story actually begins many years ago in 1978. I had just bought my first 35 mm camera (a Minolta XG-7) and I was proud of it, and I wanted to buy a classy looking camera strap. I looked for some time, but found while there were many camera straps available, I couldn't find one that I thought was worthy of being on my new camera. That may sound snobby, but I also noticed that the straps available at that time usually had a lot of metal hardware that would scratch the camera. Some people don't care, but when I get something new, I like to take care of it.

So, I went to the closest Tandy Leather Store here in Indianapolis and I bought the softest black leather I could find. This happened to be cabretta leather which was even softer than some glove leather. I hand cut the pieces and then my wife, Dena, sewed it together. We didn't know at that time but the first Action Custom Camera Strap had just been born.

Later, in the 1980's, because of the positive reaction to my camera strap and one which I made for my friend, Larry Roberts of New Palestine, IN, (who had gotten me interested in 35 mm photography) we decided to try and make a business of making and selling custom camera and then later, guitar straps. The we I speak of consisted of Dena, her cousin, Paul Hilton, and myself. We named the business Action Custom Straps.


We set up a booth at different camera shows and we advertised in Modern and Popular Photography as well as American Photographer and Shutterbug. We didn't have large ads because our budget wouldn't allow it. We instead put our money in a color brochure which we sent when someone would respond to our ads.


In 1986, we displayed our custom camera straps at the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) Show in Las Vegas. Here, we were able to make the contacts we needed to meet independent sales representatives who would eventually cover most of the United States with our custom camera straps. At the show we also had the opportunity to talk to many major camera manufacturers, such as Nikon, Minolta, Canon and others. And while there was interest in our straps, we decided that mass production was not what we were interested in. We did and still do enjoy working with individuals most of all. In that, our philosophy has not changed. We don't want to make the most straps, just the BEST!

Of course, we had some other ideas, like making console inlays for Harley Davidson. This is a picture of my ?83 FXR with a diamondback rattlesnake inlay - complete with rattle. And of course, like any good Harley riding custom strap maker, I made up a camera strap and submitted it to Milwaukee. It was black leather with the bar and shield on one side and Harley Davidson in classic script on the other side. (By the way, I have always been partial to red and black on my Harleys. I painted this bike candy red and black using spray cans! And yes it was as good a paint job as it appears in the picture.)

Sometime later, we made one last full page flyer exclusive to our camera straps. We thought it turned out pretty good. We narrowed our selections down to a few we thought were the best and YES that is dark and premium white mink on the right.

However, in late 1986 we made the decision to suspend all operations with Action Custom Straps. We had found that it was too expensive to advertise to get individuals to write for information and then order a strap. And it was too long a process as well. And when we were selling at wholesale, and paying a commission to a sales representative, it was hard to make much money on an item that we carefully handmade. But although we suspended all operations with Action Custom Straps, we still couldn't get it out of our minds that there had to be some way to make it work. In the meantime, the years roll on by.

1999 - Levi, our son, then 19, had taken an interest in collecting guitars and so when we made the decision to open Action Custom Straps again, this time taking advantage of the opportunity the internet offers, guitar straps became our main focus. The Guild (D-35) that you see in a couple of the pictures of our guitar straps is mine. I bought it when Levi was born in 1980. The old Harmony Monterey shown in some of the pictures was my father's. He bought it sometime in the 1940's.

We still offer custom camera straps, and although we have redesigned them to better show off the full snakeskin inlay they are very close to the original design.

Nikki, our daughter who joined us in making our straps in May of 2002, and I build all the straps and Dena does an excellent job of sewing them. So, if you want something made just for you, give us a call!

And there you have a brief history of Action Custom Straps. Thank you for taking the time to read Our Story!

Terry & Dena Misner, Levi Misner and Nikki Misner O'Neal

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