The idea is amazing. A strap lock, a pick holder and a cable holder all in once, it's really smart! Having it all located in a convenient location on the guitar is great.
However, the actual handling of it is awkward at best, as the SmartLock is not particularly good at any of the 3 things:
- The strap lock is really tight. I have a very basic Fender strap which is not crazy thick and pretty standard Squier strap holders and at first I didn't think they would even fit on. Some application of violence later I got it on and well it is really tight now.
- The pick holder is fairly small. It holds a flat 0.73 pick comfortably, a similar pure tone can be squeezed in, with some force you can make a 1.5mm pick just about fit. Forget anything wider.
- Getting a cable into the cable holder is really fiddly, you need to bend the holder dangerously far and the strap lock is in the way. Once the cable is inside it's good, but the process is so tedious that it's not worth the hassle when changing guitars. Bummer.
Everything about it feels sort like you'll break it because you always need to bend and squeeze it hard, so I'd say 2 stars. However given it is very affordable and there's two in one package 3 stars.
I think there's the idea of a good product in here. Make the pick holder bigger and add a plastic spring (like the Dunlop one), give the cable holder a separate locking mechanism from the strap lock and make the strap lock hole bigger but rubberized for a bit more money and it would be fantastic.
