Thanks Rod for your very generous offer, that's exceptionally kind of you, but I shall follow JD's advice for now, tho,' and sand the edges and see how it goes. The belt was black and fairly close to 3mm thick, I cut it to the pattern of the old straps and it is the leather's stiffness that is also the problem, so I'll spend time wriggling it around to try to induce some suppleness, I hope! I had a call from the project coordinator today to say that rehearsals start next Tuesday (23 new songs), so I'm stuck with this for now. Hoping Mark replies soon, as I've two red and slightly swollen knuckles already! Hey Ho!