I was just thinking about this post and thought if the sap was going to hurt the straps people would have started to go bump in the night by now. With all the hangers out there that hang often, and pine trees being abundant throughout the U.S Im sure if the pitch was going to deteriorate the straps we would have read about it by now. So im sure besides the pitch being a big pain in the a..s there is no worry about them breaking from the sticky goop. If im wrong let me know cuz there's alot of pine trees here in Maine .