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Bad shoulder - > light bass option


Ajoten
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Recently I have been suffering from painful tendons in right shoulder and elbow - Dr reckons rotator cuff thing.

My bass weighs 13lbs. Is that particularly heavy? And even then, given the weight is supported by wide strap on the painless shoulder, it might have nowt to do with it. 

Any road up, I am musing on getting something nice and light - that won't neck dive. I'd expect Steinbergery things to fit the bill, but what else should be on the shortlist? Apparently Danelectros are light, but it might be that the lighter the body the divier the neck. 

Andrew

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13lbs is a very heavy bass in my opinion. Most P basses I've owned have been around 8.5 to 9lbs. My current Jazz build is around 7.5lbs and that's with a high-mass Hipshot KickAss bridge fitted. The body is made of Paulownia, which is a very light wood which behaves in a similar way to swamp ash. Apparently.

 

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Hello Ajoten,

There are a few people on here with various shoulder/back injuries etc, so we might be able to help.

13lbs is an extremely heavy bass in my experience - that's about 5.8kg.

The average weight is about 4kg (9lbs) for a long scale, solid body bass like a Precision or a Jazz. 

There are lots of lighter basses tho, depending on how much you want to spend.

At the budget end, SGC Nanyo Basses are Japanese 1980s instruments, which come up for sale here from time to time and are very good value and very lightweight.

At the other end of the scale, American-made boutique builders like Mike Lull produce basses which are often sub-4kg but are expensive, very fine instruments. There are a hell of lot of instruments in between the two, so its not too hard to find something that fits the bill.

I don't know exactly what tendon problems you have, or what impact a heavy bass in having on them, but try wearing a lighter bass on a strap maybe and see if it feels more comfortable, and take things from there.

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13lbs is pretty darn heavy. Most folk with shoulder issues around here often seek a bass under 9lbs. My heaviest bass is 10.7lbs and that can be uncomfortable at times.

Any particular pickup configuration you favour? I've been eyeing up the Gibson EB basses myself, they are renowned for being consistently light in the region of 7lbs for a 4 string and 8 lbs for a 5-string. There is a new 2018 range inbound with some new colours, so the 2017 range and the differently styled 2013/2014 ranges are discounted everywhere.

A good tip is to see if any basses you fancy are stocked by Sweetwater (in the US) or Bass Direct (UK)- as both list the weights of the basses in their ads, e.g:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BAEB17NSBC

Edited by dannybuoy
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I've been having the same issue but i can't find a replacement for my TRB5PII that sounds half as good so i'm sticking with it. From time to time i give myself a rest and put new strings on the lighter TRB5P and gig with it for a while before going back to the one that has my tone out of the box. From every bass i tried the one that came closest to the tone in my head with the minimum weight possible was a Jerzy Drozd but it was too much money for a backup bass...

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The lightest bass I've ever owned is an Ibanez Soundgear, compared to some other basses you'd barely notice it was hanging off your shoulder.

The Yamaha TRBX I had was ok for weight, a little heavier than the Ibanez but not as heavy as a standard Precision or Jazz style bass.

 

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Yes 13lbs is horrendous! Especially if it doesn't balance well.

Even my single-cut Fodera through 5er was only 10.5lbs :P. But that balanced beautifully.

I had Maruszczyk build me a 33" Precision (Jake) bass, chambered, just about 7.2lbs, was a joy!

Si

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Really surprised a Mike Dirnt is weighing in at 13lbs that is heavy for a Fender even in their darkest days.....if you like the Mike Dirnt bass the Squier option may be a great way to go, they were built for the budget market and I assume the younger player, mine is one of the lightest Precisions I own and is a great bass, I have upgraded the bridge, tuners, pickups and wiring which has probably brought it up to the cost of a Mexican bass but it still weighs in at less than 9lbs....nice and manageable for my 50 year old back and shoulders

 

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2 hours ago, Ajoten said:

Can't really grumble about its balance. FYI Mike Dirnt MIM Precision. Probably the nicest bass I've ever played tbh. Will have to play it sat down for a few weeks and see if things improve. Not very rock n roll.

You can save half a pound by fitting Ultralite tuners. Not so sure it would make that much difference, however... 12.5lbs is still considerable!

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5 hours ago, Marvin said:

The lightest bass I've ever owned is an Ibanez Soundgear, compared to some other basses you'd barely notice it was hanging off your shoulder.

The Yamaha TRBX I had was ok for weight, a little heavier than the Ibanez but not as heavy as a standard Precision or Jazz style bass.

 

My Thunderbird is a real tank so when I picked up my Ibanez fretless it just feels,like there is nothing there at all. The thunderbird will remain number 1 despite its weight and my neck and shoulder issues, I have found that it doesn’t matter as long as I have a wide we’ll padded strap. Even 2 1/2 gigs don’t cause any fatigue for me. I think I could go to sleep with the Ibanez on and not notice it.

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4 hours ago, Cato said:

Cancel the BassChat expedition to Milwaukee, he's back.

Yeah, I had some password issues.

 

Blue

3 hours ago, T-Bay said:

My Thunderbird is a real tank so when I picked up my Ibanez fretless it just feels,like there is nothing there at all. The thunderbird will remain number 1 despite its weight and my neck and shoulder issues, I have found that it doesn’t matter as long as I have a wide we’ll padded strap. Even 2 1/2 gigs don’t cause any fatigue for me. I think I could go to sleep with the Ibanez on and not notice it.

I find my Gibson 1991 Thunderbird relatively thin and light.

Blue

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