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The weight of a bass


geoham

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I've found that all my favourite basses are in the 9-10lb range. I've never felt comfortable with super light instruments.  

The only time I had any discomfort because of weight was when I was playing 3-5 sets a night every night, but I sorted that out by buying a Gruv Gear Duo Strap (the Damien Erskine one).  I find a decent strap like the Gruv Gear, or the 3.5" Levys leather straps, take a big part of the weight and make heavier basses much more comfortable to play.

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Fitness and core strength are always a worthy goals, but they cannot paper over the cracks forever. The years always win in the end.

 

30 years ago, a back injury like mine would have meant retirement or taking up flute. Now I just find a lighter or better designed piece of gear and carry on.  I'm very thankful of the new choices that regularly become available. At this rate I'm good for another 15 years at least.

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I thought my BTB was heavy at about 7ibs untilI bought a Squire 70s vintage vibe which weighs 12.9lbs!

Not reading in to it anything about weight v tone (I do realisethere'smore to the sound than just weight), but when listening acoustically (with the right ear against the top horn) there is definitely more body/sustain to the Squire, and an even bigger difference between those 2 and the sr500 at about 4lbs.

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5 hours ago, Bassfinger said:

Pah, I don't uneerstand this moaning.  Compared to a 30 mile speed march with a 60lb bergan, and being made to carry the Gimpy as well because I was the biggest, wearing even the heaviest of basses for a mere gigs length is nothing. We'll be in serious trouble if we ever go to war if this is the state of our nations manhood!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Tongue firmly in cheek! ;))

 

Yea, but you do have a point...! 

 

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I know a player who refused to acknowledge anything other than a Hammond through a Leslie cab could produce a decent organ sound. This went on for many years.

 

He's now using Nord and getting a great sound. Age even gets to keyboard players in the end. 

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On 05/04/2022 at 11:05, geoham said:

Really? I'd never have thought that - just that they are slightly differently shaped.
It may make my goal of finding a lighter Jazz that sounds and feels as nice as my current one - my main gigging bass for about 18 years - a bit of a fools errand!
 

Why not just buy a lighter body for the Jazz you have and like already?

It would be a heck of a lot cheaper and less of a headache than hitting the road trying to find a suitable replacement.

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5 hours ago, miles'tone said:

Why not just buy a lighter body for the Jazz you have and like already?

It would be a heck of a lot cheaper and less of a headache than hitting the road trying to find a suitable replacement.

You are probably right from a practical perspective. However, I couldn’t bring myself to do it - I have some emotional attachment to it! It was my first ‘proper’ bass, and my only bass for many years. It’s been modded a little along the way, and I consider it one of a kind now. It was stolen and I was really upset, and thankfully recovered a few months later.

 

All of which now has me wondering how much I’d really get on with another Jazz! 

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I sold a Nanyo Bass Collection bass because it felt so light (I was used to a Warwick Thumb). It was a wonderful bass to play but it just seemed so insubstantial. That was a long time ago, since 2012 my bass of choice has been a very light Sei headless.

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On 08/04/2022 at 00:51, tauzero said:

I sold a Nanyo Bass Collection bass because it felt so light (I was used to a Warwick Thumb). It was a wonderful bass to play but it just seemed so insubstantial. That was a long time ago, since 2012 my bass of choice has been a very light Sei headless.

I think I’ve been of a similar mindset for years - heavy = better quality. It just makes sense, doesn’t it? Like a solid oak table vs an IKEA flatpack. Though my hand made lightweight P sounds and feels better than any other P I’ve owned, so I’ve clearly been wrong. And it doesn’t strain my back!
 

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4 hours ago, geoham said:

I think I’ve been of a similar mindset for years - heavy = better quality. It just makes sense, doesn’t it? Like a solid oak table vs an IKEA flatpack. Though my hand made lightweight P sounds and feels better than any other P I’ve owned, so I’ve clearly been wrong. And it doesn’t strain my back!
 

I think a lot of this mindset goes back to the 70’s. I remember being handed various guitars back then ( Fenders, Gibsons etc) and being told to ‘feel the weight of that’ as if weighing more than a small planet was some sign of a quality instrument. This was before they had fitted all the brass hardware too! It’s taken a while for people to realise that resonant quality instruments are usually not the most cumbersome, something I believe the classical music world has known for a long time. 😄

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4 hours ago, geoham said:

I think I’ve been of a similar mindset for years - heavy = better quality. It just makes sense, doesn’t it? Like a solid oak table vs an IKEA flatpack. Though my hand made lightweight P sounds and feels better than any other P I’ve owned, so I’ve clearly been wrong. And it doesn’t strain my back!
 

 

I thought the SGC Nanyo was very good quality, it was more that I couldn't get used to the low weight compared to the Thumb (and its predecessors, a Hayman 40/40 and a 70s Precision).

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On 07/04/2022 at 00:28, chris_b said:

I know a player who refused to acknowledge anything other than a Hammond through a Leslie cab could produce a decent organ sound. This went on for many years.

 

He's now using Nord and getting a great sound. Age even gets to keyboard players in the end. 

Age and p'ing off all who would help shift the Leslie.

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8 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Age and p'ing off all who would help shift the Leslie.

 

Yep. He wasn't very happy that the band moaned so much about humping his gear, but he finally quit when we made our album and the Hammond wouldn't fit through the door of the studio!!

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I don't think I'd ever go back to owning a heavy Bass again.

 

I had a 3.3kg Sandberg TM5 SL and currently have a 3.3kg Ibanez EHB 1005 MS and both sound as good and have as much sustain as any heavier Basses I've owned. I suppose that's not scientific though, perhaps if those light ones had heavier bodies they'd sound even better.

 

Actually, come to think of it I'm not even sure I'd want anything other than a headless Bass now for the weight and size saving while also staying well balanced and staying in tune well.  

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My bass weighs just over 7lb. I play in our church band and we do four or five songs per service. There are gaps between the songs so I can take the bass off and sit down. Last night we had a two hour rehearsal to sort out a new sound system and my back felt the affect! When you have back problems the weight and balance of the bass becomes an important issue. The lighter the better for me. 

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6 minutes ago, LeftyP said:

My bass weighs just over 7lb. I play in our church band and we do four or five songs per service. There are gaps between the songs so I can take the bass off and sit down. Last night we had a two hour rehearsal to sort out a new sound system and my back felt the affect! When you have back problems the weight and balance of the bass becomes an important issue. The lighter the better for me. 

A 7lb bass would be ideal for me! What do you play?

But absolutely - it's a lot of weight to carry. I don't especially consider myself to have a bad back, but it definitely does ache the day after wearing an almost 10lb bass for three hours+.

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4 hours ago, geoham said:

A 7lb bass would be ideal for me! What do you play?

But absolutely - it's a lot of weight to carry. I don't especially consider myself to have a bad back, but it definitely does ache the day after wearing an almost 10lb bass for three hours+.

It's an Italia Maranello Cavo bass which is short scale and hollow bodied.  The lightness of the body does mean it has some neck dive which I tried to cure by fitting Hipshot Ultralite tuners.  They have made a slight improvement but not as much as I thought they would. The bass weighs 7.24lb or 3.28kg.

 

P1020285 (450x800).jpg

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20 hours ago, LeftyP said:

My bass weighs just over 7lb. I play in our church band and we do four or five songs per service. There are gaps between the songs so I can take the bass off and sit down. Last night we had a two hour rehearsal to sort out a new sound system and my back felt the affect! When you have back problems the weight and balance of the bass becomes an important issue. The lighter the better for me. 

Did 4 hours with a 10.5lb '69 precision last night, no problems. Only break I had was to splash my boots.

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  • 4 months later...

Enjoying this thread...my '74P is 9.75lbs and I can't play it for 2.5 hr gigs anymore...end up like Quasimodo the next day.    From that chat here that doesn't appear to be overly heavy but bloody hell it feels like it next day, maybe an age thing?  (Age of the player :  another variable in the mix along with weight, tone woods, neck dimensions?)

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18 hours ago, leschirons said:

Weight is of no importance other than what feels comfortable. Regarding tone, we're just bass players. We stand at the back going boomp boomp boomp and nobody in the audience cares if we live or die😉

..until you stop with the boomp boomp boomp and all of a sudden the band sounds like half the members went to the bar.

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