Would shedding 122 grams of weight off a neck be noticable?
 

I'm thinking of changing out the tuners in my bass for some lighter ones, Gotoh GB350 Resolites. My bass is a tad neck heavy, not full on neck dive heavy but just enough to require my left hand to support the weight of the neck more than I think I should have to.

The amount of weight savings I would achieve (if the specs are accurate) were I to go through with this would be 122 grams. Would that be a noticeable weight savings do you think? The bass is a five string.

122 grams is a bit over a quarter pound. I've noticed the difference using Resolites but the final balance also depends on the weight of the body as well.

Actually, if you've got a mild case of neck dive.... leverage is your friend. Which is to say that removing that weight from the very end of the neck (tuners) will have quite a noticeable effect on the natural balance of the instrument... in a good way.

Conversely, removing that amount of weight from the body would have much, much less effect on the natural balance of the instrument.

Slowgypsy is correct. Leverage is as much a consideration as actual weight. If the tuners don't completely solve your problems, adding metal control knobs might get you the rest of the way there.

I appreciate the replies! I will go ahead with this and post the results. The metal knobs are a good second move and something I haven't thought of, but the blackwood knobs that are on the bass are kind of a trademark of Fbasses...I hope it won't be necessary!

Just remove one of the stock tuners and see if it makes a difference with neck dive.

Actually, 122 grams is very close to the equivalent of TWO regular Gotohs. The Resolites weigh 35g apiece, vs. something like 64 for regular GB7 machines.

The Resolites are great machines, and they will definitely make a noticeable difference. The point about leverage is significant - grams at the headstock mean a lot more than grams elsewhere.

You may even find the bass sounds different.
If there are any known dead spots or anything like that, pay attention to the "before and after". This kind of thing can certainly be affected by changing the mass at the headstock.

Cheers,
Martin

I hope it's not necessary too. But no matter what you decide to do, always have a plan B that fits best with your Plan A - no matter what you're doing.

+12 on this

Interesting that you mention that. George (Furlanetto) pointed out something similar to me regarding a change in tone, he actually said switching to the Resolites might take away some bottom end (tonally).

I find that weird. I didn't know that something like that could affect the tone in such a way.:confused:

Would shedding 122 grams of weight off a neck be noticable?

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Yes because all of that weight is at the end of the neck. But going to lighter tuners can cause a dead spot ... maybe ...

It's an interesting thought and I could see it being true regarding the GB640 Resolites (classic Fender open gear replacements) since you are replacing 100 grams of steel with 66 grams of aluminum. I'm not sure the same theory would hold true when you're basically replacing a plastic or cast pot metal casing (like the standard GB7 equivalent) with aluminum GB350s. But, as always, YMMV, IMHO, TMI, ETC.

That's not been my experience with several basses using Resolites.

Nor my experience with Hipshot Ultralites on several basses - no noticeable change in tone.

Lighter tuners might allow an existing dead spot to be more pronounced that was covered up by more mass in the headstock, but they won't "cause" the dead spot per se.

It could, in theory. But I've yet to see it happen and I've changed a few tuners.

on a few basses when there was a dead spot, installing hipshot ultralites moved the dead spot closer to the bridge by a fret or two and also diminished the effect--made it into a sick spot, so to speak.

That's the deal. Less mass moves it towards the bridge. Adding mass (like a Fatfinger moves it towards the nut.

I much prefer the latter than the former and prefer to add mass to Fender style basses because I can offset any neck dive with my forearm on the body.

Smaller bodies pose more of a problem.

haha sick spot. BTW I have experienced the same thing with Ultralites on my 97 Jazz

No dead spots on the bass. The neck construction is three-piece laminated maple and is rock solid. I've never had issues with it...which is good, because from reading some of your replies it appears that dead spots won't "just happen". Now I'm amped!