How should I balance a neck-heavy bass?

thejumpcat · #1 05-10-2009, 11:00 AM

I have one of the new Kay reissue basses. I LOVE the way the bass sounds and plays, but I'm noticing more and more that it's neck-heavy.

I was using an old, skinny 50's style strap. Then I bought one of the thicker El Dorado straps, which seems to make the problem worse for some weird reason.

The bass has a large, ornamental Kelvinator headstock logo that, if removed, would probably help....but I'm don't really want to alter the look of the bass.

This may sound bassackwards, but is there a way to add weight to the body portion of the instrument to balance it? It does have hollow chambers which I could insert weight, but what type of weight and how?

Here's a link to another post I made about the bass.

New Kay K162 Electric Pro Bass Reissue

Thanks for any advice.

scottyd · #2 05-10-2009, 12:04 PM

It's going to be tough getting any bass with the neck shallow and no upper horn to balance. If you dont mind drilling you can move or add another bottom strap button about 2-3" higher which will help some.

Beej · #3 05-10-2009, 12:11 PM

Scotty's idea will help it to balance, and then adding weights inside will also help. A friend of mine made a little beanbag filled with lead shot that he stuck in the soundhole of his hollow body electric guitar. Silent and worked well...

JPaulGeddy · #4 05-10-2009, 12:13 PM

Maybe try a strap that goes to the headstock? Other than that, yeah, probably adding a strap button will be your best bet.

thejumpcat · #5 05-10-2009, 01:59 PM

I'm not too crazy about moving the bottom strap button, so I tried the weight method. I took the control plate off and put a couple of D batteries in the cavity just to see what would happen. No difference. Then, just for the heck of it, I hung a heavy hammer from the cavity hole to see if that would balance it. No difference. Which leads me to believe that I'd have to put a LOT of weight in that cavity to make it balance -- which would seem to negate the advantage of using a hollow, light bass.

So then I tried the strap on the headstock. I used a shoestring on the end of the strap because it wasn't long enough. That balanced it much better, although it was almost too much and then the body started sliding down towards my right knee. It would take a little adjustment to learn how to hold the bass so it doesn't fall like that. Pushing the inside of my right forearm against the body works, but it would be uncomfortable after a while and it limits what you can do with your right hand.

I'm bummed because years ago I had one of those old straps from the 40s or 50s that actually was made to go around the headstock. It was really long and had a button about 10 inches up the strap for the end to wrap around the headstock and then attach to. It was so long that I cut it off to use like a regular strap. Duh.

Anybody know of a source for that type of strap?

scottyd · #6 05-10-2009, 02:15 PM

Many classical acoustic guitar straps are built like what you're saying, maybe try one of those.

Rocky McDougall · #7 05-10-2009, 10:38 PM

A wide strap with a swede or rough underside with will not slide easily on your shoulder.

DanSwain · #8 05-11-2009, 02:08 AM

I can't remember when it was, but some point there was a thread on here about attaching a kind of 'arm' to the Bass, that extended the fixing point of the strap from the top of the body, effectively 'stretching' the upper horn to point where it's more balanced.

The ones that were in the thread looked quite discreet, so I guess if you could find or fashion a piece of metal to fit with the styling of the Bass it could be quite a practical solution. I'll have a look around for the original thread and if I can find it, will put a link to it in here

ehque · #9 05-11-2009, 05:26 AM

Might want to see if there are any ultra-light versions of the tuners on your bass too. A ultralight swapout can shed half a pound from your headstock.

dDaddybass · #10 05-11-2009, 05:58 AM

I just recently bought a Warwick Thumb 6 BO, thesse are not the most well balanced basses. Depending on at what height you wear you bass, you try what I did. Take the strap loose from the attaching point by the bridge, let the strap out another inch or two, take the end of the strap and put it through/under your belt ( you have to wear a belt for this)on your right hip, come back up and attach it to the bass. It acually pulls the strap, lifting the upper horn.

Mr M · #11 05-11-2009, 05:00 PM

You can always use an extender to move the witness point of strap button towards the neck a la Bolin NS bass style (I'm not this guy, found the picture via google)

I have a similar custom made extender installed on my 6 string explorer bass and it works perfectly...

dmusic148 · #12 05-11-2009, 05:08 PM

One thing that works is to add weight to the rear section of strap. I did this with a Washburn fretless, did wonders. Only took about 1/2 lb. to do it. An easy test is to hang a large padlock thru an unused strap hole, if you have one.
I think when you did the 'hammer hang' test you didn't have the weight far enough rearward to work.
And a big +1 to Hipshot Ultralight tuners. Call 'em and see if they have any that will work.

pilotjones · #13 05-11-2009, 10:57 PM

There's also a two-strap trick that some people use on short-horn Alembic Series basses. A search should be able to turn it up. It's supposed to work well.