My Bass Is Too Heavy Now
 

Two years ago I herniated two disks in the center of my back. Physical Therapy was able to get me to a place that was livable and life went on. Then in June of last year my hand started to go numb. Countless doctors and tests later I was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.

Anyway, long story short is that my left shoulder is compressing the nerves going into my arm and causing my hand to go numb. All this got me to thinking about the particularly aggressive way that I perform live and how heavy my Warwick is.

As someone who performs a lot, does a fair amount of session work etc, I'm particularly nervous about not being able to use an instrument that has amazing tone. So my question is, are there any bass companies out there with uniquely amazing tone to their instruments, while not weighing a million pounds?

I would definitely think there are lighter options, but have you explored different approaches to handling what you currently have?

http://www.gruvgear.com/duostrap-signature

My "Tele Bass" was made from MDF, only the neck is made from pure wood. I'm also going to put a small bridge, and I think it would be as heavy as a jumbo acoustic.

I played recently a strat made of MDF, and to me the tone wasnt bad. Plus if you use active electronics, then the body material is not important.

I was hoping for suggestions on brands some people might be using right now. I'm particularly active on stage so that strap would actually hinder some of my performance aspects. It is interesting though- once I damage my body to a point where I can't move around as much I might consider it, haha.

I don't know what you mean by "uniquely amazing tone" but Hofner basses are around 5 lbs. and Paul McCartney has had a nice run using one.

Among some of the companies who build wonderful light basses are:
MTD
Nordstrand
Sage Guitars
Ibanez
Gibson
Dipinto

I think that might actually be going too far for me- do you have a recording of what that sounds like?

Man... I have been looking for light Basses with great tone for years and generally i have found if they are sub 9 lbs they dont sound so great. I have bought and sold sooo many but i keep the light ones that sound good, my latest is a Warwick Bleached Blonde, sounds good and only 7.6lbs! My 87' thumb is 10 lbs!!! I had Marco Cortez (Marco Basses) build me a light weight PJ4, it sounds great and wieghs 8.5. I also have an Australian "Tomkins" PJ4, also low 8's.

You gotta keep looking, buying and selling till you get something light weight and that souds good enough to suit your playing style.

If you go custom like i did with Marco, you can talk woods and he can put make an instrument around a target weight, he makes his own pick ups so you can get it sound they way you want it to. He made mine with an Ash center block and cedar sides to keep the weight down, the top is flamed red leaf maple cause its gotta look good.

The Warwick Bleached Blonde is the lightest good sounding Bass ive owned but it doesnt sound as good as the Marco, im always on the look out and have been for years.

Wow, totally forgot about Tobias... I haven't picked one up in probably 7 or 8 years... They have some beautiful stuff on their site and I remember them being particularly light. I need to go see what they feel like again.

Get a used solid color Guild Pilot! The solid color basses are made from poplar and are very light!

My SB-600 (shown below) weighs 7.5 lbs!

Birdsong

That's definitely one for me to add to the list to check out- I had gone through most of Warwick's catalog online to find that they are all heavy- this bass is not on their site. Thanks for the heads up!

Warning: Shameless plug for another TB'er:

Check out Norcal Dog's no dive strap - it distributes the weight differently and may relieve the pain you're having. There's a link to it in my sig.

Maybe Kala's U-Bass, either the Ukelele or Solidbody. Not heavy at all & sound very good.

are short scales out of the equation? i would assume they would have to be a bit lighter......

Another one for me to keep in mind for when things get worse!

Yeah, I play proggier stuff so I wind up using those frets quite often.

My Pavel is under 8.5lb's
I've seen a lot of sadowsky 5's in the 7.5-8 ball park.

Something with a chambered body might do you well.

My Dingwall ABZ is so light it feels like a toy, lighter than most guitars.

Sadowsky NYC's can get pretty light.

My most recent Valenti weighs 7.5lbs, IIRC: