Word. Wasn’t going to say anything, but since you did, I’ll add on to it and say what an insulting farce of a post. Damn right I will notice if you add a pound to my bass. And I will notice it right away. I’ll notice even a half pound. Dude doesn’t believe me? Whatever. I’m not here to please anyone but myself.
I bet you can feel the difference also. That is not the point. It is not meant to be a personal insult/challenge to anyone, rather a phenomenon that is well studied (sports, marketing, medicine).
short version: weight and perception/belief both have an effect.
i still think a majority of players wont notice a 0.5 lbs difference… done “properly.” It is all about manipulating points of reference. People on average are quite bad at detecting very small changes without a reference.
Give 100 people a red 7lbs bass and a blue 7.5 lbs bass and ask them to say which is heavier… they will almost always get it right. Why? They have a point of reference (the lighter bass).
Now give 100 people a red 7lbs bass. Then take it back and give them a blue 12lbs bass. Have them wear it a while. Now immediatly give them a different green 7 lbs bass. Ask them which was lightest. The majority will say the third bass. Why? Muscle fibre recruitment. We manipulated their nervous systems point of reference.
now give 100 people two 7 lbs bases (one red, one blue). Show them advertising videos of red and blue bases. The red bass uses only the finest of solid dense, heavy tone woods. The blue bass aims for lightweight, comfort, and balance. Now give them the red and blue bases and ask which is heavier. Vs people who were not shown the videos, mkre will pick the red bass. (I said more, not all). Even more if you delay the time between “weighing” the two bases (the longer the time between comparison… the weaker the point of reference becomes).
Lets put it another way. In the spectrum of all that causes someone *back pain* (shoulder pain is harder to hide from) in the course of four hour gig, 0.5 lbs in a bass is a significant but small part of it. It is a *real* part of it. So is strap width, strap position, bass balance, bass height, distance of your bass from your centre axis of balance (all leverage). Posture is huge. Stage material/footwear. Pre gig stretch? Did you shovel the driveway the day before? How far did someone carry that svt? All contributors. We are trying to reduce compression strain on our spine, and lateral for forces on our core. Of all the forces on a 200lbs persons core muscles/spine… what percentage of the force is 0.5lbs in a bass?
I would argue that 0.5lbs extra in a 200lbs individual is a small (but real) component in all the factors that influence comfort and pain playing a bass. bigger factor in a 100lbs player. Bigger factor in someone with chronic shoulder/back pain. Bigger factor in a longer gig.
But if 100 people go into a gig believing a bass is heavier and will cause them more pain… they are more likely to attribute any real pain they get to the effects of the “heavier” bass, even if their bass is in fact the same weight or slightly lighter than their typical bass. There are just so many factors influencing comfort. Our brain often attributes it to what we believe to be the cause.
And vice versa if the 100 players believe that the bass is lighter than it actually is. They may have more pain, but many will attribute it to some other factor.
The trick is making people believe… and weakening or removing points of reference… or inserting false points of reference.
It is a well studied and proven part of performance in sport, medicine, marketing. Most people are notoriously bad at detecting small differences if there is no point of reference.
- Cyclists climbing faster because they thought they had a lighter bike (and underperforming when they perceived they had a heavier bike)
- people almost dying of overdose on what was later found to be placebo (and almost immediately recovering when they were told)
- a majority of people saying the 100$ bottle of wine tastes better than the 10$ bottle when in fact they were reversed. Reverse them again and people still say the one they perceive to be better (cost)… as better.
- pain reactions being directly increased with anxiety/expectation of pain, even in a painless or low pain stimuli.
the human mind is a complex and amazing thing. A lot of our personal reality is what we believe.
