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does anyone make an 8lb precision bass?

#81
8 lb. Ps are out there, and not horribly difficult to come across, but they are an exception more so than a norm. 8 lb. would be a typical Mustang Bass or Musicmaster Bass weight. Ps are made of big pieces of wood, compared to guitars. 8 lb. is on the lighter end of the spectrum...and FWIW, feels a bit too light to me. I don't love heavy basses, but a full scale bass feels too light to me at 8 lb. Not anywhere near unplayable or "divey," but definitely "strange," and like I have to slightly adjust my positioning of the bass, and my technique.

The most well balanced and "perfect feeling" bass I have ever played was a Japanese P from the '90s. It felt so perfect, that I asked the shop owner to weigh it, just to give me the knowledge of what this magical perfect weight was. It was 8.75 lb. I would have bought it if the price had been anywhere near reasonable, but he was asking $700 or $800. It wasn't exactly a "clean" bass in terms of condition, and didn't have a hard case. I tried to purchase it for the proper market value, but he wasn't having it. AFAIK, it's still there.
 
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#84
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7 lbs 10 oz
 
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#88
Paulownia is very low mass. It’s used a lot in basses and guitars. It is a little less hard than alder or ash varieties so you’d want to use neck bolt inserts when possible. It can pick up dents more easily than some body woods. But it sounds right.
 
#89
The hardware is the same weight from instrument to instrument. Maple seems to be fairly consistent in weight, so the big variable is the weight of the body. You can always sub out a lightweight body from Warmoth and get something close to the weight you seek.
 
#90
marchone said:
What he said.

Sadowsky does chambered bodies for weight savings.
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. Chambered Sadowsky's are very light. He chambers them to make the body more acoustic sounding as well as to save weight. The bodies are based on the Fenders but they are made smaller than standard Fenders. I have a 4 and 5 string Sadowsky and you can definitely feel the difference when you pick it up. My four string weighs in at 7.47 lbs. I'll have to check the weight of the 5 stringer but it's light for a 5.There isn't much you can do about neck weight other than use lightweight tuners and they already have that. The lighter you make the body the more likely it's going to be neck heavy unless you extend the horn to compensate but a strap that doesn't slide easily on your shirt will take care of neck dive.

His original New York shop is the only place that builds chambered basses. The Warwick plant in Germany or Japan doesn't do chambering however, I've heard rumors that they may change that in the future. The NYC Basses are very fine and beautiful instruments but they are also expensive and the staff at the NYS shop is down to a skeleton crew. Therefore, I expect a custom order is going to take a long time and don't expect any price breaks. But if you manage to buy one new or used you should hang on to it. I predict that NYC built Sadowskys are going to increase in value over time even more than they already have.

I also have a black and gold limited edition Fender P Bass from Japan. The body is made from basswood and it's pretty light for a Fender. Sounds good too and was priced less than $1k. You may want to consider basswood for a bass body.
 
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#92
A9X said:
An 8lb P with the typical tuners is going to dive like a submarine.
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The best solution to save weight on the neck is to go headless. I have a 34" Fender style J bass (this one) [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]that's 7.5lbs and I don't have a neck dive problem. If I had a nylon or silky strap then I probably would. I use a padded leather strap that grips my shoulder just enough to keep it from diving and it doesn't pull on my shirt.
 
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#93
Smokey The Bear says only you can make an 8lb p bass.... In all seriousness I almost feel like this is a troll thread, because there is plenty of p basses around the 8 pound mark. Even more if you consider basses that sound like p's. I think my player series is around 8lbs too afraid to put in on the scale though. I played an American Professional and it was even lighter. I just wish my G&L Kiloton would lose a pound or two, that thing clocks in around 11.5 (with a thick padded strap).
 
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