Finding a lightweight bass

[skycruiser]

Maybe this has been around for awhile but I just noticed you can sort some Sweetwater search results by WEIGHT.

It's a bit finicky though.
If you search for "Fender Precision" for example, you get this:

If you select the "Best Match" drop down you cannot sort by weight.


But if you search "Fender bass" you get a page that looks a little different:

This one has the option to sort by "Lightest Guitar"

From here you can use the filters to narrow down to a Precision bass, where as of right now you'll find a 7lb 15oz Aquatone Player II

I'm still not sure exactly how to force the "Lightest Guitar" option to show up but usually if I fiddle around with it for any particular brand or series I can find it.

 

[jd56hawk]

Not that I'm a Sweetwater guy, but I don't like when a particular bass is out of stock because then you have no idea what it weighs.
Other than that, their new page layout is horrible.

 

[Watchootognbout]

The weights are not entirely accurate.
I bought a bass from Sweetwater that was advertised as 7lb 10oz.
Upon receiving the bass I find that it is actually 8Lb 38 oz.
That's no big deal to Me.
But it still wasn't accurate.

 

[skycruiser]

The weights are not entirely accurate.
I bought a bass from Sweetwater that was advertised as 7lb 10oz.
Upon receiving the bass I find that it is actually 8Lb 38 oz.
That's no big deal to Me.
But it still wasn't accurate.

Errors can happen. 10 oz errors are probably not typical though.

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

Errors can happen. 10 oz errors are probably not typical though.

Yeah - they typically also list the S/N on the page so wonder if that's a one-off where they either mismeasured/misposted the weight of the specific unit in question or shipped out the wrong one (assuming the former). I've found their commitment to customer sat to be first rate and would expect them to try to make it right in follow up.

 

[steveinohio]

I’ve bought three bases from them over the past few years. The weight of two was spot on. The third wasn’t. They were great about taking care of it though. Stuff happens.

 

[MojoPin]

Be careful about the weight of any fender instruments you get. Too light and you might get bad neck dive, too heavy and it'll suck to play for long periods of time. Try to find a balance of what you think will be comfortable for you.

 

[Brandon Shea]

Be careful about the weight of any fender instruments you get. Too light and you might get bad neck dive, too heavy and it'll suck to play for long periods of time. Try to find a balance of what you think will be comfortable for you.

Great advice, and I wish I had considered this when I got my first P bass. It's really light, but it can definitely be annoying to play because of how much the neck dives.

 

[FullumMusic]

I usually buy direct from manufacturers/developers for most things. But when i bought my Sire P5 5er, i got it from SweetWater because they had each individual P5 5 string listed individually, and they show you its serial number and weight, and the pics are of that specific bass, not just the model. Super helpful. But, they don't have the weights for all their instruments listed. Not sure how they decide which to weight and which not to. I'm sure it's time consuming (expensive) to weigh every instrument that comes in and take basically the same exact pic of the same exact instruments.

 

[mikewalker]

I've bought a few instruments from Sweetwater exactly because of the posted weight. Unfortunately they don't weigh instruments that cost less than $299 (or some similar price points). There used to be a music store in Hamilton that weighed every instrument on their website, they got my business too...

 

[MojoPin]

Great advice, and I wish I had considered this when I got my first P bass. It's really light, but it can definitely be annoying to play because of how much the neck dives.

I found that between 8-8.5lbs is my sweet spot with vintage styled P basses (got a Fender re-issue vintage II at 8.4 pounds) that have those GIANT and HEAVY 60's era tuning keys. Still love'em though even after using getting my JMJ mustang with those slick hipshot lolly's on it. The JMJ is 8 lbs and has ZERO neck dive, the P bass is only ever so slight but it's negated with a good leather strap. My Levy's padded 4.5 inch is super comfy with my P bass and I use the same kind at 3.5 with the JMJ.

 

[Drop1]

I don't like too light a bass for some stuff. Slapping on a sub 9 pound bass can be super annoying. My ibby is sub 8 pounds and every time I pop, I feel like the bass gets raised 6 inches off my body. Any other play style is fine as long as the neck isn't diving. For anything I would play slap on live, I'd want it to be at least 10 pounds. It's much more stable to play.
Sometimes a light bass can be annoying if you're playing heavy with a pick as well. If you are using just fingers or a pick with a lighter touch, by all means, go as light as you'd like.

 

[Donald Thompson]

Just get a UB804 and embrace the hybrid upright bass play style.