Heaviest Bass you've ever seen?

[ashtray]

Waiting for the world's most famous bass to put in an appearance....View attachment 1200248

Noooooo!

 

[Nephilymbass]

Heaviest I've had. Might get another one some day for the right price. It was a fun bass to play on the couch not as much fun onstage with the band.

 

[ThuzzleFump]

We're all older now, but seeing those pencil-armed flyweight players from the 70s rock those monster axes makes me feel like we're letting ourselves go a bit soft.

Yeah, my back is shot, too, but I do own a Gibson G-3, a couple of Kramers, and a super heavy Carvin (that last one is my fault...maple body, maple neck, and maple board...it sounds AMAZING but it is a weighty beast). None of them feel that heavy, though when I play them back to back with my Klira violin bass I do appreciate that the Klira only weighs like 3 kilos.

 

[Solarmist]

I remember years ago picking up an 80s Ovation bass - that sucker was heavy.

 

[BrianToska]

For me it's gotta be either my T-40 (or any T-40 for that matter) or an old, old Gibson Victory I had years ago

 

[JeffG667]

1976 Gibson G-3. Had to be around 14 lbs. I'm 6'2 and my shoulder would hurt after 45 minutes with that thing on!! Also, i just acquired an all Maple ATK-300. That thing is easily 12 or better.

 

[JeffG667]

Oh!! And the '78 G3 I had converted to an 8 string via warmoth neck and bridge. The strap was so long that the bottom of the bass hit my knees!! THAT was a true strangler!

 

[Showdown]

I don't know what the heaviest is, but this '83 MIJ Fender Jazz weighed 12 1/2 lbs.

And this '86 G&L L2000 weighs 11 1/2.

 

[devnulljp]

Peavey T40, north of 12 lb. A back breaker.
Not as bad as the Les Paul Recording bass I tried once though. I think that thing was made of neutron star material, it bent spacetime.

 

[Honch]

I've never really paid attention myself. So, how heavy do they get?

Does double necks counts? With more than 4 strings? Or extended range basses?
Mind you that 6 stringers weights a lot more than their 4 string counterparts, given all else equal. Or 12 string, or 18 string. But the one that first comes to mind.. is Chris Squires Triple neck WAL:

The story is that they tried to make one of the necks 8 string, but that would be too heavy. In that is was not to heavy for a human to bear, but it would cave in on itself, and collapse. You know the same thing that you can detect, with too frail, or skimpy designed basses, when you intonate and tune them up in playing position, and then right after it, lay it down on a table, and string buzz, and intonation goes out the window, due to it's not able to bear its own weight without flexing in the material. But on this one, thousandfold. This one, you could only play for maximum 2-3 numbers a night, and not in a row, and Chris only used it on "Awaken". Owned, ordered, and paid for by Rick Wakeman originally.

A HISTORY OF WAL BASSES: "Chris Squire" Custom Triple Neck Wal feature - "Bassist" magazine 1999

You said, in the headline "heaviest bass I'd seen". I took the word 'seen' literary, as I never ever tried that one, or similar. If we narrow down your headline to a much more handy, plausible one with:

1. Having tried, played myself, even owned.
2. 4 string restriction. Not even 5ers.
3. No double, or more necks.
4. Headstocked basses. No headless.
5. Regular 34" scale (mind you, increasing scale increases weight all else equal).

Well, going for the run-of-the-mill Fender J and P basses from the mid 70s and a bit forward, they were all boat anchors. Didn't neck dive though which made them not feeling that heavy. Recently I've played the Hagström Beluga bass to great results, and while that one is a boat anchor too, it balances perfectly with no neck dive, or body dive, when standing up or setting down equally. That one weighs quite a lot for such a diminutive body design.

I think the 70s where brimming with those extra heavy basses, all they aimed for was sustain forever, like on the guitars. Yamaha 2000 series guitars like used by (or really, just endorsed) by Santana, where boat anchors as well. They got on to these brass bridges and nuts, and went nuts with the weight just because they thought that increased, density, and "heavy" wood, would increase every tone aspect of the basses no matter what. I've tried some early regional luthier attemps at mimicking Alembic basses from that time, and the decade of 70s from around mid 70s towards 1983-84 showed some of the more, or even most, heaviest ones in the business. Jeeez, such boat anchors they where! The darker the wood, the better it seemed. And heavier the brass bridge... I did bicker about it even then. That there was some "race" going on, to see how much weight we can tolerate, or where the upper limit really hit.

These days, is quite opposite, with lightweight basses BUT with neck diving to no end, occurring instead. And people don't think a 6 stringer is that heavy, but they whine about the same weight of a 4 stringer. Beats me. Either an instrument weighs too much, or it doesn't.

 

[Showdown]

Either an instrument weighs too much, or it doesn't.

For me it is more complicated than that. To me neck dive hurts me more than weight, i.e. my 11 lb. L2000 is perfectly balanced and is more comfortable for my back than some lightweight basses that neck dive. So for me "Either an instrument weighs too much, or it doesn't" isn't really true. If I have two basses that don't neck dive at all, then weight matters, but if one of them neck dives then weight doesn't really matter, the one with neck dive is "too heavy" even if it is the lighter one.

 

[Honch]

To me neck dive hurts me more than weight

Oh yes, see other thread.

Neck Dive...Really?

That's has always been my stance too, and I am pretty adamant in preaching that whenever such things as weight or neck dive turns up. Even go on a crusade against manufacturers. People are mixing those two up. I can very well go up a couple of lbs in total weight if neck dive is bucked, or mitigated. Now, BODY DIVE is just as bad, if it should come to that. I can very well think some experiments out there with headless graphite neck stuck on a dark wood, mahogany body would yield painful results.

But say today, if a 4 stringer and 6 stringer has, both, no neck dive at all(regardless of weight). People won't complain about the weight of that 6 stringer, but complain about the same weight - as the 6 stringer - if it was on a 4 stringer. Your back couldn't care less how many strings there are on any bass, it just cares about the total weight. Such a bass could very well be made with headless necks that doesn't neck dive at all. But the total weight differs. Beats me.

EDIT: Yes, I do care more about neck dive too, than total weight. But even total weight has to come into play, it's just that when it gets up there like that Alembic one, told about some posts ago, I would sure not care if it was balanced and no neck dive at all. We all have our limits. Individual of course. What's the weight limit (mind you, on a bass with no neck dive at all) for you, is different for me.

 

[Dana R Gregory]

I had an old Hagstrom Swede that must have weighed close to 15 lbs. It was the heaviest bass I have ever owned.

 

[Fliptrique]

17lbs - solid body 6 string with an OAK body and a GIANT piece of a neck.

 

[mongo2]

Ampeg Big Stud

 

[hillerup]

that looks heavyView attachment 1200599

So... Exactly where is the Mothman nowadays?

 

[mcarp555]

'78 Fender Jazz - somewhere around the 13lb mark. I've gotten used to it, but rarely play it for more than half an hour at a time. It makes my '67 Jazz feel like a Hofner.

 

[GwenOnBass]

The heaviest bass I ever encountered is the creation of a friend who goes by Dogface. He made the massive, non-traditional body from solid purpleheart and added a fretless neck. It definitely weighed more than a Peavey T40. Were I to guess I'd say it was north of 14 pounds.

 

[s van order]

'78 Fender Jazz - somewhere around the 13lb mark. I've gotten used to it, but rarely play it for more than half an hour at a time. It makes my '67 Jazz feel like a Hofner.

Agreed on the general comparison. My '66 Jazz was light feeling and my '60s throwback MIM from last decade weighs 12 lbs. Both had/have similar neck dive.

 

[Aqualung60]

1976 Gibson G-3. Had to be around 14 lbs. I'm 6'2 and my shoulder would hurt after 45 minutes with that thing on!! Also, i just acquired an all Maple ATK-300. That thing is easily 12 or better.

I own an all maple ATK-300 also and it weighs in at 12.8 pounds, I love it but don't use it for more than one set if I don't have to.