Heavy or light bass?

[Igotsoul4u]

I 'll take as light as I can get before neck dive occurs. Anything above 9lbs starts to kill me after an hour of playing.

 

[Chad Michael]

Once again, I have kicked the proverbial hornet's nest.

Does it feel sarcasmic in here?

 

[mantaraya]

but I just feel like I get better tone and sustain from heavier, denser woods

This is where in my opinion you are making a wrong assumption. One thing is better sustain ( which is true for Heavier woods) but one thing is TONE. Tone is the whole. Think as a Hamburguer. You are stating more meat makes a better Hamburguer, rather than more meat will make a Meatier Hamburguer. More meat doesnt make it better. Its the whole thing that makes a Hamburguer great. Sorry if my example seems off, but makes the point.
Tone is something about Sustain, resonance, proyection, definition etc etc etc. Heavier (denser) woods doesnt resonate very well. You can actually prove this by taping a piece of wood from a door, a draw, a closet, etc and then taping it will something hard in the back. Which one resonates more? The one with no hard thing on the back. Its physics. In order to sound there should be air. If you tap a rock you wont get too much sound of it....
so Tone has to be with resonance and resonance is as crutial as sustain. Therefore those should be compensated. In balance. This is how i see it. Could be wrong tough...

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Seems like the trend right now is manufacturers making their basses lighter and lighter. I was in GC the other day and played a new EBMM Stingray and I couldn’t believe how light it was. It was a complete turnoff, to be honest. I’ve owned two EBMM basses and they were both a significant amount heavier than this one. One of them was a USA Sterling which is partly marketed as lighter than the Stongray, because it has a smaller/slimmer body. But those are still quite heavy compared to what I’m mostly seeing on the shelves...or hangers....today.

Maybe I’m just old school or something but back when I started playing guitar and bass it seems like the good, American stuff was stout and heavy and the cheap overseas stuff was light and made out of very inferior woods.

I’ve been criticized for thinking this way in the past, but I just feel like I get better tone and sustain from heavier, denser woods.

Am I alone here? Do I need to adapt or am I destined to buying only 10-20 year old basses, LOL?

People rave over light swamp ash basses and have for decades. And there were lots of light basses in the late 80s and early 90s just like everything in the late 70s and early 80s seemed to be heavy.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

Once again, I have kicked the proverbial hornet's nest.

Does it feel sarcasmic in here?

Finally I've found that band name: 'Sarcasmic'.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

For me the criteria are:

1. No neck dive
2. Comfortable body
3. Light

I have heavy and less heavy basses (none I would consider light) and there's no particular pattern to tone I can discern, at least not anything not outweighed by pickups since I have changed pickups around between bodies on occasion. Heaviest bass is most like the Harley Benton Jaco-style fretless I got for jam sessions, so if non-USA instruments are supposed to be cheap, nasty and light then I shudder to think what Jaco's weighed.

The lightest two basses I had were probably the Washburn B10 (small body, punchy tone) and the Fender Cowpoke I wish I'd kept (relatively fat one unless you pushed the treble up). Next two lightest were probably the 1984 Japanese Precisions - meaty tone. Heaviest have been a Tokai fretless (polite sounding), Westone Thunder III (big souding) and the Harley Benton with Wilkinsons (a little barky).

 

[JimmyM]

Do people not know there are weight reducing straps available? Comfort Strapp makes some amazing space aged design stuff that I really like. Levy’s makes a really nice wide strap that helps distribute weight. Also, Moody made nice stuff if you can find them used. I don’t think they’re in business anymore.

I prefer heavy basses myself.
Especially when it comes to basses made with ash bodies. Light ash can turn out to be very thin sounding. That’s just my experience.

They don't reduce weight. A heavy bass is still a heavy bass.

 

[kodiakblair]

I don't mind the weight of my T40's (10lb to 12lb) but I took notice of the many weight related TB threads,never gave it a thought before joining TB.

Not one to dismiss things out of hand I bought a few,some of them short scales (kill 2 birds kinda thing). With 35 years of construction industry wear & tear on this old body ....

I hated them.

The balance felt wrong,my body was locked rigid trying to keep them from moving around.

Nope not for me .

 

[JRA]

light basses feel cheap to me

for me the opposite is true: my cheap basses feel light. win/win.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

then i tore my rotator cuffs and was unable to play anything for a year.

I have damaged a shoulder this way. Playing more than 45 minutes seated leaves my hand going numb at present as I presume increasing inflammation starts pinching a nerve, so I feel for you if you tore them in such a significant way. I wouldn't want to be rocking my heaviest bass at the moment.

 

[kev451]

Seems like the trend right now is manufacturers making their basses lighter and lighter. I was in GC the other day and played a new EBMM Stingray and I couldn’t believe how light it was. It was a complete turnoff, to be honest. I’ve owned two EBMM basses and they were both a significant amount heavier than this one. One of them was a USA Sterling which is partly marketed as lighter than the Stongray, because it has a smaller/slimmer body. But those are still quite heavy compared to what I’m mostly seeing on the shelves...or hangers....today.

Maybe I’m just old school or something but back when I started playing guitar and bass it seems like the good, American stuff was stout and heavy and the cheap overseas stuff was light and made out of very inferior woods.

I’ve been criticized for thinking this way in the past, but I just feel like I get better tone and sustain from heavier, denser woods.

Am I alone here? Do I need to adapt or am I destined to buying only 10-20 year old basses, LOL?

Na I feel the same way. To me the lighter stuff feels like a toy. I understand people may have back issues and such totally understandable but me I prefer a bass around the 9lb mark and heavier. And I’m not a stationary player I’m jumping and am all over the place.

 

[fabubass]

Light. And I don't give a crap who doesn't like it.

Agree 200% Jimmy! Light ,and with a great Strap!

 

[alaskaleftybass]

Finally I've found that band name: 'Sarcasmic'.

Great name. It's colossal, epic, ginormous, humongous, gigantic, mammoth, massive, monster, monumental, prodigious, vast, and tremendous.

 

[MegaSwing]

No more than 10 under any circumstances. Ideally, below 9.

 

[Chad Johnston]

This is where in my opinion you are making a wrong assumption. One thing is better sustain ( which is true for Heavier woods) but one thing is TONE. Tone is the whole. Think as a Hamburguer. You are stating more meat makes a better Hamburguer, rather than more meat will make a Meatier Hamburguer. More meat doesnt make it better. Its the whole thing that makes a Hamburguer great. Sorry if my example seems off, but makes the point.
Tone is something about Sustain, resonance, proyection, definition etc etc etc. Heavier (denser) woods doesnt resonate very well. You can actually prove this by taping a piece of wood from a door, a draw, a closet, etc and then taping it will something hard in the back. Which one resonates more? The one with no hard thing on the back. Its physics. In order to sound there should be air. If you tap a rock you wont get too much sound of it....
so Tone has to be with resonance and resonance is as crutial as sustain. Therefore those should be compensated. In balance. This is how i see it. Could be wrong tough...

Heck yes more meat makes the burger better! That’s why I always get a 3x3 at In and Out. Are you crazy??!

Haha, just kidding and I agree with your point. Good distinction. I do think the “heavier is better” thing is mostly in my head. (But more meat IS better)

 

[Chad Johnston]

In the late 70's one of the basses that I played was a Peavey T-40 which is historically one of the heaviest basses you could ever buy for a 4-string. In the early 80's when I bought my first Ibanez a light bulb went off and I knew I would love shedding 4 pounds off my bass. Since then I've never owned a bass more than 8.5 pounds and I've been blessed with owning a lot of great basses.

Everything is getting lighter and technologically stronger and superior. Mass production with new materials and computer aided manufacturing are all factors for higher quality lighter weight gear. Computer designs on new basses help shave weight and increase the performance of these new basses.

As far as new EBMM basses being cheap, and having a moving neck and constant truss issues, I call bulls**t on that. EBMM WOULD NOT put out crap. They have too much riding on their excellent reputation.

You misread what I said. The bass I’m having neck issues with is the cheapo Sterling by MM Ray24ce. It’s a wanna be Stingray not an EBMM Stingray. I can’t imagine an actual Stongray ever having any issues like this.

 

[mantaraya]

Heck yes more meat makes the burger better! That’s why I always get a 3x3 at In and Out. Are you crazy??!

Haha, just kidding and I agree with your point. Good distinction. I do think the “heavier is better” thing is mostly in my head. (But more meat IS better)

Its just i am trying to be vegan

 

[JGbassman]

folks who don't care about weight (yet) are not the folks who:
- play for a living
- have played for 5 decades+
- have multiple gigs/setups/teardowns daily
- have bodies and bones battered by the experience of gigging/living
- yada yada

of course i could be wrong.

No disrespect meant, but I don't know a lot of people that fit into all of those categories, I know I certainly don't, but I do consider myself as an active seasoned player. Weight is not a huge issue for me, I will gladly play a heavier bass that has great tone over a lighter one that has nothing special to its sound or feel.

I have played for a living quite a few years, have been beat around pretty good serving in the Army in a forward combat zone, and did play over 700 shows in two years in my 50's. I am in pretty good shape and don't play the grueling four hours a night to a handful of people in a cover band either (when I did, the gravity on stage during the last set felt on par with the Sun, lol) where these days it's mostly 30-90 minute sets, no breaks. I endured a heavy Spector five string bass for a string of six hour shows, 11 days in a row at times where I switch to a 34 inch scale bass for the last few nights because my left hand was going numb from carpal tunnel.

Everyone has certain sacrifices they make for their music, and I guess playing a heavier bass is worth the tone to me.

As a disclaimer, I did play a Peavey T-40 in my first hotel/motel road band playing six nights a week, so after that, anything feels light I guess.

Peace.

 

[JRA]

No disrespect meant, but I don't know a lot of people that fit into all of those categories, I know I certainly don't, but I do consider myself as an active seasoned player. Weight is not a huge issue for me, I will gladly play a heavier bass that has great tone over a lighter one that has nothing special to its sound or feel.

you're cool! i don't know a lot of people (anymore) who fit into that category either! but i used to fit into it myself...and i gigged with a lot of other cats who also did the same routine! i'm sure it's less common these days.

i have a heavy ax = it's wonderful! so i concur with your broader point.

but i was really just trying to make a point for the 'lightweight' cats (of which i am but one! ).

 

[JGbassman]

you're cool! i don't know a lot of people (anymore) who fit into that category either! but i used to fit into it myself...and i gigged with a lot of other cats who also did the same routine! i'm sure it's less common these days.

i have a heavy ax = it's wonderful! so i concur with your broader point.

but i was really just trying to make a point for the 'lightweight' cats (of which i am but one! ).

No worries! Believe me, if I have two basses equally the same, I'll always go for the lighter one as well. It just makes sense to.