How heavy is too heavy for a bass?

[DWBass]

I, very briefly, had a V7. Sounded awesome. The 2 things that made me sell it...............weight and chunky neck.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I recently got this beatiful sire v5 with upgraded aguilar pickups and a sadowsky VTC pre installed, all for $469. Its the best sounding bass I've owned, I think the onboard pre sounds better than my v7 setup with the offboard sadowsky, the VTC is pretty useful.

The one thing is... this thing's insanely heavy. By far the heaviest bass I've owned. I would estimate around 11lbs or more. I was using a guitar strap initially and developed some severe neck pain so I had to stop playing it. I got a 4" padded strap now and it helps mitigate some of the issues.

Will new tuners help that much? It would shed off a half lb at most and help w neck dive, hopefully removing the neck dive would make the weight not be distributed so poorly on my neck.

Is it worth getting a lightweight bridge, does anyone know of a drop-in lightweight sire bridge? At this point I might as well get a different bass.

This thing sounds and plays so well though, it's a hard dilemma.

I haven’t found one that had a sound I liked.

 

[Danny O Danny]

These days 9.5 lbs is my hard limit.

 

[Clipped]

Humour me. How heavy was it ? Long scale or short ?

My '70 Les Paul Bass is 5.5kg (12.1 lbs). Short scale. Sounds like a million bucks but I wouldn't dream of gigging it unseated even if I were 30 years younger.

77 Gibson Les Paul (long). 12.5 or more (never got an exact weight). Even sitting, it was not comfortable (wore a strap just to keep it from slipping off my lap). But you’re right, that thing could roar!

 

[ajkula66]

77 Gibson Les Paul (long). 12.5 or more (never got an exact weight). Even sitting, it was not comfortable (wore a strap just to keep it from slipping off my lap). But you’re right, that thing could roar!

A long scale Les Paul Bass...something that I've never owned and was always curious about. I'm not about to go out shopping for one to satisfy that curiosity though since I don't play long scale basses any more and my two short-scale LP basses are more than enough to remind me how light my other basses are...

 

[Nuisance]

8 pounds is my upper limit.

 

[ElectricBass72]

Yes youth is a wonderful thing! I played a 5 string Alembic while also wearing a Chapman Stick. I was 30. Im 69 now. & LB basses and carbon fiber cabs, class D heads. I can go out and play again!!

I wish I had my lightweight Ampeg Portaflex cabs back in the 90's. I had to lug around a Crate 1x15 combo that weighed just as much as Portaflex head, 1x15 and 2x10 cabs combined!

 

[ics1974]

I would be more concerned with the neck dive at any weight. I can handle a heavy bass that balances well over a light bass with neck dive. Your problem with heavy and neck dive would dive me crazy. I would return or sell it.

 

[Lo-E]

My first bass, (a 1979 Ibanez Studio which I still own) weighs over 12 pounds so my sense of weight perspective is pretty skewed and has been from the very beginning.

I’ve owned a host of other instruments that have ranged widely in weight from under 8 to over 11 - including another ‘79 Studio just a couple ounces lighter than the first. The only ones that don’t get gigged anymore are those two Ibanez basses so I guess my cutoff is 12 pounds.

Granted, I don’t use my heavier basses if I’m playing a long set or if I’ve had a brutal week at work but most of my shows are 45-minute sets and I can deal with a pretty heavy bass for that long. My older Stingrays, G&Ls, Ibanez Musicians and my Warwick Corvette - all heavy basses - still get gigged.

I still play my beloved Studio basses, too, only now I play them seated either for practice or recording.

 

[Jim C]

Anything over 8.5 lbs gets limited use for me.

 

[TeeSee]

My first bass, (a 1979 Ibanez Studio which I still own) weighs over 12 pounds so my sense of weight perspective is pretty skewed and has been from the very beginning.

I’ve owned a host of other instruments that have ranged widely in weight from under 8 to over 11 - including another ‘79 Studio just a couple ounces lighter than the first. The only ones that don’t get gigged anymore are those two Ibanez basses so I guess my cutoff is 12 pounds.

Granted, I don’t use my heavier basses if I’m playing a long set or if I’ve had a brutal week at work but most of my shows are 45-minute sets and I can deal with a pretty heavy bass for that long. My older Stingrays, G&Ls, Ibanez Musicians and my Warwick Corvette - all heavy basses - still get gigged.

I still play my beloved Studio basses, too, only now I play them seated either for practice or recording.

I have a Harley Benton JB-75, that is heavy. I hung it off some digital luggage scales and it's a whopping 13lbs (5.9kilos). I bought an alder body online but even that bought the total weight up to a hair under 11lbs, like you say it's what you're used to, to me the frankenbass now feels featherlight. I'm not so choosy tho, in the early 80's you bought what you could afford. Weight and whether it had 'neck dive' were immaterial, not even thought about back then to most struggling musicians, most important was the cost and what it sounded like.
I do realise that many players do have physical problems, I'm 63 getting arthiritis and sciatica so eventually some of my more heavier basses may have to go, maybe when I'm 70 or 80 until then - I'll keep on truckin'.

 

[edmidlifecrisis]

I have two Harley Benton PB-20's and one of them is a featherweight. A real gem. Kind of a freak.