Inexpensive scale for weighing a bass...

[sean_on_bass]

Isn't your back the scale in that scenario? My back is super jacked and i still don't care.

 

[Brad Johnson]

the only time I use a scale is to weigh the case when it's full of stuff before I get on a plane so I can make sure it is under 50 lbs. usually has bass, pedals, cables, shirts, socks, whatever else I can stuff in there.

This is a luggage scale. Bingo. Max capacity way over 50 lbs.

 

[Honch]

Soon headless bass..

 

[sean_on_bass]

Ok i'll relinquish my critique here...i'm sure you guys have your reasons

 

[lz4005]

Then I guess your back is healthy, because it matters to those of us with problems.

My back is fine, but I have neck and shoulder problems.

You don't have to weigh things to know what's too heavy. Just pick it up.

Besides, balance is more important than overall weight.
A scale can't tell the difference between an unplayable neck heavy instrument and a perfectly balanced one that weighs the same.

 

[Honch]

These are great because they were built for bass!!!

The only mistake to avoid is releasing your bass into the river after weighing

greetings

Wise(b)ass

You'd better avoid those places with catch and release only permit.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

You don't have to weigh things to know what's too heavy.

You already said you don't get it, isn't that enough?

I thought that I could handle the weight of the used BTB300 I bought, but I was wrong. It was just fine in the shop for 15 minutes, but it had me aching after 45 minutes at home.
I'm also horrible about judging weight by hand. I picked up my new Ibanez Premium at GC & was sure it was at least 1/2 a pound lighter than my SRX (SR eXtreme) at home, but I was wrong. The difference was only 2 oz..

Almost no one gets it apparently, because statements like yours are what flooded in when I started a thread in this regard.
You don't get it. I'm fine with that, and you should be fine that it does matter to some of us.

BTW, I think that "some of us" is becoming a larger group as we all get older.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Isn't your back the scale in that scenario? My back is super jacked and i still don't care.

How would your back weigh a bass you're interested in buying that you don't have in your possession?

I'd like to say I'm surprised by the confusion something this simple has illuminated. But I'm not. Far from it.


If I'm selling a bass and would like to offer as much basic info for the average buyer, weight is one of the basics. Because that is not some sort of crazy question to ask. So yes I can get on and off and on again with a bathroom scale or take the bass to the post office or my job or whatever but picking this luggage scale up (for less than $5), pushing a button to turn it on and then switch it to the proper function and read the digital readout, I don't know... seemed pretty damn simple to me. About the only thing simpler would be to go Arthur on it and have my manservant do it.

If you don't care, cool... this thread would clearly seem to not be aimed at you. Yet here we are.

 

[Brad Johnson]

My back is fine, but I have neck and shoulder problems.

You don't have to weigh things to know what's too heavy. Just pick it up.

Besides, balance is more important than overall weight.
A scale can't tell the difference between an unplayable neck heavy instrument and a perfectly balanced one that weighs the same.

 

[Honch]

I think - by and large - a pentatonic scale is the most inexpensive scale to weigh a bass in. Chromatic is too unwieldy, and cumbersome, and can't go past 12 anyway.

 

[Wisebass]

You'd better avoid those places with catch and release only permit.

Oh I release all my fish!!! (well most of them )

But diving to get my fretless back? NEVER!!!

greetings

Wise

 

[Brad Johnson]

You already said you don't get it, isn't that enough?

I thought that I could handle the weight of the used BTB300 I bought, but I was wrong. It was just fine in the shop for 15 minutes, but it had me aching after 45 minutes at home.
I'm also horrible about judging weight by hand. I picked up my new Ibanez Premium at GC & was sure it was at least 1/2 a pound lighter than my SRX (SR eXtreme) at home, but I was wrong. The difference was only 2 oz..

Almost no one gets it apparently, because statements like yours are what flooded in when I started a thread in this regard.
You don't get it. I'm fine with that, and you should be fine that it does matter to some of us.

BTW, I think that "some of us" is becoming a larger group as we all get older.

I regularly play basses that weigh between 11-13 lbs. (SARCASM) Because of that I can't understand why anyone else would want to know what the weight of a bass is; buyer, seller, owner, whatever.


Yep... it's that silly. And I do play basses that heavy. But I understand that that's me and I'm not the arbiter of what others might prefer. Duh.


Folks, no one is contending that weight will denote balance or anything else besides, wait for it...

weight.


I'm enjoying the silliness of this basic topic.

 

[Honch]

Because of that I can't understand why anyone else would want to know what the weight of a bass is

Should Bass Manufacturers disclose the weight of their products?

There are tons of people and builders who's chasing that lightweight basses today. It's become a sport really. .Strandberg* Guitarworks. Any graphite headless, the more strings on it. You bet that manufacturers if they ship a whole containter with a couple of thousand basses, they sure want each one to be lightweight as possible. I would like to, and it's still in all reviews specs on bass player magazines today.

If ship due to selling on internet or e-bay or whatever, you bet that a simple half lbs can differ between a few dollars more (quite a few) in shipment costs. The shipment costs isn't in ounces. If it's over 8 lbs you'll pay a lot more.

- - - -

What stumps me though, is that people are complaining about too heavy 4 string basses. But whenever strapped on the 6 string equivalent of the same bass, then all of a sudden, that added weight is tolerable. Like if your neck, back, shoulder should care of how many strings there are on the bass. That the 4 string weighs as much as the 6 string. But the 6 string you'll play gladly, but whining and bickering about that equally "heavy" 4er. Placebo works in mysteroius ways.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I thought containers were charged my size (33 cubic meters).
but there is a weight limit of 20 Metric tons

 

[lz4005]

I thought that I could handle the weight of the used BTB300 I bought, but I was wrong. It was just fine in the shop for 15 minutes, but it had me aching after 45 minutes at home.

So rather than becoming more aware of your physical limitations, something I've had to do as I've gotten older, you want to carry a scale to the guitar store?

What stumps me though, is that people are complaining about too heavy 4 string basses. But whenever strapped on the 6 string equivalent of the same bass, then all of a sudden, that added weight is tolerable. Like if your neck, back, shoulder should care of how many strings there are on the bass. That the 4 string weighs as much as the 6 string. But the 6 string you'll play gladly, but whining and bickering about that equally "heavy" 4er.

That's why my 2 string is one of my favorite basses. Definitely the most fun.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

No need, GC has a shipping scale in the back.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Should Bass Manufacturers disclose the weight of their products?

There are tons of people and builders who's chasing that lightweight basses today. It's become a sport really. .Strandberg* Guitarworks. Any graphite headless, the more strings on it. You bet that manufacturers if they ship a whole containter with a couple of thousand basses, they sure want each one to be lightweight as possible. I would like to, and it's still in all reviews specs on bass player magazines today.

If ship due to selling on internet or e-bay or whatever, you bet that a simple half lbs can differ between a few dollars more (quite a few) in shipment costs. The shipment costs isn't in ounces. If it's over 8 lbs you'll pay a lot more.

- - - -

What stumps me though, is that people are complaining about too heavy 4 string basses. But whenever strapped on the 6 string equivalent of the same bass, then all of a sudden, that added weight is tolerable. Like if your neck, back, shoulder should care of how many strings there are on the bass. That the 4 string weighs as much as the 6 string. But the 6 string you'll play gladly, but whining and bickering about that equally "heavy" 4er. Placebo works in mysteroius ways.

I'm not sure how I could've made the sarcasm more obvious. Oh wait... *edit*


On the point that stumps you, haven't seen that at all as far as I remember. Most people don't play sixes and most folks who I've come across that are weight sensitive aren't less weight sensitive to the same weight with more strings.

Given that, again, weight is a number, it does not tell the entire story. It is entirely possible to find a well balanced bass that feels more comfortable than a poorly balanced lighter bass.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Because many just automatically fight anything "new" or different to them.


I agree on the inaccuracy of the bathroom method and bathroom scales in general.

Weighing yourself while holding a bass and then weighing yourself without applies the same percentage of inaccuracy to the bass as it does to you.

You can't weigh a bass directly on a bathroom scale because that will provide the most inaccuracy.
The scale, as wrong as it might be, will be closer to accurate when weighing something that is 200 lbs, then something 10 lbs.
It's not designed to weigh things as light as a bass directly.
Try this. (Someone please check the validity of this method.)

Find something that you know weighs a certain set amount that is close to what you think your bass weighs.
A gallon of water weighs about 8.3 lbs. (use a light weight bottle like a plastic milk jug).
Weigh yourself while holding the jug of water. Note the amount.
Weigh yourself without the jug. Note the amount.
Any difference in the two weights that deviates from the 8.3 lbs is the correction factor.
Determine the % of difference of the correction factor.

Now weigh yourself while holding the bass.
What is the difference between you with the bass and without?
Now apply the % correction factor from above to that difference.
You now have a "good enough for government accuracy" weight for your bass.

Or just buy a cheap luggage scale.

Told you there was too much math.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

So do you guys just sit around weighing instruments all day when you're bored?

Seriously, I don't get it.
I've played for over three decades and I've never weighed any of the hundreds of pieces of gear I've owned.

It's like the guy in one of today's other threads who irons his underwear.

 

[Honch]

@Old Garage-Bander I told them so early on but they wouldn't listen. They don't listen. I bet Waves comes out with a combined capo and scale any day now... they want GEAR to use, but since the least expensive method is that one, it won't fare well with all the GASSERS around here.