that's not true. Sweetwater only lists weights of basses in stock. If they have just one, they will list that basses weight.
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Looking for a lighter bass
- Thread starter dbase
- Start date
Thanks for posting this!
I've been very interested to hear folks experiences with Palouina. Softness isn't really an issue for me unless you're talking about something like Balsa. I've had good experiences with Swamp ash and Cedar also. It's looking very likely that I'll pick up a Palowina body from Guitar Fetish for a neck I've got kicking around so I can do some pickup experimentation.
When my back is under the weather I play my Danelectro '58 reissue Longhorn Bass. I think I paid $389 for it new and it's as light as a feather and plays like a dream. Speaking of light ... I also parked all my beloved heavy SWR stuff and I am hauling around a MarkBass CMD102P combo amp. It's only 44lbs & 300 watts at 8 ohms as it stands and it will drive another 8 ohm cab at 500 watts. When do you ever need more than that outside of a concert hall?
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I got mine from USACG. Man, is it light. The resulting bass is killer. The whole thing is a little over 6.5 lbs using a Mighty Mite neck. In fact, I recently ordered a Paulownia (Empress) Jazz from G&L based on this.
As for tone, I think it sounds a lot like swamp ash - it's open like that. Some have said it's like a merge between Alder and Ash, but the openness of the tone just has ash written all over it, to my ears at least.
It's not the most note-sustaining wood there is, but it's far from dead. I've had alder that was far more problematic concerning sustain. I have had that very same neck on a Warmoth Alder J-body and I just couldn't make it sing, and had a miserable dead spot at the 7th fret.
I think Paulownia is very resonant and lively. what's here is really good. I love it, much more than any Fender I've ever played (now there's a dead sounding bass for ya...).
I said I'd post a pic and here she be:
I haven't tried any of the Guitar Fetish bodies, but if they are anything like the Chinese neck I bought on Amazon for experimentation - let's just say it was akin to some something your uncle Phil might make right when he got his first bandsaw.
That sounds great as far as weight and the grain is quite nice also!
Even though my warmoth neck is rather heavy, I bet with the smaller P-bass style body I could get well under 8 pounds with a palouina p-bass body.
Meh, I've not heard anythign bad about GFS bodies. Really it only has to have a reasonably tight neck pocket since it's not routed for bridge and I'm mostly going to be using it for for kicking-around, loaning out and pickup testing. If the sanding is rough I can fix that myself.
This is the one I'm looking at:
P Bass Lightweight Body Unfinished
A nice big swimming pool route so I could try what I've always wanted to and put a MM humbucker in the mid spot.
There's also one finished in red (my p-neck has a red headstock) but it's routed for P-bass pups.
P Bass Lightweight Body Rocket Red Finish
Only Five bucks more though so I might just buy it in red and take a dremmel to it...
Still not sure whether I want to have another red bass in my stable or to go natural and give it a nice stained and hand-rubbed brown finish like an old doublebass. If I go the brown path I'd probably cut a blonde-wood pickguard of some sort for it.
You're very welcome! Just to be clear though I have no personal experience with these bodies yet.
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Lakland Skyline SB30. Had mine for a year, and don't want to touch anything else!
Sweetwater is showing one 7lb. 6oz. $1035.00
Sweetwater is showing one 7lb. 6oz. $1035.00
Just opened the box. Initial observations: It surely is a light bugger, but it seems to not take kindly to the routing - small pull outs in a number of places. Further, the neck routing is too small for the Warmoth neck I've got. It is very useful for trying out different pickups and wiring schemes - which is what I got it for. I wouldn't use it for anything that has to be cosmetically perfect (or anywhere close to that). It'll be fun to play with (`$50 fairly well spent).
Just opened the box. Initial observations: It surely is a light bugger, but it seems to not take kindly to the routing - small pull outs in a number of places. Further, the neck routing is too small for the Warmoth neck I've got. It is very useful for trying out different pickups and wiring schemes - which is what I got it for. I wouldn't use it for anything that has to be cosmetically perfect (or anywhere close to that). It'll be fun to play with (~ $50 fairly well spent).
Good to know. I'm also using a Warmoth neck.
Any estimate for how much smaller it is?
Also, which color or finish did you get?
No finish. Probably 'bout 1/2 mm too small - tho' that's just a guess, I'll get out the calipers tomorrow.
- Jun 30, 2010
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Wow - that is great! L-2000's are excellent sounding so being light weight is maximum bonus!
Good to know, Thanks!
1/2 mm almost sounds like a good thing and might be intentional. I can adjust that with some sanding and should give a very tight neck pocket.
~
I have spent the last couple of hours looking at basses on the SW site, and have yet to see one where they state the weight, INCLUDING viewing many which they say are in stock.
Please would somebody post a link to a product page of any 4-string electric bass where they do show this spec.
I would even settle for a link to a page on some other site, though I still wish to know for sure whether or not Sweetwater lists weight of any finished instruments which they offer.
Otherwise, the SW site is for the most part pleasant, with lots of pics of each instrument, at a decent res, and plenty of OTHER specs are mentioned.
If I ever buy another bass (or build one), weight will be on my shortlist of what matters.
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