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Receiving a Bass heavier than advertised

#121
The manuf will guarantee their bass and therefore can give internet representative pics of the model and an approx weight. But now we're talking about a SPECIFIC bass (yours) thats probably not guaranteed. Thats the diff.... so put it on a scale, shoot a pic and put it in your ad. That easily ends this conversation.

I have both a postal scale and a digital electronic bathroom scale. Both will work fine. Both calibrates / zero's itself when it comes on. Both read in tenths (aka I weigh 197.1). Thats fair enough for a sale. They can convert the tenths into ounces easy nuff. Now if you have an old rusty spring scale you inherited from your granny's estate, where you turn a wheel to zero it and the width of the needle is probably 3 tenths. Then just tell em you don't have a scale.....
 
#122
Seven pages on this?








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#123
BassicJazzy said:
I wonder how many of us own a scale that's accurate to the 1/10th of a lb, much less to ounces? A bathroom scale isn't going to cut it. You would need a scale that's certified, calibrated. We don't have many Post Offices anymore, and with the state they operate in, not even sure how accurate their scales are.

I've only seen weights with SW and now I am not certain they are even accurate, after reading these posts.

I think if I sold a bass, I'd leave the weight out of the listing, or state a known range for the model, like many manufacturers do.
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Up to you, but with roughly a 15% increase in musicians over 65 in the past 20 years, you might consider investing in an accurate digital scale. Even for one-off bass sales, I’ve been asked about it often enough to know I’d rather not lose a prospect when the bass happens to fall within his/her target weight range.

And if the objection is that digital postal scales aren’t accurate, that’s not really how this works. UPS, FedEx and USPS all use them, as do e-commerce companies and anyone shipping in volume. A decent calibrated postal scale is accurate to about 1/5 of an ounce, more than enough to give a buyer a reliable bass weight. It’s a technology that’s not going anywhere soon.

And while manufacturers may only show a weight range, the largest dedicated musical instrument retailer in the US, Sweetwater, posts actual weights for specific basses.
 
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#126
Pocket Dave said:
Up to you, but with roughly a 15% increase in musicians over 65 in the past 20 years, you might consider investing in an accurate digital scale. Even for one-off bass sales, I’ve been asked about it often enough to know I’d rather not lose a prospect when the bass happens to fall within his/her target weight range.

And if the objection is that digital postal scales aren’t accurate, that’s not really how this works. UPS, FedEx and USPS all use them, as do e-commerce companies and anyone shipping in volume. A decent calibrated postal scale is accurate to about 1/5 of an ounce, more than enough to give a buyer a reliable bass weight. It’s a technology that’s not going anywhere soon.

And while manufacturers may only show a weight range, the largest dedicated musical instrument retailer in the US, Sweetwater, posts actual weights for specific basses.
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Post #11
 
#128
jazzenfunk said:
Yes, it weighs 9.lbs 14oz. It wa advertised at 9.4 oz.
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Those nonsensical decimal points are crazy-making.

"9.lbs" is meaningless.

"9.4 oz" represents a total weight of under 1 pound.

9.4 pounds (which I'll assume is how the seller listed the weight, pending your going back and checking the original ad) is 9 pounds and 6.4 ounces.
 
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#129
Pocket Dave said:
Yeah, Saw that. Good. You're aware Sweetwater posts weights on their stuff. Or was there another reason I just re-read that post?
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This is not really all on you. I was a long time lurker, going back to ‘The Bottom Line’ days. My posts lately are either completely ignored, partly duplicated a few posts later, or I’m flamed when I think I’m providing useful info. Your language above, I think, is a bit snarky. I was thinking about not posting anymore, and now I’m sure about it.
Thanks.
 
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#131
Might not be relevant, but I too have chased after lightweight basses. It really depends—if it were from a retailer, I would have returned it. But if it were a used instrument from a private deal, I would have partially blamed myself for not clarifying it with the seller before the deal.

For lightweight chasers, just be wary. Going to the extreme end might not always be a good thing. I specifically ordered a basswood P Bass body from Warmoth, with a special request and paid extra for them to specifically select a lightweight piece of basswood. Fully assembled and paired with a decent bridge and tuners, the bass is barely over 3 kg.

All dreams for barely a minute before realising it neck-dives like crazy because of the lightweight body. A lightweight neck is much harder to achieve, and I completely overlooked that, and i really believe thats the reason for headless bass.
 
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#132
Pocket Dave said:
Up to you, but with roughly a 15% increase in musicians over 65 in the past 20 years, you might consider investing in an accurate digital scale. Even for one-off bass sales, I’ve been asked about it often enough to know I’d rather not lose a prospect when the bass happens to fall within his/her target weight range.

And if the objection is that digital postal scales aren’t accurate, that’s not really how this works. UPS, FedEx and USPS all use them, as do e-commerce companies and anyone shipping in volume. A decent calibrated postal scale is accurate to about 1/5 of an ounce, more than enough to give a buyer a reliable bass weight. It’s a technology that’s not going anywhere soon.

And while manufacturers may only show a weight range, the largest dedicated musical instrument retailer in the US, Sweetwater, posts actual weights for specific basses.
Click to expand...
You can get an Amazon Special postal scale for twenty bucks. It's surely accurate enough to make a good faith effort at providing a weight. Anybody quibbling over an ounce is just a jerkweasel.
 
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#135
I would recommend buying a lightweight EBMM Stingray Special with an ash or poplar body. Mine weighs 8.1lbs and I am blown away by how light it is and the weight distribution every single time I play it. I bought it used on Reverb from a very enthusiastic, respectful and detailed seller. Didn’t even bid just immediately paid full price when I read the ad. Sometimes it’s worth paying a little more to make sure you’re getting the guitar you really want to play. The seller and I actually kept in contact for many years after the sale because I was so grateful to him for selling me such a nice instrument. I wish all sales went this way.
 
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#137
bass player 53 said:
This is not really all on you. I was a long time lurker, going back to ‘The Bottom Line’ days. My posts lately are either completely ignored, partly duplicated a few posts later, or I’m flamed when I think I’m providing useful info. Your language above, I think, is a bit snarky. I was thinking about not posting anymore, and now I’m sure about it.
Thanks.
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My apologies. Yes. I was being snarky. Good read.

Lately I find myself getting short with what I perceive to be less-than-stellar transparency and comprehensive presentation of info.

I'll work on that.
 
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