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Sunday Fun with Bass Weight and Statistics

What is the average weight of my 17 basses?

  • Total voters
    116
JJP_1984_LB50

JJP_1984_LB50

Gold Supporting Member
Aug 22, 2004
724
859
63
North Canton, OH
#1
So, I recently bought a heavy bass. A MIJ Fender Jino Jazz at a soon to be revealed weight. Heavy it may be, but I love the feel and tone and it's gorgeous.

I have become a bit of a collector over the last decade or so, and currently own 17 basses (🤯).

I'm also an engineer by trade, so naturally I decided I needed to weigh all my basses, find the mean and standard deviation, and then plot them all on a normal distribution. I used my bathroom scale which has a resolution of about 0.2 lbf. Isn't this how everyone spends their days…??? :cool:

To build some anticipation, I posted the poll above and the plot below with no labels. There may be multiple results at a particular value. I'll give it some time and then post the plot with all the results. I was quite surprised…

1746367707829.png
 
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Reactions: JRA, jglunt, IceBlueBoogaloo and 1 other person
#4
AIO 6W six string.Walnut/Mahogany.11.21 lbs.
Ibanez EHB1506MS fanned fret six string.Poplar Burl/Mahogany.8.38 lbs
Tune TWB63OB fretted six string.2005.Ovangkol/mahogany.10.5 lbs
Tune TWB63OB fretless six string.2005.Ovangkol/mahogany.10.7 lbs
 
#5
JJP_1984_LB50 said:
So, I recently bought a heavy bass. A MIJ Fender Jino Jazz at a soon to be revealed weight. Heavy it may be, but I love the feel and tone and it's gorgeous.

I have become a bit of a collector over the last decade or so, and currently own 17 basses (🤯).

I'm also an engineer by trade, so naturally I decided I needed to weigh all my basses, find the mean and standard deviation, and then plot them all on a normal distribution. I used my bathroom scale which has a resolution of about 0.2 lbf. Isn't this how everyone spends their days…??? :cool:

To build some anticipation, I posted the poll above and the plot below with no labels. There may be multiple results at a particular value. I'll give it some time and then post the plot with all the results. I was quite surprised…

View attachment 7218026
Click to expand...
I have you beat. 20 basses and 3 more in the building process.
 
#6
Please publish your min and max when you let the numbers be known. With that many, I think it proves my opinion that you have to be flexible with weight if you want a wide variety of basses. If they are all FSO's, then that's another thing...
 
#9
I have 12 currently. All weigh between 8.5 and 10lbs. I like a 9lb bass. Get too far over 10 and it feels heavy, too far under 9 and it doesn't feel right on a strap. I have sold basses that weighed 10.5 lbs and 8lbs, both because the weight was uncomfortable.
 
#10
IMG_2450.jpeg


I question the veracity of your average bathroom scale. For this type of inquiry, this sort of critical research, you really need a dedicated bass scale.

Or you could sneak off to the mancave with the digital kitchen scale and have easy conversions from English to metric units.
IMG_2451.jpeg


Of my four basses, two weigh in at 7.5 lb and two at 8.5 lb. I think that averages out at 8 lb.

Four four strings. 8.5 is my upper limit.

My Glarry slim line Tele weighs just over 5 lb. The other guitars around 7.

I've come a long way from the 12+lb Kramer aluminum neck 450B.

For real fun, I've got a spread sheet of all the hydrofoil wings hiding in my van: wingspan, aspect ratio, fuselage length and stabilizers, and mast lengths and materials.

For nerding out at the beach.

I guessed 9.5 for your average.
 

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