Face surgery fixes the back? Wow, I didn't know that! ;-)
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The ultimate lightweight bass thread!
- Thread starter Joe Nerve
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- lightweight ultimate
Lightweight basses have been my project of choice for the last couple of years. Some things I've learned:
1. The wood matters. I bought a sub-7 lb Ibanez that was full of dead spots. Sounded great, actually, but a dead A on the E string is a dealbreaker.
2. If I build my own, I can control the weight better. For Warmoth bodies, buy from the Showcase as they show the weight.
3. Warmoth necks are awesome but heavy, even those with graphite rods. USACG are light, their necks have graphite rods and weigh about the same as a non-rod neck. Mighty Mite are good for the price, quality and weight, but have become hard to find.
4. A call to Tommy at USACG to explain your situation will result in a nice conversation and lightweight parts that work just fine. My 5 string Jazz weighed about 8 lbs. He is currently sending me a paulownia (aka empress) body that I am expecting to come in at about 2.5 lbs. I think this might result in a full-sized Jazz that weighs between 6-7 lbs. Tommy sez the body will float in the air.
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5. Contact Rocket Music and order yourself a USA G&L. The prices are reasonable for the quality of those basses, and Rocket informs me they can tell G&L a target weight and the bass usually hits it, or comes very close. But I doubt 6 lbs is in the offing there; maybe 7lb if made from Paulownia, er, empress.
6. You might try the Spector Spectorcore bass. It's a semi-hollow body and has an interesting sound, since it's not only hollow, but has a piezo pickup. It's a cool bass.
Good luck!
1. The wood matters. I bought a sub-7 lb Ibanez that was full of dead spots. Sounded great, actually, but a dead A on the E string is a dealbreaker.
2. If I build my own, I can control the weight better. For Warmoth bodies, buy from the Showcase as they show the weight.
3. Warmoth necks are awesome but heavy, even those with graphite rods. USACG are light, their necks have graphite rods and weigh about the same as a non-rod neck. Mighty Mite are good for the price, quality and weight, but have become hard to find.
4. A call to Tommy at USACG to explain your situation will result in a nice conversation and lightweight parts that work just fine. My 5 string Jazz weighed about 8 lbs. He is currently sending me a paulownia (aka empress) body that I am expecting to come in at about 2.5 lbs. I think this might result in a full-sized Jazz that weighs between 6-7 lbs. Tommy sez the body will float in the air.
. 5. Contact Rocket Music and order yourself a USA G&L. The prices are reasonable for the quality of those basses, and Rocket informs me they can tell G&L a target weight and the bass usually hits it, or comes very close. But I doubt 6 lbs is in the offing there; maybe 7lb if made from Paulownia, er, empress.
6. You might try the Spector Spectorcore bass. It's a semi-hollow body and has an interesting sound, since it's not only hollow, but has a piezo pickup. It's a cool bass.
Good luck!
I am awaiting delivery of a Gold Tone Microbass ME lefty fretless solidbody.
It will be light for sure (about 5lbs) which is one of the main reasons I am giving it a swing, but there are several other factors that I am curious about:
1) At my crusty age my fingers are having more difficulty with my Status Graphite fretless 6 with 34" scale and even my Status Graphite fretless 5 with 32" scale. The Gold Tone ME is 23" scale so I want to see how I will be able to work with that scale length as far as playing without any pain. For a long while I was checking out the Kala U bass line but the 21" scale just seemed too short. One review I read mentioned how the ME is only 2 inches longer than the Kala but it makes a HUGE difference. Hmmm.
2) I want to check the viability of the sound from the piezo pickup and default silicon strings, and I hear LaBella has *just* come out with flats and rounds for this bass as well. Hopefully with one of these string options I can get a sound good enough to use. If it sonically works with the band then cool.
3) It's cheap! The lefty is $50 more than the right but even so its around US$513.xx. I may try some mods to this bass to suit it more to my taste like having the fingerboard epoxy coated. I will see if my luthier can add some dye or paint to make it black to cover up the lines and dots, which I hate. I may also have the body routed for a regular pickup.
4) The string gauges are kind of weird due to the shortness of the scale, and I need to find out if the E can detune to D without flopping. If it works then I will look into a D-tuner. I am also hoping they will have a 5 string with low B down the road. These sub 30" basses are so new that string manufacturers have to catch up on things. Hard to say if the sub 30" instruments will be just a passing fad or a more lasting movement in the bass world.
It will be light for sure (about 5lbs) which is one of the main reasons I am giving it a swing, but there are several other factors that I am curious about:
1) At my crusty age my fingers are having more difficulty with my Status Graphite fretless 6 with 34" scale and even my Status Graphite fretless 5 with 32" scale. The Gold Tone ME is 23" scale so I want to see how I will be able to work with that scale length as far as playing without any pain. For a long while I was checking out the Kala U bass line but the 21" scale just seemed too short. One review I read mentioned how the ME is only 2 inches longer than the Kala but it makes a HUGE difference. Hmmm.
2) I want to check the viability of the sound from the piezo pickup and default silicon strings, and I hear LaBella has *just* come out with flats and rounds for this bass as well. Hopefully with one of these string options I can get a sound good enough to use. If it sonically works with the band then cool.
3) It's cheap! The lefty is $50 more than the right but even so its around US$513.xx. I may try some mods to this bass to suit it more to my taste like having the fingerboard epoxy coated. I will see if my luthier can add some dye or paint to make it black to cover up the lines and dots, which I hate. I may also have the body routed for a regular pickup.
4) The string gauges are kind of weird due to the shortness of the scale, and I need to find out if the E can detune to D without flopping. If it works then I will look into a D-tuner. I am also hoping they will have a 5 string with low B down the road. These sub 30" basses are so new that string manufacturers have to catch up on things. Hard to say if the sub 30" instruments will be just a passing fad or a more lasting movement in the bass world.
Six pages, and no one's mentioned the Reverend Rumblefish?!?!
One of the hugest-sounding basses I've ever owned, and it weighs next to nothing. The only downside for me was the skinny Jazz-width neck.
One of the hugest-sounding basses I've ever owned, and it weighs next to nothing. The only downside for me was the skinny Jazz-width neck.
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You didn't say what your budget is but my Rob Allen Mouse is 5.5 lbs. - and the Rob Allen Deep 4 is 6.5 lbs.
Beautiful tone, exquisite workmanship, excellent ergonomics - just what you need: rob allen bass models
Beautiful tone, exquisite workmanship, excellent ergonomics - just what you need: rob allen bass models
Are you sure your bass /basses it the culprit? You already own a Danelectro? If you're not a "show" act which is adamant about dressing up, and looks, why not think of the other way around, attaching your bass differently to your body? Or doing the mitigating and remedy at other places? A regular backpacker that I used to be have considerably more weight over the shoulders in spite of it all being tucked at the back. Have you looked at these harness things?
Guitar Straps | Bass Straps | Slinger Straps Ergonomic Guitar Straps
I am pretty sure that regardless of lightweight bass, you will still have the dreaded neck dive which is mostly the culprit of those things. I have come to the conclusion that the more lightweight a normal bass is, as half acoustics and hollowbodies the more they neck dive. And it's that that screws your back up. If you don't mind trying out headless, they do weigh considerably less than their headed counterparts regardless of graphite or not and the strap thing above, you'd be all set with distributing the weight to other places. Another thing I can very well recommend for back purposes (yes back!) are these ones:
Yes, I kid you not. But if your stage act requires dancing and moving around a lot, you're no good. These shoes are the ones who saved my back. I can stand on stages for ever without feeling fatigued. I could stand up for a full 4 hrs while watching from audience standpoint at a rock festival. Could move and bob around but not ever getting fatigued in the knees, back, or hip while the rest of my friends had to sit down on the grass, or find som chairs way out at the sides where all food and beer stalls occurs.
If you or your band is prickly about looks on stage they got others as well:
That can clean up your act. They're all called MBT shoes and comes in many flavors. It's the opposite (totally) to the "Converse disease". No problems with heels, ankles, knees hips or anything up the neck. While a more lightweight bass will make you feel like it's better, I think in the long run, it's other things like that sling strap and the shoes you're wearing, that will make up the major thing. These shoes forces you to keep an upright posture, and while they may feel awkward first, you won't believe that you had these muscles inside your stomach, and abdominals! You start to using muscles that you werent aware of. Other things, mostly found at the well equipped gym are, once in a while....do this:
It's not the bass you're after. It's the elimination of your back problems. You don't believe me? If you do not act in a stage show act, just take a chair and sit down and play with the strap totally off, with the bass residing on your lap. See if the problems goes away
...then there's absolutely no reason to think that it is the bass weight that's the problem. You remove all the weight from your shoulders and back.See now, this chair experiment is the thing to look for FIRST, because only then you'll be able to determine the culprit. If your back problems eases off pretty quickly - I'd say within a week, no more than two weeks - then go for that lighweight thing, or save a lot of money and sit down playing instead! If you still have problems, then not any lighweight bass will be the problem, because you can't get anymore lightweight than that, having 0 lbs load on your shoulders, as it is while sitting down playing without a strap.
Do this chair thing FIRST.
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Of course, you can combine all those things at once a) lightweight bass b) strap harness c) mbt shoes, and then you have had hedged your bets to the moon and back! (pardon the pun). If that still doesn't cure your back problems, then the "face surgery" above is the only thing left or quit playing. The latter, is not an option.
Mind you that the dough you spend on MBT shoes and that Strap harness, is considerably less in total than spending (or wasting) on any lightweight bass.
Mind you that the dough you spend on MBT shoes and that Strap harness, is considerably less in total than spending (or wasting) on any lightweight bass.
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@joenerve My 23" scale marleaux (held next to someone's Billy Sheehan bass to give an idea of the size) is under 5 lbs I think, and my new 25" scale strat bass was under 6 lbs but I just added a heavy bridge to it tonight, so it may be a little more than 6 lbs now, but sounds much better. I'm in the city on the upper west side every Sunday for sound gigs so if you ever want to try them just let me know. I do plenty of weddings with those basses and not only do they sound great but I get a lot of questions too...
You said this youself, but think for yourself at the gym while doing stand up calves push ups (calf raise). Think for yourself how much weight you put over your shoulders.
Like this:
And compare to this, sitting down calves press:
Calf raise unseated, while standing up is way way more heavy than any heavy bass. You only use your calves to make that move/raise, but the weigh is still loading down that spine. It's like 60 lbs or more. However, the stand up calf raise isn't something you should do if you do have lower back problems. The seated is more appropriate.
Of course, the amount of time compared to stand 3 hours gigs, 4 times a week, isn't really comparable to these maximum one minute raise of the calves. Of course you can't stand in that machine raising calf (ha!) for hours on end. But I really doubt that knocking 2 lbs from your bass will cure your lower back issues, unless you're starting to look for that harness strap things, PLUS the MBT shoes as well.
Also take a good look in the mirror while playing (practicing). Do you raise your shoulders the tiniest if you have to dig in or playing tricky parts? You don't have mirrors on stage, but you can just put up any video camera, or cell phone vid flick and put at the side of the stage and film you all of the time, for viewing later on.
I do think, since you said you had lower back issues, it's more of a problem that can be solved outside lightweight bass. If you have problems with your shoulders and feel pain up there, as fast as you strap something on, THEN I think sitting down seated while playing without any strap will do way much better than any lightweight bass, same if you got neck problems. My best qualified guess is that it is one of the discs that's starting to leak on you, ever so slowly. Due to stress, wear and RSI "Repetitive Stress Injury". Can be ever as painful, and moreso than just a slipped disc.
Look, instead of byuing any bass, you sure have friends that can borrow you their mothballed headless basses, or you can buy a second hand headless Hohner paddle on any of reverb, craigslist, ebay or whatnot for cheap. They don't weigh that much and has no neck dive. You can try and play for long periods of time for that one, just to check out if it really is the weight of the bass thing, if you really should have a go at it.
Of all the suggestions here, I've yet to see any headless recommendations except mine. And I think you should go for those ones first and foremost, mostly thanks to they're non neck diving basses PLUS the overal lightweight thing. All basses though, headstocked or headless, will start to bounce around and wiggle more easily the more lightweight they are. They don't seem to "stay put" so to speak. Can be a major chore to keep track of all the time too while playing.
Of all the suggestions here, I've yet to see any headless recommendations except mine. And I think you should go for those ones first and foremost, mostly thanks to they're non neck diving basses PLUS the overal lightweight thing. All basses though, headstocked or headless, will start to bounce around and wiggle more easily the more lightweight they are. They don't seem to "stay put" so to speak. Can be a major chore to keep track of all the time too while playing.
What a slim neck!
Nicely shaped headstock!
What a body, the forms and contours are perfectly ergonomic!
What perfect lines!
...oh btw, the bass seems nice too...
EDIT: Got PM, so pic changed out. Sorry about that folks. Maybe stretched the boundaries of good taste on this one, a little bit...
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I didn't actually weigh the bass, but it felt like a bass of 25% of the weight of my regular bass. Besides, I live on a continent that uses the metric system so it's hard to say for me how many lbs it was.
Edit, I just did a google search and the bass is aparently 7.5lbs. Thats pretty light!
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If you need a D-tuner, the Hohner B2ADB might come in handy.
https://reverb.com/item/1387296-hoh...inberger-copy-4-string-bass-grey-nickel-stain
I don't know about the U.S. prices, but guessing from the link below you can get one used below $ 400,- . With a bit of luck you can pick a used one up around € 250,- on the continent.
Hohner B2ADB Headless "Steinberger Copy" 4-String Bass Grey Nickel Stain
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https://reverb.com/item/1387296-hoh...inberger-copy-4-string-bass-grey-nickel-stain
I don't know about the U.S. prices, but guessing from the link below you can get one used below $ 400,- . With a bit of luck you can pick a used one up around € 250,- on the continent.
Hohner B2ADB Headless "Steinberger Copy" 4-String Bass Grey Nickel Stain
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The VL's are even lighter than the SL's due to a chambered body
One method of bringing down the weight, is - if you play or 5 or 6 string bass, is to go down using the same model but as 4 strings only.
This eludes me that some people accepts the added weight of a 6 string bass, but scold it, if it should weight just as much but being just a 4 string. This beats me. Neither your neck, nor shoulder, nor back, gives a F of how many strings your bass have. It does just care about weight, no matter that if it has none strings or 6, or more. Bizarre rationale behind this actually. But as placebo works with some people, they may very well cope with that, but they ain't gonna fool me with such irrational excuses.
This eludes me that some people accepts the added weight of a 6 string bass, but scold it, if it should weight just as much but being just a 4 string. This beats me. Neither your neck, nor shoulder, nor back, gives a F of how many strings your bass have. It does just care about weight, no matter that if it has none strings or 6, or more. Bizarre rationale behind this actually. But as placebo works with some people, they may very well cope with that, but they ain't gonna fool me with such irrational excuses.
I've just bought a Duostrap Neo by GruvGear this morning and it has to come half way around the world but there are plenty of comments here at TB about them. Bought a back brace for Gym people too. So I'm Hoping. Bought an Ibanez SR755 PJ bass which would be in the order of 3-4 pounds lighter than my Fender J bass I'm guessing. Sadly, its a bit heavier than I'd hoped (I'd tried the SR655 but didn't like the timber finish, got the last 755 here in Australia which is apparently a little heavier) so I hope the strap and belt will help me stave off future problems (wrong side of 50...)
But..! I bought an Aria Sinsonido which is a 2kg (4lb-ish) bass instrument let down by a lack of evolution. I put a Lace AB pickup on it (see my thread here somewhere) and run it through a Sansamp BassDriver DI and it gets a pretty good tone. Sadly it seems to be a bit weak around the tuners and I'm having a bit of trouble there. However, the theory of the instrument works.
So..! Got me thinking. Body like an Aria Sinsonido routed for a PJ/MM pickups with your favourite active circuit if required or even a StellaTone, lightweight thin neck and a Steinberger headless bass bridge/tuners. In Australia a body of Camphorlaurel or a laminated something with lots of life to it. Slightly over-bright strings like Elixir should help stop it from sounding dull.
I reckon 2.5 kgs or 5 pounds-ish is very achievable. If the key to good tone in a neck is truss rod adjustment how about putting a truss rod or two down the body of the bass from behind the neck pocket area to the bridge and putting a mite of tension on to keep the bass alive. A local kitchen mob could route the body for you, a Warmoth Slim neck, I think HeadLessUSA.com have Steinberger tuning systems and pickups & preamps of your favourite flavour. I've looked into it and it is definitely doable but the truss rod idea is just a notion. My experience with the Sinsonido tells me the build is very possible & I'm going to slowly get to it myself but I bought the Ibby because I didn't want to rely on an experiment that just might fail as my main bass. Truly worth thinking about and maybe some of our TBers with building/luthier experience might have some comments?
But..! I bought an Aria Sinsonido which is a 2kg (4lb-ish) bass instrument let down by a lack of evolution. I put a Lace AB pickup on it (see my thread here somewhere) and run it through a Sansamp BassDriver DI and it gets a pretty good tone. Sadly it seems to be a bit weak around the tuners and I'm having a bit of trouble there. However, the theory of the instrument works.
So..! Got me thinking. Body like an Aria Sinsonido routed for a PJ/MM pickups with your favourite active circuit if required or even a StellaTone, lightweight thin neck and a Steinberger headless bass bridge/tuners. In Australia a body of Camphorlaurel or a laminated something with lots of life to it. Slightly over-bright strings like Elixir should help stop it from sounding dull.
I reckon 2.5 kgs or 5 pounds-ish is very achievable. If the key to good tone in a neck is truss rod adjustment how about putting a truss rod or two down the body of the bass from behind the neck pocket area to the bridge and putting a mite of tension on to keep the bass alive. A local kitchen mob could route the body for you, a Warmoth Slim neck, I think HeadLessUSA.com have Steinberger tuning systems and pickups & preamps of your favourite flavour. I've looked into it and it is definitely doable but the truss rod idea is just a notion. My experience with the Sinsonido tells me the build is very possible & I'm going to slowly get to it myself but I bought the Ibby because I didn't want to rely on an experiment that just might fail as my main bass. Truly worth thinking about and maybe some of our TBers with building/luthier experience might have some comments?
Haha, better! I'm with you now. I have a white one that's discolored over time to a yellowed cream color, so I knew 2.5 lbs was a little off! Wall Queen for me, don't really care for it's neck, seems more like a like a baseball bat, but it fits many people just right and it has a timeless cool factor
