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What are your lightest/heaviest basses?...
- Thread starter Claymore
- Start date
I generally like basses with a little weight to them because I can’t stand basses that are so light they flop around when slapping for example where I feel like I have to hold the body down . I mainly play originals gigs so those are short 1 set gigs and most longer cover gig situations I play sitting down because they are often laid back acoustic style gigs. So the weight isn’t as big of a deal to me as some folks but as I’ve gotten older I’ve gotten pickier about it. I’d say longer rehearsals are where I feel the weight the most. Have had two basses that weighed over 12 lbs and those are long gone for example.View attachment 3988653 Do you gravitate towards boat anchors, featherweights or a mix of both? My Dano weighs in at 6.8lbs (which includes a Reverend chrome arm rest) and the sit-down battle axe of my collection is the ATK at a whopping 11.6lbs. How important is weight to you? I've heard some people say they won't ever buy a bass over 9lbs. I guess it depends on what you're gonna do with it. I would never want to play a gig with something like that ATK but for sitting down and noodling around with... Why not? I guess if I had to put a number on it, over 9.2lbs is when a bass starts to feel a little cumbersome to me. Do you have a cut-off point when it comes to weight? Please share.
Out of the three in my avatar the fender acoustic is clearly the lightest, it weighs practically nothing. For a normal bass it would be too light for my taste but because it’s an acoustic with the bigger body my right arm wrapping around the body keeps it in place. My Dingwall I’ve actually weighed and it’s right at 9 lbs, the Fender jazz 5 is the heaviest but it’s not much heavier than the Dingwall. I’d be very surprised if it was over 10 lbs.
my smallguitars.com MB2 weighs in at 4.75 pounds.
my heaviest bass - well, three of them weigh 7.8 pounds including my black ibanez GSR100.
my heaviest bass - well, three of them weigh 7.8 pounds including my black ibanez GSR100.
My heaviest is definitely my Pentabuzz. They look delicate in pictures but they're actually impressively solid and strong.
Lightest: <8lb 5 string frankenjazz (self built) Empress (Paulownia) body
Heaviest :
Self Built 11lb Franken PJ maple cap White Ash body:
Heaviest :
Self Built 11lb Franken PJ maple cap White Ash body:
My Heavier bass was a DNG NTB PJReverse.About 5 Kg...than I decide to have a light Bass and bought A2 and for other bass I decided to have only not more than 4Kg. basses. Actually my lighter is the Mikro, about 2,7Kg. The Heavier the old BB and Aria more than 4 Kg. but I don't use them Anymore....
Lightest: Gear4music 3/4 LA Bass (Blue Belle) - 5.4 lbs
Heaviest: Harley Benton MB-4? (NuKitty) - 11.7 lbs
Heaviest: Harley Benton MB-4? (NuKitty) - 11.7 lbs
View attachment 3988653 Do you gravitate towards boat anchors, featherweights or a mix of both? My Dano weighs in at 6.8lbs (which includes a Reverend chrome arm rest) and the sit-down battle axe of my collection is the ATK at a whopping 11.6lbs. How important is weight to you? I've heard some people say they won't ever buy a bass over 9lbs. I guess it depends on what you're gonna do with it. I would never want to play a gig with something like that ATK but for sitting down and noodling around with... Why not? I guess if I had to put a number on it, over 9.2lbs is when a bass starts to feel a little cumbersome to me. Do you have a cut-off point when it comes to weight? Please share.
I’ve never had a bass that was too heavy. In fact, never weighed one and don’t really care to. If at age 67 years of age I can haul a 30lbs grandchild around Disney World sitting on my shoulders all day, why would a 10ish pound bass be an issue?
Lightest is the Zon Legacy, heaviest a Warwick Dolphin Pro1 fiver.
Like dbs I do not care much about the weight of a bass.
Scale matters more to me. Anything over 34" scale or with the bridge somewhere halfway up the body will be a problem. My partly asian blood made me not grow very tall. Had trouble to reach first fret on an Alembic series 1.
Like dbs I do not care much about the weight of a bass.
Scale matters more to me. Anything over 34" scale or with the bridge somewhere halfway up the body will be a problem. My partly asian blood made me not grow very tall. Had trouble to reach first fret on an Alembic series 1.
Weight is a major factor for me. I would say all my basses have been in the 7-8.5 lb range.
Currently my Birdsong CBass is around 7.5 lbs, and my fretless Birdsong is in that same range. I have a third Birdsong on order (5 string in alder) that I expect will be closer to the 8/8.5 range.
Once you get up around 9+ I'm tempted to back away, though an extra half pound to pound spread out evenly over a well balanced bass isn't a huge deal IMO.
Currently my Birdsong CBass is around 7.5 lbs, and my fretless Birdsong is in that same range. I have a third Birdsong on order (5 string in alder) that I expect will be closer to the 8/8.5 range.
Once you get up around 9+ I'm tempted to back away, though an extra half pound to pound spread out evenly over a well balanced bass isn't a huge deal IMO.
I've only ever known the weight of a bass if it was bought from Sweetwater. I've never weighed any of my basses and I've since forgotten the weights Sweetwater listed. Fortunately weight has never been a factor for me and/or I have been blessed to have never owned a true heavyweight/boat anchor.
Of my 4 the lightest is 8.0 lbs and the heaviest is 8.8 lbs. I used to prefer heavier basses until I blew my neck and back out in a car wreck. Now the lighter the better!
So Anyway, I sold a Fender MIJ Geddy Lee Jazz Bass earlier this year that was probably the heaviest bass I'd ever owned. Just a drop under 11 lbs.
<------- It even weighted more than this guy!
A little too heavy for me to gig with and way too nice to sit around not being played. A shame...the setup was so perfect that it almost played itself.
Had a couple of violin basses (Hofner and Epiphone) that were on the light side. For some reason, they were really uncomfortable for me to play.
<------- It even weighted more than this guy!
A little too heavy for me to gig with and way too nice to sit around not being played. A shame...the setup was so perfect that it almost played itself.
Had a couple of violin basses (Hofner and Epiphone) that were on the light side. For some reason, they were really uncomfortable for me to play.
My lightest bass is my Shawn May SC4F, it weighs about 5.4 lbs
My Heaviest is my ESP Ltd D-6, at a little less than 14 lbs.
My Heaviest is my ESP Ltd D-6, at a little less than 14 lbs.
Fender Road Worn Jazz = 8.1 lbs and Franken-Fender = 9.2 lbs. I have found out the 9.2 pounder really starts to hurt on the longer gigs due to back issues. It sounds too good not to drag to the gig though.
Don’t know the exact weight but.....
Yamaha Motion B is by far my lightest.
EBMM SUB by far my heaviest.
Yamaha Motion B is by far my lightest.
EBMM SUB by far my heaviest.
