When did weight become the top priority in a bass?

[toastw]

There's something else at play. As the years go by, the availability of quality tone woods has declined. Those choosing the woods for creating new instruments had to adapt. Marketing departments had to find a new selling point. Well, if we can't offer REAL mahogany, then let's paint this one as better because ... oh! how about light weight?

Yeah, people will like that.

It's a benefit; a selling point that scratches some buyers' pain point (literally and figuratively).

 

[JohnnyChatter]

So I used to think it was kind of ridiculous but than got a Peavy T-40 that weighed 13 pounds... and still had neck dive.... I don't really look for light basses and usually just ask if its under 10 pounds. I play really long shows sometimes and have been a blue collar worker my whole life so now I just make my own light weight basses out of paulownia. I bench 220 no problem but play 7 pounds basses. Kinda ironic but really its not so much lifting the weight as the tole it put on my back. I LOVE the tone I get and how since it only costs a few hundred to make I can experiment. The only possible downfall is how easily the wood dents but honestly I just lean into and make nice looking basses that I "relic" just by playing them. I had a dude ask me at one of the last shows what year my bass was. Didn't ask what brand. Haha. It's like 7 months old. She sure plays better than my 5k basses though.

 

[MIJ Fender Guy]

All things being equal the lighter the better. Why work harder than you need to?

Exactly. Why IGNORE the weight when you can know it? I think what's even more strange is pretending it doesn't matter. That's like going to the gym and grabbing any random weight trying to convince yourself it doesn't matter.

 

[Jazzdogg]

I played a heavy Fender P as my only gigging bass from the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties and never noticed the weight. Now all I have to do is pick it up to notice the weight. It's the indignities of age; I feel the cold more deeply now that I did then, as well.

I also played a fairly heavy P back in the seventies.

After a decade, my solution was to disassembled the bass and completely recontour the body to make it more comfortable to play.

The result was that the transformation significantly reduced discomfort, while increasing playability and sound; I was happier, and weight was less of an issue. It remained my primary bass for about three decades.

When I bought my first five-string, about 25 years ago, I also recontoured and refinished the body after playing it for a year or two, and it became my #1 bass until I retired, in part, because customizing made me comfortable and happy, and made weight less of an issue.

IME, weight becomes less of an issue when body contours compliment the player's body and playing style and provide an instrument that balances well on a strap.

 

[pcake]

for me, i started asking weights in 2008, after i injured my shoulder.

but for others with bad backs or doing llllooonng gigs, they started asking me when i had basses for sale ads long before that...

 

[D.A.R.K.]

People have been playing these instruments only since the 1950's. Now we are seeing the first results of what spending a large portion of your life with one of these strapped on can do to you. Apparently back issues as result are common, so normal evolution of design would try to come up with solutions. Or we could just sit down, but that's not as fun (although it does allow for both feet to control pedals....)

 

[Nuisance]

At 63, I can no longer do a 4 hour gig with a bass that weighs more than about 7.5 pounds. I have a 5.5 pound Steinberger headless waiting in the wings for the day when I can't handle a 7 pound bass any more.

 

[Dincrest]

+1 on as we get older, weight and ergonomics become more important.

The discontinued RB-1000 line from LTD (by ESP) was designed by the late great Rocco Prestia for reduced weight since he could no longer shoulder heavy basses due to his medical needs and age.

Of course, weight isn't everything. A bass with a light body and a heavy neck will neck dive, even with a long upper horn. The new Tobias Growlers with Pawlonia bodies seem great on Sweetwater (with weights under 7 pounds and a long upper horn), but anyone who's played them says that they have terrible neck dive and it feels like a battle to hold the neck up over the course of a gig.

8-9 pounds is my sweetspot. I don't like them too heavy (for long gigs) but I don't like them too light either (I'm pretty active on stage and super light basses swing around too freely and get away from me). I also prefer necks with 42mm nut width and some girth to their profiles (not "baseball bat" like vintage P-bass but not pencil necks like Ibanez Soundgear) so my ideal bass needs to have some weight to counterbalance a neck that isn't Soundgear skinny.

 

[sleddogn]

I think what's even more strange is pretending it doesn't matter.

Just curious how you know anyone pretends? I'm not.

 

[Swamp_Ronin]

it's something for people to brag about who can't shred.

i prefer a lighter bass if possible tho.

 

[MIJ Fender Guy]

Just curious how you know anyone pretends? I'm not.

You wouldn't want a bass that's easier to pick up and put down? If buying a new bass, and presented with all of the other specs, and weight, you would just ignore the weight for some reason when you could easily make a choice that would benefit yourself?

 

[GretschWretch]

To me it's a matter of pleasure: i play bass and music to feel good and make people feel good. So as i'm not a solid guy, a heavy instrument has always been a problem for me to feel good when i play. I remember in my guitarist old past to have switched my Les Paul standard for a Les Paul Lite because of weight. And now that i've past 50 and got a tendinopathy behind right shoulder, it's a more sensitive topic. And then I've discovered short scale world (and regrets to not have discovered it before, i would have saved bucks and pain after gigs) and i've no more weight and playing comfort problems. So now i can say my criteria #1 is comfort (weight under 8 lbs and short scale 30" neck).

The lead guitar player in my high school garage bands has carved himself a career in Houston hosting open mic nights and such and one day, years ago, his back was bothering him so he went to a chiropractor. Chiropractor told him to take off his shirt; my friend did. Chiropractor asked, "Why is your left shoulder two inches lower than your right one?" My friend replied, "Because for nine years I played a Les Paul guitar."

 

[melarson]

One could argue that the biggest issue with weight is some people having a problem with weight being one of the factors in other people's criteria for selecting a bass.

I have an L-2500 that's close to 11 pounds and my Big All is over 10 pounds, so I can deal with a heavier bass. But I've never felt a need to spend time wondering why any factor in someone else's decision for selecting a bass, whether it's weight, color, number of strings, type of strings, etc., etc... matters to them. It just does.

Wow, OK then. Sorry I struck a nerve, it was unintentional. I have no cares at all what criteria people have. It's just seems a fairly recent phenomenon I have noticed and made me curious. What gave you the opinion I cared either way?

Sorry to hear that the weight question is interfering with your bass-flipping. My chambered Sadowsky’s and Lull sound better than my much heavier FBasses , Fenders and MM Stingrays. That’s why I’d ask. Of course, you’re under no obligation to disclose the weight, so don’t if it bothers you. Clearly there are plenty of prospective buyers that don’t care. I just don’t happen to be one of them.

Not mad about it, just curious about the fairly recent phenomenon.

how much do you gig?

I don't, I play at church. 2-3 times a month, 15 minutes at the beginning of service, 10 minutes at the end, three services a Sunday.

Is it the top priority now, or is that just some hyperbole?

For me, I know what instruments I want to play and when I find it, if it weighs too much, I move on. So it’s not the top priority. It’s like a gateway specification.

I think it’s a prominent question because it is important but very often not advertised.

I see it discussed often now where I didn't notice it at all before. Just my observation that made me curious.

 

[GretschWretch]

It seemingly does matter to some, not myself. I'm 56, never ever bought or didn't buy due to weight, never even look or ask. Just me...flame away

And here you are chillin' in a snowdrift. I would think you would welcome the flames.

 

[lowendrachel]

Few months ago. When I was 45.

 

[GretschWretch]

I am going to introduce here something that has received its own threads, which is that hootenanny button. I tried it on a couple of basses, and it goes a long way to mitigating the weight issue. The problem, as I see it, is that the usual strap button on the top horn arrangement places the strap right up against the edge of one's neck where there is only tissue and no skeletal support for the bass weight, unlike farther out onto the shoulder or clavicle, and the bulk of the bass is largely unsupported. Putting one's right forearm down on the top edge of the body only exacerbates the situation.

The hootenanny button brings the torso into play in helping handle the bass weight, and it also makes the strap pass across the shoulder blade and back muscles, so the weight is more supported. The drawback is that you have to keep the bass nearly horizontal; try to angle the neck up too much and the body of the bass would slide down. If I am going to continue to play my beloved 1971 Fender P, though, it is going to have to be either playing seated or with the h. button.

Back in the seventies and eighties I was active in the Society for Creative Anachronism, long before the SCA had spawned all the cottage industries it has since. Guys would knit their own shoulder to knee chain mail hauberks, and to keep the weight off their shoulders they would get a wide belt and loop part of the hauberk over the belt almost like a beer gut. This made the weight at least manageable by moving the principal stress point.

 

[Panych]

Bass weight became my priority when I first time tried my 2007 Stingray 5. It weighted 11+lbs.
Then I always ask about weight and balance before buying a bass.

 

[Petethebassman]

The lead guitar player in my high school garage bands has carved himself a career in Houston hosting open mic nights and such and one day, years ago, his back was bothering him so he went to a chiropractor. Chiropractor told him to take off his shirt; my friend did. Chiropractor asked, "Why is your left shoulder two inches lower than your right one?" My friend replied, "Because for nine years I played a Les Paul guitar."

Two years ago I spent a few days at a spa and booked a massage therapy appointment. After he started working on my shoulders and back he asked “Are you a musician?”. I said yes, but how can you know that? He said he’s had many musicians as clients and usually the shoulders and back have shifted and twisted. I’ve been playing bass for 45 years now.

 

[dave64o]

Wow, OK then. Sorry I struck a nerve, it was unintentional. I have no cares at all what criteria people have. It's just seems a fairly recent phenomenon I have noticed and made me curious. What gave you the opinion I cared either way?

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Sorry, I didn't mean you imply specifically as much as there are a lot of threads here on TB where people get pretty indignant that anyone would consider weight. You can even see some of that in this thread because some replied saying things like "Man up!", or "Hit the gym, girly man!", or something along those lines. My point was that who cares what factors others use when choosing an instrument. Weight certainly does matter to some, sometimes for very good reasons, such as age or medical issues. Others just prefer it because, why work harder than you have to? Both reasons are valid.

As I said in my original post, I have two basses that many would consider too heavy, but I'm fine playing them for a four set gig. But I also have an 8.3 pound Stingray Special that feels fantastic to play - and is also a beast of a bass. The relatively lightweight doesn't limit its beefy punch in any way. I played it for a mere three sets tonight instead of our more typical four set gig, and I felt great when it was over. But having a relatively lighter weight instrument that sounds fantastic by itself won't make me get rid of my L-2500 and Big Al because they're beasts as well and I can handle them. At least for now. I'm 61 and I keep in pretty good shape, but I also know that the time is coming when they'll no longer be comfortable for me to play. When that happens, they'll have to go.



... well, maybe not the Big Al. That's just too cool of a bass to get rid of!

 

[sleddogn]

You wouldn't want a bass that's easier to pick up and put down? If buying a new bass, and presented with all of the other specs, and weight, you would just ignore the weight for some reason when you could easily make a choice that would benefit yourself?

when all other things equal, yes i'd look and choose between 2 for lighter, but thats not what i was addressing.... the idea of lying, honestly, was....