The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Bass Zone => Topic started by: Denis on December 03, 2009, 04:43:40 PM
-
I've been convinced for a long time that my '80 Ripper is a lot heavier than the Victory Std because it doesn't balance as well as the Victory. Not so! They were pretty close in weight, so I got curious.
I put an 11lb weight on my scale and made sure that the scale confirmed that (which it did) so I pulled all the basses out and here's how they stacked up.
G&L LB-100 = 8
'80 Ripper = 10.1
'73 Smurf Ripper = 5.5 (bare body with tuners) - don't tell me that the electronics, strings, bridge, pg, etc add over 4lbs!
'84 Victory Std = 10.2
BaCHBird = 9
'74 P-bass = 9
Fender Cowpoke = 7.25
Danelectro = 6
Epi T-birds = 7.5 each
-
Lack of balance can really fool you.
-
1964 Gretsch 6070 "Country Gentleman bass" - 8.2 lbs
1966 (w/'72 neck) Fender Mustang bass - 7.2 lbs
1972 Fender Precision - black/maple - 8.2 lbs
1973 Fender Precision fretless - black/rosewood - 8.2 lbs
1975 Fender Precision - sunburst/maple - 9.2 lbs
1975 Fender Precision - sunburst/rosewood - 9.8 lbs
1978 Fender Precision - black/rosewood - 9.0 lbs
1977 Fender Jazz bass - black/maple - 9.0 lbs
1977 Fender Musicmaster bass - Red - 8.4 lbs
1978 Fender Musicmaster bass - black - 8.4 lbs
1978 Fender Musicmaster bass - white - 8.5 lbs
1973 Rickenbacker 4001 - White - 9.0 lbs
1986 Rickenbacker 4003 Shadow - 9.2 lbs
-
I'm a gonna blow youse boys away.
I spent a couple of months on Talkbass collecting bass weights. See the attached Excel spreadsheet. I'll add the basses in this thread when I get time and post a new spreadsheet. This one dates from Nov. 2008 but only a few posts have been added at Talkbass. I'll include them, too - probably this weekend.
-
Ok, I'll add what few I have left in the next couple of days. ;D
-
What do RD's weigh?
Not yours Kenny - you've shaved half of it off! ;D
Perhaps we should call you the "Butcher of Britain" ;D ;D " No bass is safe from this evil villain's belt sander....." :P
-
Buzz... that was hurtful...
It was a Spear & Jackson" hand-saw, I'll have you know... an ongoing experiment in "tonewood-tuning"...
Butcher...? perhaps just misunderstood... ;D
I still have some holes - that Moog cavity needs filing...
-
My most profound apologies, sir! :P :P Perhaps I can shorten it to B.O.B. instead? ;D
-
Bring your Own Buzzsaw ...?
What enters the shed, does not come out... the same... :o :o :o
-
It was a Spear & Jackson" hand-saw, I'll have you know... an ongoing experiment in "tonewood-tuning"...
Did you know that Howard Molson's new shovel is a Spear & Jackson No. 3?
-
Would you like to see my cyst, lad... :mrgreen:
-
Why would you want to be a mole?
-
Ok Kimosabe, you got me there... enhance my comedy knowledge...
-
I'm quoting from The Testing of Eric Olthwaite from Ripping Yarns (M. Palin & T. Jones, late 70s).
-
I forgot that bit... like the cyst bit came from "curse Of The Claw, I think...? some things stay near the surface, like his dad speaking in French, and...
Eeee, black pudding's black today, Dave... even white bits are black...
Curiously enough, not seen a re-run here in many years; the Python shows are rarely shown, too... hard to believe there were only nine Ripping Yarns made... like there were only 12 Farty Titties...
-
OK, this version is current as of 12-5-09, with all weights reported to me on this forum and on Talkbass. I have in tot included parts basses or any instruments that weren't reported with enough info to give me Make, Model and Weight.
There are now 252 basses in the list; it's in Excel 2003 format, which should be accessible to most of us.
-
I forgot that bit... like the cyst bit came from "curse Of The Claw, I think...? some things stay near the surface, like his dad speaking in French, and...
Eeee, black pudding's black today, Dave... even white bits are black...
Curiously enough, not seen a re-run here in many years; the Python shows are rarely shown, too... hard to believe there were only nine Ripping Yarns made... like there were only 12 Farty Titties...
I have Ripping Yarns on DVD. Most or all of them are now on YouTube in multiple segments.
Now back to our regularly scheduled topic.
-
Lack of balance can really fool you.
Yup, I find that an unbalanced bass can cause as much back pain for me as a heavy bass. Unfortunately I'm getting to the point where my lightweight '76 Thunderbird sometimes hurts my back on a gig. I don't play it as much as I would like to because of it.
-
So what is the lightest bass known to man? Hofner? Dano? I owned examples of both... The Hofner seemed heavier because it had neck dive. Both were under 6 lbs.
For me, ~9 lbs is ideal. Not a toy and not too heavy.
My '66 Mustang bass (7.2 lbs) is too light and had some neck dive as a result. I had to replace the tuners with Ultralites to restore the balance. Now it's all good, but when it still had its original tuners, it really was uncomfortable to play standing up.
-
My Coronado II was very light and a horrible diver, with the location of the strap button it rotated out as it dived. Hurt my shoulder to play.
OTOH my Musicman SUB is a bit on the heavier side (I think 9.5-10 lbs.) but it balances just right and never tires me.
-
The weight is why I ended up with the Dano longhorns--