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your perfect weight.


GreatDane

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not too long ago, i bought a digital scale so i could get accurate weights for a few guitars that i was selling. the trend i've noticed lately is that buyers are really keen on wanting to know what a particular guitar weighs (to the extent that buyers will pass on an otherwise good deal because they can't get an accurate weight from the seller).  so i caved and found one on eBay for about $30.

... and i started weighing these guitars; some of which i thought were light and some i thought were on the heavier side.  some i was right about, but others i was not.  and two guitars i thought were significantly different from each other in terms of weight were actually within an ounce of each other!

anyone else notice this? 

do you have a perfect weight for a guitar? if so, what is it?  if not, why?  too busy playing to give a {censored}?

have you found over the years that based on a number of factors (including ergonomics, body shape, neck width and position of strap buttons, etc.) that different guitars can feel heavier or lighter regardless of their actual weight?

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Not really.  The guitars are fine as long as they're balanced.  Neckdive is a problem for me, as it amplifies the effort of my left arm and can flare up the tendonitis.  I'm more concerened about the weight of the amp than the guitar.  I actually recently returned an amazing sounding amp because it was too loud and too heavy.

 

Meanwhile, I know a fairly petite woman (who just turned 50) that plays a Les Paul and lugs around a Fender Vibrolux and/or an Ampeg VT-40 on a regular basis.

 

And never complains about the weight.

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GreatDane wrote:

 

 

have you found over the years that based on a number of factors (including ergonomics, body shape, neck width and position of strap buttons, etc.) that different guitars can feel heavier or lighter regardless of their actual weight?

 

Hey GD, this is a most interesting thing for me (and is worth its own thread). So much so that I have posted this a few times before on this board.

As an uncanny coincidence, three of the few electrics I own weight exactly the same: My SA2200, my Gary moore LP and my parts-tele. They weight 4.2kgs (a tad over 9 pounds). Now the strange part is that they couldn't feel more different from one another in weight even when I simply pick them up by the neck! That they feel different on my lap is due, of course, to balance and contour but still then, one also feel significantly heavier than the other. Picking it up, the SA feels the lightest and the parts-tele is a f***ing boat anchor. Sitting down the LP feels very comfortable (balanced), the SA needs a strap even playing sitting down (and then feels the most comfortable) and the tele again loses in playing comfort.

 

My favorite weight and feel of them all is my PAC904. Forgot how much it weighs exactly (around 8 pounds in any case) but its alder back / light ash thick cap is just the perfect weight and balance for me. The basswood LAG is very light so it's confortable but the chunky 904 wins.

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noisebloom wrote:

 

Additionally, I've had a few really light guitars on me, such as a Parker, that felt like toys. If I owned that Parker I tried, I'd certainly get used to it, but I'll never forget that initial impression.

 

I think this is my hangup with SGs.  Great guitars, and they sound great, but they feel like toys when you pick them up.  They remind me of those cheap Teisco copies (not the real ones, the knockoffs of them) from the 1960s

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noisebloom wrote:

 

Ten pounds is my estimated comfort zone limit. Anything north of 10 lbs and there'd better be a compelling reason to keep it.

 

I don't know how Jerry Garcia got along with those boat anchors of his, but he swore by them.

 

Tiger was 14 effing pounds, and he played it almost exclusively for 11 years...three hour shows, 200 or so a year. 

My upper limit is around 10, but I prefer 8 to 9.  Believe it or not, but I have a strat that's around 10 pounds.

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Don't particularly care as long as it's comfortable and is well balanced. My main guitars all sit where I want them to, and if I shift the position a bit they stay put. Comfortable for me mostly means contours and a bridge that sits relatively low on the body. I had a Flying V that I just couldn't keep because it had one position it wanted to sit in, so I had to constantly hold the thing where I wanted it, the neck angle meant the bridge sat quite high off the body to get the action I wanted, and the lack of contours made it quite uncomfortable. The thing was quite light and sounded great, but I just couldn't play it comfortably.

All my main guitars have a bit of weight in them thanks to the big 7-string Floyd style trems. But if it sits comfortably, weight isn't really an issue. A nice wide comfy strap certainly helps too.

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