Two back and one neck surgeries later, I can testify that weight has a BIG impact...on me. Light guitars can have great resonance unplugged or through the amp. On the flip side heavy guitars can sound dead and uninspiring just as easily. It's part of the guitar buying journey for me, and it's part of what makes buying a guitar online a tougher proposition.
Subscriber log is creeping up and I’m loving it, you guys deserve it. Great, consistent content is key, and you Gentlemen have it on this channel. Thank You for everything!
After 20 years of playing I've recently become consciously aware of weight. And when I weighed my guitars I found the ones I actually play often are around 7.5 lbs. The ones that I'd play 10 minutes and then put down were all over 8 lbs. So I learned that my natural comfort zone is in the 7 to 8 lb range. So yes, in the age of digital buying, if you can't tell me the weight of the guitar I'm not going to buy it. Because I know if it's too heavy I'm just not going to play it. To me it's no different than having a preference for neck thickness or fretboard radius. It's a tangible, real characteristic to the guitar. Does it affect tone? Probably not. But it absolutely affects the feel and playability of it for me. I don't get this hand wringing about why someone would want to know. I know it's a critical spec because I know it's going to impact how much I will enjoy the guitar.
I never gave it much thought until I started playing long nights. I had a 78 P bass that was 13.5lbs. I wouldn't want to sling that for 4 hours a night, but it's sound was HUGE!!! My AVRI 57 P bass is 9.5lbs and that seems to be a good weight for a P bass. Normally, I'd say anything under 8.5 for a P gets into the danger of neck dive, or loss of tone/sustain on a factory guitar. That said, my CS 55 P weighs 7.6lbs and it's perfectly balanced and absolutely sings. Even unplugged. It's absolute magic to work with, and is one of the things that makes it worth the bump in price from the AVRI. So it's definitely possible to have a well balanced, great sounding light guitar or bass. I think it's just less likely to be found in lower end instruments where QC might not be looking at those things as closely. I played a Squier Classic 70s P bass that sounded great and the neck played sweet sitting down. However, as cool as it was for the money. The Nyatoh body was too light to balance the neck. If you were to play it standing you'd be supporting the neck all night long. What's worse? Using your fretting hand to control the bass and not completely concentrate on playing, or lugging around a boat anchor? I don't know, and I'm glad I don't have to make the choice at this point. Great video! Also, I miss the Mike Eldred era of the Custom Shop. I feel the product offerings were much more aimed at people who appreciated classic Fenders.
Both of my custom P’s (alder with 2-pc ‘59 spec and swamp ash with 1-pc ‘58 spec) are 8.5 lbs and my J is 9. They all have Gotoh Res-O-Lite tuning machines and wide padded leather straps; zero neck dive. I have to respect my old back. It’s done a lot of hard work for me.
@@YTPartyTonight yeah it’s a tricky thing. The lite tuners definitely decrease weight, but I prefer the old vintage ones. I’d say that Classic Vibe P was definitely sub 8lbs. It was right around the same weight as my CS 55. There are times after a show where I actually double check my case when loading out to make sure the bass is still in there because it honestly feels empty compared the AVRI bass in it’s case. (Both Tweed G&Gs) Neck thickness, tuners, body wood, weight all go into it. Sometimes you find really great examples off the factory line, though. I know not all Classic Vibes have neck dive. So it’s definitely not impossible to find it on an entry level instrument. I just think that QC probably doesn’t worry about it so that’s why they are more prone to be found with it.
@@danielphillipsmusic9145 Gotoh Res-O-Lite tuning machines are vintage-style drop-in replacements, available reversed or non-reversed, only lighter and better build quality. The purpose is more about better instrument balance than overall weight. These are an upgrade option with Fender Custom Shop.
I've got a bad back after working for years in warehouses, moving furniture, hay bales, etc. I am currently gigging with a Nashville Tele with a factory installed B-Bender. Think it comes in at around 13 lbs but man I definitely feel it after a 4 hour gig. Hoping the CS Thinline Tele Johnny Rob just ordered for me is nice and light!
I never thought about the weight of my guitar or any other guitar until I read about Harrison’s rosewood Fender. When I was 13, playing was just plain cool. I never noticed that one guitar was more burdensome than another. My guitar was perfect for me so I really didn’t give the weight of my friends’ guitars much thought. I am now 63 and most of my playing is just noodling while sitting on a sofa. I suppose if I had to stand for a couple of hours at a time I might think differently. For now, I would not send George Harrison’s rosewood Fender back if it arrived at my doorstep as a gift. Good video, guys. Keep them coming.
A few winters ago I missed 10 weeks of work because of neck and shoulder pain. The doctors and physical therapist said that it was due to playing and I needed to make some changes one of them being a light guitar. Everything I own is 7 pounds or less except for a PRS that is 7 lbs. 10 oz. but that guitar seems perfectly balanced and I think that has something to do with it as well.
Les Pauls were known for Years as Anchors that on a Long Night would break an Old Mans Back, but many times those Guitars Sustain and Performance was Exceptional. Over the years you eventually figure out that Weight alone does not make a Amazing Instrument, I have played Light ones to heavy ones and when putting together a Cutom Build or Partscasters Lean towards Lighter Bodies as long as have the Amazing Resonance all Great Guitars seem to have. Remember I was the Jerk that Played Every Guitar on the wall before deciding which one was going home with me and When you find That Tone and Sound you really value the weight as not the most important factor of all
As a bass player, I was amazed to find out there were short scale basses and that they sounded great. I played a Danelectro for about 25 years as my #1 because it sounded cool and my shoulder didn't hurt at the end of the night. The Gibson I play now is so freaking light and great. I found out I could get sustain in my set up, compression and preamp settings without worrying about the type of wood and the weight.
To me the weight is way down the list of things I look for. 1st does it catch my eye and me me want to pick it up. 2nd how the neck feels (radius). 3rd how does it sound, knowing my set up at home will be different then in a store. 4th is it setup correctly. 5th how does the body feel, is it comfortable to play.
I love light guitars. I always wanted a Tom Anderson because they were so light. I just love the feel of a light guitar. Hard to explain, but its more about feel than anything. Heavier strats or teles aren't "heavy", but if you pick up a 6 pound strat, then pick up an 8 pound one, it feels like a boat anchor. Now standing for 2 or 3 hours with a 70s LP could definitely wear on you!
I have owned approximately 45 different Fender Strat Pluses or the Deluxe Pus models that were made between 1987-1997. While I have not weight all of them , the vast majority were 8lb plus or minus 6 oz. While there were exceptions outside of that range, I will never forget an EBony Frost that weight close to 11 lbs. By far it was the most resonant when played acoustically but ore importantly , it was the best sounding when plugged in of any of the Pluses I have ever bought. The guitar was a deluxe which had a Silver, Blue, and Red Lace sensors instead of the 50s tuned Lace Gold in the standard plus. It is always possible that Tone was more influenced by something unique about the Lace noiseless pups than it was the mass of the guitar. I would be curious if anyone here has had a super heavy Strat of any year and can recall how it sounded?
It may be my imagination, but heavy guitars seem to sustain and ring more. Whenever I buy online and they have the weights listed, I always pick the heaviest one
Thank you you guys motivated me to get my first guitar I got a fender USA made costum Stratocaster today! I live in the Netherlands shout-out to you guys so informative always !
I do think people ask about weight primarily because of the notion that lighter weight = better, but also that that is heavily misguided because people out here confusing weight with density. I used to want the heaviest guitar I could possibly find simply because Adam Jones (from TOOL) played an LP Custom and there’s an old interview of him saying he loved it because it felt so beefy…and I got one, and it’s beefy, and I love it. I also have a sub-9lb LP and I love that equally. Physics does lend to the idea that a DENSER piece of wood can be more resonant, but dense usually means heavier, relatively speaking. Dense AND light is a special combination, and I think it’s guitars with dense, light wood that are the special/holy grail guitars people seek.
Having back/neck problems weight is important to me. My thought process is you can generally make adjustments for playability and I’ll make it sound good, or swap pickups if need be. My favorite thing about my McCarty Thinline is that it’s maybe 7lbs.
MY 74 LP Custom is a boat anchor, but it just sounds so big and sustains more than my other LP’s that have weight relief. But then I have a mid 70’s strat that’s unusually light and it sounds great, so maybe it’s how the wood ages?? I don’t know about weight, I just know the tone when I hear it. Would be hard for me to build something from scratch unless they made an exact copy of what I love playing. I don’t know just rambling.
It’s amazing how many shops, along with vendors on Reverb and EBay, do not list the weight of a guitar in the description, particularly considering how much of the target demographic for high end instruments are older folks, who are much more likely to have back problems. Personally, the weight of a guitar (or amp) has immense importance and influence on whether I will buy it. I won’t consider anything over 7.5lbs. Among what I gig regularly with are a sub 7lbs Suhr, a 5.5lbs Knaggs, and a sub 5lbs Strandberg.
I believe I was at that, or another-similar, Fender Custom Shop demo at Willcutt. Your description was accurate (across the street, in the back, in a undisclosed location…).
I ve a les paul 54 reissue and a jazzmaster both weight the same, the jazzmaster doesnt feel heavy at all but that les paul is a real workout. I think theres a lot of of other factors what create the 'feel'
I broke my neck about 15 years ago and I tend limit mine to around 8 pounds or less. Depending on the model. Anymore and my left arm falls asleep before the set, or song, is over. But that's the big reason why I don't gig anymore.
Generally, in my experience the guitars that have sounded best to me were on the light side. That said, I had a '73 Telecaster Custom that sounded great and had to weigh 14 pounds. It defied all my preconceptions about guitar weight.
Being very old(!), I well remember back in the '70s when getting good tone and sustain supposedly meant having a heavy guitar. Les Pauls were notoriously heavy - and it was almost a rite of passage to get one and prove you were a "real player"! Some of us in my generation called that out for the bullshit it was and looked at other options, which was why I bought Gibson's "The Paul", which offered Gibson quality construction at a lighter weight. It was a budget model, but much better built than contemporary Fenders, and it's never let me down and is still among my favourite guitars. Move on to the 2020s and, with many axes in my mini collection, I bought a limited edition Elcaster "T-Style" from Tone Fox in Germany. When it arrived I simply couldn't believe how light it was! And yet it's the most acoustically resonant of all my guitars - I can use it un-plugged for solo rehearsing vocals! Plugged in, it's custom P90s are fantastic and the sustain is way beyond anything in my heavier guitars! I've just bought one of Yamaha's new Revstar Standards. It's really nice for a guitar in its price range - not in the same league as the Elcaster, but it plays and feels a couple of hundred £s more than it actually costs. But I saw somebody comment online that they wouldn't buy one because it's too heavy. Whoever they were, they weren't around in the '70s! It's not heavy, and I'd happily tote it for a couple of hours onstage without a thought. Like you say, my concern was does it play well and sound good - and the answer's a resounding "Yes!" on both counts.
I don't really give it much thought most of the time. I just like one that has a good center of mass that doesn't dive when I hold it. I do feel like I tend to like a heavy Les Paul though. Feels more authentic.
Guitar manufacturers seem to acknowledge this too as the custom shops tend to generally get sorted for lighter woods, though I've noticed that even those are getting heavier- perhaps due to supply issues?
Not sure how to feel about weight affecting tone. Some people say they look for the lightest weight because they think it is tonally better. I've owned atleast 30 Les Pauls and the heaviest ones I owned had the best sustain and tone. I prefer the feel of a lighter guitar though .
Your boy Phil has a whole vid on this where he showcases his collection and this topic comes up, I believe all his guitars fall in the 7.5 - 8 range. I broke my collarbone in my late 20’s and any strap tends to sit right on top of that spot which gets very uncomfortable sitting or standing. Lighter is definitely better has to be sub 8 and that includes bass
Comment about the chambered Les Paul. I've owned seven Gibson Les Pauls over my lifetime. I have a Model 2008 chambered burst that is the best weight les Paul I've had ...and it sounds better than any I've had as well. Your comments about them wasn't derogatory but not fair either. Chambered may sound different in your view - but that sound is fantastic! At least in mine
I go with a guitar being balanced more than weight. I played Les Pauls for years then really got into and still play Strats. Lighter is nice. But my favorite slide guitar is neck heavy, I love the sound and tone and feel of the neck, but I have to work at keeping the neck up. Great show today guys.
I sailed past 60yo a couple years back and my back doesn't tolerate 9+ lb guitars any more. A good/wide strap helps. Especially when playing 3 sets (4 hours). So my 9.5 lb Les Paul doesn't see much action these days. My 7lb 2oz Suhr Modern is a featherweight in comparison. Finding an 8-ish pound 5-string bass is hard. Good thing Ibanez makes light basses. I'm all about sub-8lb guitars. I love that Sweetwater actually weighs and photos all their guitars as I'm equally anal retentive about wood figuring.
It’s a neck (mine) and back issue with guitar weight for me. Seeing a pain mgmt specialist and physical therapist has taught me to make life easier on myself whenever possible which means light guitars for me unless I want to pay for it later - both figuratively and literally. 7.5 lbs or less unless it’s close and I reeeeaaally love the guitar. Then it’s just a 1 or 2 song out of the set guitar. Btw, I’m with Jonathan on the Stetson Open Road straw hat. I’ve got one in the Shatung brown straw and it’s totally boss!
Baxter needs a Resistol western hat. It will most likely fit better than a Stetson based on the shape of his head. Jonathan would fit Stetson better. They have merged and are now the same company and have great quality hats in both lines. Without having to reshape the hats, Resistols from the factory tend to fit oval heads better and Stetsons from the factory fit round heads better. 🤠
Rhett Shull just did a great video about “sustain” and how most of your guitar tone comes from your strings, your pick ups, and your hardware. I feel like the notion heavy guitars get more sustain might come from thinking denser wood wouldn’t absorb as much sound. But since there’s a negligible amount of acoustic sound being put the signal it doesn’t really matter😂 That being said I held a vintage les Paul custom once and I was so surprised how heavy it was for the size! A powerful ax indeed.
Rubbers are best for keeping strings in place when working on a Bigsby. As far as I have found the size and make doesn't matter. It's the width of the packet which counts.
I absolutely think folk correlate weight with tone! I do, anyway. I don't believe heavy guitars always sound worse but lighter guitars tend to sound more resonant acoustically. How this translates when amplified itself isn't straightforward but I feel the resonance in my hands when I play and i find it a muse. All that said I just came back into possession of my first electric, a '79 ash body Strat. It is my heaviest Strat and it sounds fantastic!
I bought an R0 recently and when I had the store weigh it, I surprised that it weighed 9 lbs. Since I had a strap with me, I put it on the guitar and walked around the room for 5-10 minutes, and to me it was not a problem. Most of the time when I’m standing, I will be playing at church, so 6 songs total. To me, that is not a deal breaker or a back breaker. The guitar sounded great, rings and felt like a great instrument, so I made the purchase.
I think it’s a thing because some of the UA-cam talking heads have made it a thing. It’s like love. There are so many variables that make up a great guitar or a great lover, either you are in love or you aren’t. If you’re picky about something like weight you aren’t in love. Online guitar shops or dating services can’t create that.
back in the 80s when I still played shows any Fender guitar that I owned was kind of light in comparison to today's Fender guitars. It matters to me since the very beginning because I always experience back pain whenever I put some weight on my shoulders. So my point is, does Fender use the lighter weight instruments as a sales feature for the custom shop ? I say yes they do
So my lifted Chevy Suburban 4X4 w/454 Cu In engine weighs in @8,000 lbs. That said, my Gibson Les Paul w/Bigsby, strings, strap and mini Pro-Buckers weighs in @ 10 & 1/4lbs, my Tele copy weighs in @ 7 & 1/4 lbs and last But Least, my Strat copy weighs in @ 6 & 1/4 lbs! (with trem) Weight is definitely "a thing" for me because... Next week on tues the 29th I'm going in for major spine surgery, my 4th spinal and my 10th overall surgery. So playing my Les is EXTREMELY painful right now. I'm a big handsome long haired guy like Jonathan so 10lbs Shouldn't be a thing but It Is, at least for me. Love you two knuckle heads and I do hope to see you once again. Wish me luck cause here I go! PS, Which one of the 3 is the most acoustic? (loudest & chimiest unplugged?) It's definitely the Tele clone, by far!
I mostly play while sitting down. I haven’t turned away from buying a guitar I wanted because of the weight. I do have a 1982 Ibanez AR300 that must weigh 11 pounds. With the Ibanez I have a little less control over my articulation of the neck. Although I suspect I would simply get accustomed to the weight if it was my daily player.
wonder if custom shop if they have the roast and chamber it to get some weight, but yeah I can see how people love the lighter guitars. I primarly play resonator guitars and since I'm not made of money I have settle for imports and they are average 9 lbs, but gigs usually I sit down vs standing. I stand a quarter of the time and sit the rest . . . The coolest thing is I can be unplugged and the other guitarist (with their modern vintage roasted ) martin on the fisher acoustic amp and still a bit louder than the lower half the amp . . . But when I played my friends 335, oh man, that just feels just right . . .
has not played a sig part in my choice(s). weight plays some part in choosing what guitar i am gigging with but, no more than any other choice for gigging. its always been how it sounds and plays, venue and type of music. last year 1/2 how much it weighs has only been a factor in shipping. even then, its economics and logistics of shipping.
Absolutely I’m guilty of this! As a younger player somewhere along the line I heard heavier the guitars the better, better tone, longer sustain, and on and on! As I grew I found guitars that go against what I was taught. Honestly till this day I look or ask about the weight first. It’s become a habit! I’m am training myself to let that thought go! 😂
Weight of guitars is important to me, but there's an acceptable range. My LP weighs 8.5lbs, it's light for non weight relieved, but any heavier would be uncomfortable. Too light is more of a problem for me (regarding my cheap kit, P bass copy with terrible neck dive, and some balsa like, soft body wood that barely holds screw threads.) I pulled the rear strap button out with just fingers before super gluing the strap button screw in to a toothpick (the bass actually sounds and plays great, besides it being a heap, but at the point of fragility of light grain in a soft wood, that's too light for a proper instrument. Balance/counter balance makes a guitar friendly too, so it will steady itself to be played freely. Peacemaker is a very fun show, +1 to that
The bigsby spring incident happened to a friend of mine once. He is a metalhead, but he had a 335 copy with a bigsby at one point (which I later bought from him) and he went a bit crazy with the bigsby, basically using it as a floyd rose. He pulled back on it too much and the spring flew across the room🤣.
The interesting thing is that while how it plays and sounds is the most important thing. In todays day and age you can’t play or hear a guitar before you buy it. So weight is something else you can take into consideration before you buy. I would’ve never bought a guitar without playing it, but now it’s really the only option for many of us.
I think there’s a sweet spot where an instrument can feel too light and therefore feel cheap but too heavy kind of does the same thing. There’s a nice balance of light weight and substance that hovers in that 8 to 10 lb range
My previous gig was playing mostly banjo, that's a heavy instrument. My current gig is playing bass so I brought out my old Peavey T-40, which is heavier than the weight of regret. My philosophy is apparently "Beauty is Pain."
Honestly, I do think about weight a good deal. I don’t know if it correlates to better tone being heavier. I’ve had both dud and also amazing guitars that are heavy. The main thing you find with it is resonance with certain guitars, and now THAT translates into the amp. Too heavy and it kills resonance, and too light it’s too much. It’s finding that perfect balance for your ear, and it isn’t the same for everyone.
I have a Brazen custom Vintage-T. It weighs slightly more than a Volkswagen. I can sympathize with people who don’t like carrying an anvil on their neck, but I always appreciated the solid feel of it, and it’s form always made me feel like I could play better. I can certainly defend myself if needed, this guitar could kill someone without affecting its tuning.
Been thinking... Seems like a heavy guitar (or bass in my case) sustains better. It also seems like a light guitar feels more "alive" (gives more haptic feedback). Personally the feel of a bass is more important to get me playing than the amount of sustain. My favourite right now is a chinese Warwick Rockbass 4-string at 3 kilos, but that's besides the point. What I'm thinking about is IF I would create a bass for myself, what would be the priorities? So far I've been stealing ideas from both and new instruments, but one main theme is quite apparent (at least to me) and that is that the bass needs to be kept light. Most seem to go the high mass route and then add complicated electronics, but a hifi-ish silent pickup and a stacked volume/tone knob on a light bass would be enough for me. The output signal can be altered with external electronics or even computerized signal processing (and I intend to do just that), but if the feel isn't there then the music never gets done. That's my point although the same could be applied to the portability of the instrument which not only relates to weight but size too. But that is another topic for another day, I guess. Thanks for a good talk and please keep on giving us more.
I haven't given it as much thought a to have a specific number for the weight, but I know that I've played a Prince tele that was made entirely of rock maple that was kind of brutal to use. I don't know really. I'm not an expert on buying online so I just ask about the return policy and judge how it feels. I know some kinds of bodies feel heavier than they are and some feel lighter, like an Explorer or a Stingray both are actually pretty heavy most of the time but feel pretty comfortable to play. It's one of those things I see talked about online a lot that doesn't really feel as important to me personally, sort of like neck dive. To hear the talk on the webs neck dive makes and SG nigh unplayable but in the wild I see lots of people playing SGs and no shops able to keep them in stock.
my first electric guitar was a Gretsch Silver Falcon and it weighed a metric ton... too much for me and I eventually traded it off... in contrast I play a Collings C10-35, which is light as air... somewhat disconcerting but a lovely instrument to play...
I have a Slick SL-57 strat style guitar that is close to 9 pounds. It’s heavy ash and I don’t play it that often because of the weight. I love the sound of it, but it is up for sale strictly because it’s too heavy for me. If it was lighter, I wouldn’t be selling.
I've never cared about how much a guitar weighs. If it gets heavy, I sit down. Seems to me if you play for the right reasons it shouldn't matter. But that's just me.....
@casinoguitars do you guys find that a heavy guitar makes you play differently? I'm a tiny guy and when i play my 9 pound les paul I take it more seriously than when I play something really light. My playing stance changes a bit and I play more serious sounding music. When I play my Little martin acoustic however I literally throw it around like a toy. Everything I play is silly and fun, not a care in the world!
I just bought an Acoustasonic Telecaster and the weight was a big factor for me. I’ve grown to love the idea of a tele, but every time I picked one up, it felt cumbersome and wrong. It made me miss the resonance, light weight, and ebony fretboard of my violin. I started guitar to learn something different, and yet… the draw of familiarity is a funny thing. I thought the Acoustasonic was a gimmick, neither a good electric nor acoustic. But I loved how it felt in my hands, and when I plugged it in, it had the spank and honk of a tele in the 5th position. I was sold. Yes, I realize teles aren’t heavy in the scheme of things. Yes, the weight of Les Pauls terrifies me.
so, people are actually buying acoustasonics. now I know. I was getting a barrage of offers for acoustasonics late 21 / early 22 so I guessed they had large inventory of them.
@@zoomzoom3950 It’s worth mentioning I did get a deal on mine. But I’m not some Fender shill evangelizing a product that’s not for everyone. Most people would be better off with a great acoustic and nice electric. But for me, it just clicked.
@@ItsVictoriaG all good, didn't imply anything wrong with them, just that it seemed they were available and being pushed heavily by advertisements and deals. during a time when the Fender I've wanted has been unavailable since last summer, and is only now getting to my retailer. Cheers!
@@zoomzoom3950 Nope, I didn’t think anything bad at all! I hope you get your Fender from your retailer soon. That’s a long time to wait, but it makes receiving it that much more satisfying.
I couldn't care less about the weight of a guitar. My first guitar was/is a Les Paul knock off with a bolt on neck. I picked it out of a flyer I thought/think it looks great with a dark green quilt veneer. I played many shows with it for 7 years & it's 9 pounds 8 ounces. I agree "Peacemaker" is AWESOME! The intro was the biggest selling point for me!
I buy guitars based on how they feel and play first and foremost. Sound comes in second because that can be changed with pickups and pots. Weight comes in last with aesthetics. If if plays great and sounds great I gravitate toward purchasing the guitar.
I think lighter guitars tend to be louder unplugged. They usually vibrate longer too. Which translates to sustain when plugged in. Just like aluminum vs steel. Guitar frequencies tend to resonate better in lighter materials. Just my opinion.
I like my guitars to be on the lighter side (7.5 lbs or so). I have some around 8.5 lbs (including my Les Paul) but most are 8lbs or less. I just bought a new alder body HSS Strat that's pushing 9+ lbs and I'm finding that even though it sounds better, and has a neck profile I prefer, I just don't want to pick it up as much as my 2004 ash HSS Strat that is closer to 7lbs.
I think low weight is a big reason why Novo guitars are so hot right now. They just feel better to play. Lighter guitars change the way I play for the better. I am playing the guitar instead of the guitar playing me. It’s also easier to move around and be expressive. I wish all sellers would put weight on their listings.
I built an ash strat with a flame maple neck. Wound my own pup's too. It ended up a 9 pound hammer. I just added the SRV kingtone sw👍. I wouldn't trade or sell it for anything. The tone outweighs the guitar.
I have heavy & light and love them all My bass is the biggest,but one of the lightest So far it hasn’t been a factor Size of guitar has.been a bigger factor for me. But I get why heavy guitars are an issue for some people, and why weight matters for them
I'm a total sit down player. I do not rock out and swing my axe! As long as the guitar is well balanced when you are seated I'm happy. I do get if you are gigging then a beast pulling on your neck would be an issue.
I prefer the heaviest guitar I can get my hands on. I can’t stand light guitars. (I Love a double neck / triple neck guitars too!) I prefer a guitar that sounds & plays great though. If it’s heavy that’s a bonus! 😎
I prefer my guitars to weigh under 9lbs. I picked up a Heritage Custom Core H-150 that weighs in at 8.5 lbs and sounds phenominal. My ESP LTD Alex Skolnick weighs in closer to 10 lbs, but it sustains so well. Playing the ESP starts to wear after an hour however.
For Gibsons I never really cared, but for. Fenders I always prefer the lightest ones. I’ve only seen the lighter ones offered by the custom shop though. For Les Pauls 9-10lbs is not a problem. my ES-355 is 7.3 lbs and my Les Paul custom is at 10.13lbs. I’m young so it’s not a problem but I hate heavy fenders, anything past 8 is a no for me
I believe that the weight of the wood is more important than overall weight. Lighter cuts if wood, seem to me, to be more resonant and lively feeling. I dont like a heavy guitars with light hardware, they always feel dead and dry, but a light guitar with a heavy bridge doesn't suffer the same way. Give me a light tele with a big old Bixby any day!
There is a rig run down with Derek Trucks. Where he talks about always looking for a really light SG. He thinks a lighter SG sounds better... what do you think about that? I've decided I know nothing about what makes good tone. Lol lol lol
Never once cared or asked about weight. It makes no difference to me. Thinking about it though, I seem to pickup heavier guitars to play when I’m practising such as my 8.5lb Ash Telecaster. And I play/practice standing most of the time.
I'm guessing with prices skyrocketing on big name guitars, the buyers are of the older generation. Weight matters to old folks like me. Very important on my purchases.
Two back and one neck surgeries later, I can testify that weight has a BIG impact...on me. Light guitars can have great resonance unplugged or through the amp. On the flip side heavy guitars can sound dead and uninspiring just as easily. It's part of the guitar buying journey for me, and it's part of what makes buying a guitar online a tougher proposition.
I play a SC Hollowbody PRS after having two major back surgeries...got rid of the Les Paul, strat and tele.
My PRS weigh around 5.5lbs
Ya... Especially when the guitar almost always arrives heavier than they say it is lol
Subscriber log is creeping up and I’m loving it, you guys deserve it. Great, consistent content is key, and you Gentlemen have it on this channel. Thank
You for everything!
You guys are getting so close to 50K!!!! I'm stoked for whoever wins the silver sky. Thanks for the infotainment. XOXO
After 20 years of playing I've recently become consciously aware of weight. And when I weighed my guitars I found the ones I actually play often are around 7.5 lbs. The ones that I'd play 10 minutes and then put down were all over 8 lbs. So I learned that my natural comfort zone is in the 7 to 8 lb range. So yes, in the age of digital buying, if you can't tell me the weight of the guitar I'm not going to buy it. Because I know if it's too heavy I'm just not going to play it. To me it's no different than having a preference for neck thickness or fretboard radius. It's a tangible, real characteristic to the guitar. Does it affect tone? Probably not. But it absolutely affects the feel and playability of it for me.
I don't get this hand wringing about why someone would want to know. I know it's a critical spec because I know it's going to impact how much I will enjoy the guitar.
I have so much gratitude for these videos every morning. Thank y’all for making them!
I never gave it much thought until I started playing long nights. I had a 78 P bass that was 13.5lbs. I wouldn't want to sling that for 4 hours a night, but it's sound was HUGE!!! My AVRI 57 P bass is 9.5lbs and that seems to be a good weight for a P bass. Normally, I'd say anything under 8.5 for a P gets into the danger of neck dive, or loss of tone/sustain on a factory guitar. That said, my CS 55 P weighs 7.6lbs and it's perfectly balanced and absolutely sings. Even unplugged. It's absolute magic to work with, and is one of the things that makes it worth the bump in price from the AVRI. So it's definitely possible to have a well balanced, great sounding light guitar or bass. I think it's just less likely to be found in lower end instruments where QC might not be looking at those things as closely. I played a Squier Classic 70s P bass that sounded great and the neck played sweet sitting down. However, as cool as it was for the money. The Nyatoh body was too light to balance the neck. If you were to play it standing you'd be supporting the neck all night long. What's worse? Using your fretting hand to control the bass and not completely concentrate on playing, or lugging around a boat anchor? I don't know, and I'm glad I don't have to make the choice at this point. Great video! Also, I miss the Mike Eldred era of the Custom Shop. I feel the product offerings were much more aimed at people who appreciated classic Fenders.
My first time gigging I played my ‘73 Natural PBass and it’s gotta be around that weight. But damn it sounded good!
Both of my custom P’s (alder with 2-pc ‘59 spec and swamp ash with 1-pc ‘58 spec) are 8.5 lbs and my J is 9. They all have Gotoh Res-O-Lite tuning machines and wide padded leather straps; zero neck dive.
I have to respect my old back. It’s done a lot of hard work for me.
@@YTPartyTonight yeah it’s a tricky thing. The lite tuners definitely decrease weight, but I prefer the old vintage ones. I’d say that Classic Vibe P was definitely sub 8lbs. It was right around the same weight as my CS 55. There are times after a show where I actually double check my case when loading out to make sure the bass is still in there because it honestly feels empty compared the AVRI bass in it’s case. (Both Tweed G&Gs) Neck thickness, tuners, body wood, weight all go into it. Sometimes you find really great examples off the factory line, though. I know not all Classic Vibes have neck dive. So it’s definitely not impossible to find it on an entry level instrument. I just think that QC probably doesn’t worry about it so that’s why they are more prone to be found with it.
I gigged with a 78 P Bass almost 20 years. So heavy. After wear the frets out , I switched to a 51 Reissue. Saved my back still great tone.
@@danielphillipsmusic9145 Gotoh Res-O-Lite tuning machines are vintage-style drop-in replacements, available reversed or non-reversed, only lighter and better build quality. The purpose is more about better instrument balance than overall weight. These are an upgrade option with Fender Custom Shop.
I've got a bad back after working for years in warehouses, moving furniture, hay bales, etc. I am currently gigging with a Nashville Tele with a factory installed B-Bender. Think it comes in at around 13 lbs but man I definitely feel it after a 4 hour gig. Hoping the CS Thinline Tele Johnny Rob just ordered for me is nice and light!
I never thought about the weight of my guitar or any other guitar until I read about Harrison’s rosewood Fender. When I was 13, playing was just plain cool. I never noticed that one guitar was more burdensome than another. My guitar was perfect for me so I really didn’t give the weight of my friends’ guitars much thought. I am now 63 and most of my playing is just noodling while sitting on a sofa. I suppose if I had to stand for a couple of hours at a time I might think differently. For now, I would not send George Harrison’s rosewood Fender back if it arrived at my doorstep as a gift. Good video, guys. Keep them coming.
A few winters ago I missed 10 weeks of work because of neck and shoulder pain. The doctors and physical therapist said that it was due to playing and I needed to make some changes one of them being a light guitar. Everything I own is 7 pounds or less except for a PRS that is 7 lbs. 10 oz. but that guitar seems perfectly balanced and I think that has something to do with it as well.
Les Pauls were known for Years as Anchors that on a Long Night would break an Old Mans Back, but many times those Guitars Sustain and Performance was Exceptional. Over the years you eventually figure out that Weight alone does not make a Amazing Instrument, I have played Light ones to heavy ones and when putting together a Cutom Build or Partscasters Lean towards Lighter Bodies as long as have the Amazing Resonance all Great Guitars seem to have. Remember I was the Jerk that Played Every Guitar on the wall before deciding which one was going home with me and When you find That Tone and Sound you really value the weight as not the most important factor of all
Holy Fucking Random Capitalization, Batman!
@@Hoplopfheill WHAT ARE YOU THE SPELLING POLICE BRUCE JENNER?
@@fj5144 It’s pretty odd to read
@@Hoplopfheill 😂😂😂
I enjoy exactly 7.36 pounds of tone! Cheers Baxter and Jonathan!!
As a bass player, I was amazed to find out there were short scale basses and that they sounded great. I played a Danelectro for about 25 years as my #1 because it sounded cool and my shoulder didn't hurt at the end of the night. The Gibson I play now is so freaking light and great. I found out I could get sustain in my set up, compression and preamp settings without worrying about the type of wood and the weight.
I have an 11 lb Les Paul and 7 lb Flying V and I love them both. All weights matter!
To me the weight is way down the list of things I look for. 1st does it catch my eye and me me want to pick it up. 2nd how the neck feels (radius). 3rd how does it sound, knowing my set up at home will be different then in a store. 4th is it setup correctly. 5th how does the body feel, is it comfortable to play.
Rocks stars also don’t work 9-5 jobs before playing all weekend! Most of us do so at my age the weight is getting noticeably heavier lol!✌🏻
I love light guitars. I always wanted a Tom Anderson because they were so light. I just love the feel of a light guitar. Hard to explain, but its more about feel than anything. Heavier strats or teles aren't "heavy", but if you pick up a 6 pound strat, then pick up an 8 pound one, it feels like a boat anchor. Now standing for 2 or 3 hours with a 70s LP could definitely wear on you!
I have owned approximately 45 different Fender Strat Pluses or the Deluxe Pus models that were made between 1987-1997. While I have not weight all of them , the vast majority were 8lb plus or minus 6 oz. While there were exceptions outside of that range, I will never forget an EBony Frost that weight close to 11 lbs. By far it was the most resonant when played acoustically but ore importantly , it was the best sounding when plugged in of any of the Pluses I have ever bought. The guitar was a deluxe which had a Silver, Blue, and Red Lace sensors instead of the 50s tuned Lace Gold in the standard plus. It is always possible that Tone was more influenced by something unique about the Lace noiseless pups than it was the mass of the guitar. I would be curious if anyone here has had a super heavy Strat of any year and can recall how it sounded?
It may be my imagination, but heavy guitars seem to sustain and ring more. Whenever I buy online and they have the weights listed, I always pick the heaviest one
Me too
Yes! I don’t believe in “tone wood”, but I do believe in “sustain wood” for sure.
I think so too..... I also think that when the weight is more balanced ( not all in body like an LP) it doesn't feel as heavy.....
Thank you you guys motivated me to get my first guitar I got a fender USA made costum Stratocaster today! I live in the Netherlands shout-out to you guys so informative always !
I do think people ask about weight primarily because of the notion that lighter weight = better, but also that that is heavily misguided because people out here confusing weight with density. I used to want the heaviest guitar I could possibly find simply because Adam Jones (from TOOL) played an LP Custom and there’s an old interview of him saying he loved it because it felt so beefy…and I got one, and it’s beefy, and I love it. I also have a sub-9lb LP and I love that equally. Physics does lend to the idea that a DENSER piece of wood can be more resonant, but dense usually means heavier, relatively speaking. Dense AND light is a special combination, and I think it’s guitars with dense, light wood that are the special/holy grail guitars people seek.
Having back/neck problems weight is important to me. My thought process is you can generally make adjustments for playability and I’ll make it sound good, or swap pickups if need be. My favorite thing about my McCarty Thinline is that it’s maybe 7lbs.
MY 74 LP Custom is a boat anchor, but it just sounds so big and sustains more than my other LP’s that have weight relief. But then I have a mid 70’s strat that’s unusually light and it sounds great, so maybe it’s how the wood ages?? I don’t know about weight, I just know the tone when I hear it. Would be hard for me to build something from scratch unless they made an exact copy of what I love playing. I don’t know just rambling.
It’s amazing how many shops, along with vendors on Reverb and EBay, do not list the weight of a guitar in the description, particularly considering how much of the target demographic for high end instruments are older folks, who are much more likely to have back problems.
Personally, the weight of a guitar (or amp) has immense importance and influence on whether I will buy it. I won’t consider anything over 7.5lbs. Among what I gig regularly with are a sub 7lbs Suhr, a 5.5lbs Knaggs, and a sub 5lbs Strandberg.
I believe I was at that, or another-similar, Fender Custom Shop demo at Willcutt. Your description was accurate (across the street, in the back, in a undisclosed location…).
I ve a les paul 54 reissue and a jazzmaster both weight the same, the jazzmaster doesnt feel heavy at all but that les paul is a real workout. I think theres a lot of of other factors what create the 'feel'
I broke my neck about 15 years ago and I tend limit mine to around 8 pounds or less. Depending on the model. Anymore and my left arm falls asleep before the set, or song, is over. But that's the big reason why I don't gig anymore.
Generally, in my experience the guitars that have sounded best to me were on the light side. That said, I had a '73 Telecaster Custom that sounded great and had to weigh 14 pounds. It defied all my preconceptions about guitar weight.
Being very old(!), I well remember back in the '70s when getting good tone and sustain supposedly meant having a heavy guitar. Les Pauls were notoriously heavy - and it was almost a rite of passage to get one and prove you were a "real player"! Some of us in my generation called that out for the bullshit it was and looked at other options, which was why I bought Gibson's "The Paul", which offered Gibson quality construction at a lighter weight. It was a budget model, but much better built than contemporary Fenders, and it's never let me down and is still among my favourite guitars.
Move on to the 2020s and, with many axes in my mini collection, I bought a limited edition Elcaster "T-Style" from Tone Fox in Germany. When it arrived I simply couldn't believe how light it was! And yet it's the most acoustically resonant of all my guitars - I can use it un-plugged for solo rehearsing vocals! Plugged in, it's custom P90s are fantastic and the sustain is way beyond anything in my heavier guitars!
I've just bought one of Yamaha's new Revstar Standards. It's really nice for a guitar in its price range - not in the same league as the Elcaster, but it plays and feels a couple of hundred £s more than it actually costs. But I saw somebody comment online that they wouldn't buy one because it's too heavy. Whoever they were, they weren't around in the '70s! It's not heavy, and I'd happily tote it for a couple of hours onstage without a thought. Like you say, my concern was does it play well and sound good - and the answer's a resounding "Yes!" on both counts.
It's definitely an age thing, when i was younger I liked heavier guitars. But now in my fifties, my back wants a lighter one! Lol
When you get 71 sir,you gonna want antigravity pot👍🏿🕺🏾🕺🏾🕺🏾
@@teknomanning indeed!
“The Spring was sprung!” -Bigsby
I don't really give it much thought most of the time. I just like one that has a good center of mass that doesn't dive when I hold it. I do feel like I tend to like a heavy Les Paul though. Feels more authentic.
I have back problems but love heavy guitars. My Norlin LP Custom is so heavy and I love it! But it’s probably just psychological.
Guitar manufacturers seem to acknowledge this too as the custom shops tend to generally get sorted for lighter woods, though I've noticed that even those are getting heavier- perhaps due to supply issues?
Not sure how to feel about weight affecting tone. Some people say they look for the lightest weight because they think it is tonally better. I've owned atleast 30 Les Pauls and the heaviest ones I owned had the best sustain and tone. I prefer the feel of a lighter guitar though .
Your boy Phil has a whole vid on this where he showcases his collection and this topic comes up, I believe all his guitars fall in the 7.5 - 8 range. I broke my collarbone in my late 20’s and any strap tends to sit right on top of that spot which gets very uncomfortable sitting or standing. Lighter is definitely better has to be sub 8 and that includes bass
Comment about the chambered Les Paul. I've owned seven Gibson Les Pauls over my lifetime. I have a Model 2008 chambered burst that is the best weight les Paul I've had ...and it sounds better than any I've had as well. Your comments about them wasn't derogatory but not fair either. Chambered may sound different in your view - but that sound is fantastic! At least in mine
With neck and shoulder injuries, its become a major thing for me, and was 100% a key question when i went through the FCS order
I go with a guitar being balanced more than weight. I played Les Pauls for years then really got into and still play Strats. Lighter is nice. But my favorite slide guitar is neck heavy, I love the sound and tone and feel of the neck, but I have to work at keeping the neck up. Great show today guys.
I sailed past 60yo a couple years back and my back doesn't tolerate 9+ lb guitars any more. A good/wide strap helps. Especially when playing 3 sets (4 hours). So my 9.5 lb Les Paul doesn't see much action these days. My 7lb 2oz Suhr Modern is a featherweight in comparison. Finding an 8-ish pound 5-string bass is hard. Good thing Ibanez makes light basses. I'm all about sub-8lb guitars. I love that Sweetwater actually weighs and photos all their guitars as I'm equally anal retentive about wood figuring.
You guys are genuinely funny. Who knew a young Mr.Brimley and Irwin Corey would work so well together?
It’s a neck (mine) and back issue with guitar weight for me. Seeing a pain mgmt specialist and physical therapist has taught me to make life easier on myself whenever possible which means light guitars for me unless I want to pay for it later - both figuratively and literally. 7.5 lbs or less unless it’s close and I reeeeaaally love the guitar. Then it’s just a 1 or 2 song out of the set guitar. Btw, I’m with Jonathan on the Stetson Open Road straw hat. I’ve got one in the Shatung brown straw and it’s totally boss!
Baxter needs a Resistol western hat. It will most likely fit better than a Stetson based on the shape of his head. Jonathan would fit Stetson better. They have merged and are now the same company and have great quality hats in both lines. Without having to reshape the hats, Resistols from the factory tend to fit oval heads better and Stetsons from the factory fit round heads better. 🤠
Rhett Shull just did a great video about “sustain” and how most of your guitar tone comes from your strings, your pick ups, and your hardware. I feel like the notion heavy guitars get more sustain might come from thinking denser wood wouldn’t absorb as much sound. But since there’s a negligible amount of acoustic sound being put the signal it doesn’t really matter😂
That being said I held a vintage les Paul custom once and I was so surprised how heavy it was for the size! A powerful ax indeed.
I want one of the new Yahama Revstars.. I have one of the older model is a bit heavy but it's okay in that regard. I regret getting the Bigsby though.
Rubbers are best for keeping strings in place when working on a Bigsby. As far as I have found the size and make doesn't matter. It's the width of the packet which counts.
I absolutely think folk correlate weight with tone! I do, anyway. I don't believe heavy guitars always sound worse but lighter guitars tend to sound more resonant acoustically. How this translates when amplified itself isn't straightforward but I feel the resonance in my hands when I play and i find it a muse. All that said I just came back into possession of my first electric, a '79 ash body Strat. It is my heaviest Strat and it sounds fantastic!
I bought an R0 recently and when I had the store weigh it, I surprised that it weighed 9 lbs. Since I had a strap with me, I put it on the guitar and walked around the room for 5-10 minutes, and to me it was not a problem. Most of the time when I’m standing, I will be playing at church, so 6 songs total. To me, that is not a deal breaker or a back breaker. The guitar sounded great, rings and felt like a great instrument, so I made the purchase.
Whatever happened to those guitar straps that wrapped around the back and shoulders? Baxter, great reference to Last of the Mohicans!
I think it’s a thing because some of the UA-cam talking heads have made it a thing. It’s like love. There are so many variables that make up a great guitar or a great lover, either you are in love or you aren’t. If you’re picky about something like weight you aren’t in love. Online guitar shops or dating services can’t create that.
i think its a thing because peoples backs hurt.
back in the 80s when I still played shows any Fender guitar that I owned was kind of light in comparison to today's Fender guitars. It matters to me since the very beginning because I always experience back pain whenever I put some weight on my shoulders. So my point is, does Fender use the lighter weight instruments as a sales feature for the custom shop ? I say yes they do
So my lifted Chevy Suburban 4X4 w/454 Cu In engine weighs in @8,000 lbs. That said, my Gibson Les Paul w/Bigsby, strings, strap and mini Pro-Buckers weighs in @ 10 & 1/4lbs, my Tele copy weighs in @ 7 & 1/4 lbs and last But Least, my Strat copy weighs in @ 6 & 1/4 lbs! (with trem) Weight is definitely "a thing" for me because... Next week on tues the 29th I'm going in for major spine surgery, my 4th spinal and my 10th overall surgery. So playing my Les is EXTREMELY painful right now. I'm a big handsome long haired guy like Jonathan so 10lbs Shouldn't be a thing but It Is, at least for me. Love you two knuckle heads and I do hope to see you once again. Wish me luck cause here I go! PS, Which one of the 3 is the most acoustic? (loudest & chimiest unplugged?) It's definitely the Tele clone, by far!
I mostly play while sitting down. I haven’t turned away from buying a guitar I wanted because of the weight. I do have a 1982 Ibanez AR300 that must weigh 11 pounds. With the Ibanez I have a little less control over my articulation of the neck. Although I suspect I would simply get accustomed to the weight if it was my daily player.
wonder if custom shop if they have the roast and chamber it to get some weight, but yeah I can see how people love the lighter guitars.
I primarly play resonator guitars and since I'm not made of money I have settle for imports and they are average 9 lbs, but gigs usually I sit down vs standing. I stand a quarter of the time and sit the rest . . . The coolest thing is I can be unplugged and the other guitarist (with their modern vintage roasted ) martin on the fisher acoustic amp and still a bit louder than the lower half the amp . . .
But when I played my friends 335, oh man, that just feels just right . . .
has not played a sig part in my choice(s). weight plays some part in choosing what guitar i am gigging with but, no more than any other choice for gigging. its always been how it sounds and plays, venue and type of music. last year 1/2 how much it weighs has only been a factor in shipping. even then, its economics and logistics of shipping.
Absolutely I’m guilty of this! As a younger player somewhere along the line I heard heavier the guitars the better, better tone, longer sustain, and on and on! As I grew I found guitars that go against what I was taught. Honestly till this day I look or ask about the weight first. It’s become a habit! I’m am training myself to let that thought go! 😂
Weight of guitars is important to me, but there's an acceptable range. My LP weighs 8.5lbs, it's light for non weight relieved, but any heavier would be uncomfortable. Too light is more of a problem for me (regarding my cheap kit, P bass copy with terrible neck dive, and some balsa like, soft body wood that barely holds screw threads.) I pulled the rear strap button out with just fingers before super gluing the strap button screw in to a toothpick (the bass actually sounds and plays great, besides it being a heap, but at the point of fragility of light grain in a soft wood, that's too light for a proper instrument. Balance/counter balance makes a guitar friendly too, so it will steady itself to be played freely.
Peacemaker is a very fun show, +1 to that
The bigsby spring incident happened to a friend of mine once. He is a metalhead, but he had a 335 copy with a bigsby at one point (which I later bought from him) and he went a bit crazy with the bigsby, basically using it as a floyd rose. He pulled back on it too much and the spring flew across the room🤣.
The interesting thing is that while how it plays and sounds is the most important thing. In todays day and age you can’t play or hear a guitar before you buy it. So weight is something else you can take into consideration before you buy. I would’ve never bought a guitar without playing it, but now it’s really the only option for many of us.
Yea better have a good return policy
I think there’s a sweet spot where an instrument can feel too light and therefore feel cheap but too heavy kind of does the same thing. There’s a nice balance of light weight and substance that hovers in that 8 to 10 lb range
My previous gig was playing mostly banjo, that's a heavy instrument. My current gig is playing bass so I brought out my old Peavey T-40, which is heavier than the weight of regret. My philosophy is apparently "Beauty is Pain."
Honestly, I do think about weight a good deal. I don’t know if it correlates to better tone being heavier. I’ve had both dud and also amazing guitars that are heavy. The main thing you find with it is resonance with certain guitars, and now THAT translates into the amp. Too heavy and it kills resonance, and too light it’s too much.
It’s finding that perfect balance for your ear, and it isn’t the same for everyone.
i have my guitars routed out under the pick guards on my tele's and strats doesn't effect the tone but feels great
I have a Brazen custom Vintage-T. It weighs slightly more than a Volkswagen. I can sympathize with people who don’t like carrying an anvil on their neck, but I always appreciated the solid feel of it, and it’s form always made me feel like I could play better. I can certainly defend myself if needed, this guitar could kill someone without affecting its tuning.
That’s right Johnathan, a modeling amp is a cop-out !! Tube amp is pure !
My new Les Paul is a boat anchor but It's got sustain for days. Versus my old feather weight S type.
Play what sounds good and feels good. Don't over think something thats all feel!!!
Been thinking... Seems like a heavy guitar (or bass in my case) sustains better. It also seems like a light guitar feels more "alive" (gives more haptic feedback). Personally the feel of a bass is more important to get me playing than the amount of sustain. My favourite right now is a chinese Warwick Rockbass 4-string at 3 kilos, but that's besides the point. What I'm thinking about is IF I would create a bass for myself, what would be the priorities? So far I've been stealing ideas from both and new instruments, but one main theme is quite apparent (at least to me) and that is that the bass needs to be kept light. Most seem to go the high mass route and then add complicated electronics, but a hifi-ish silent pickup and a stacked volume/tone knob on a light bass would be enough for me. The output signal can be altered with external electronics or even computerized signal processing (and I intend to do just that), but if the feel isn't there then the music never gets done. That's my point although the same could be applied to the portability of the instrument which not only relates to weight but size too. But that is another topic for another day, I guess. Thanks for a good talk and please keep on giving us more.
I need to be able to hear Howlin Wolf from the output jack to even consider a guitar.
I haven't given it as much thought a to have a specific number for the weight, but I know that I've played a Prince tele that was made entirely of rock maple that was kind of brutal to use. I don't know really. I'm not an expert on buying online so I just ask about the return policy and judge how it feels. I know some kinds of bodies feel heavier than they are and some feel lighter, like an Explorer or a Stingray both are actually pretty heavy most of the time but feel pretty comfortable to play.
It's one of those things I see talked about online a lot that doesn't really feel as important to me personally, sort of like neck dive. To hear the talk on the webs neck dive makes and SG nigh unplayable but in the wild I see lots of people playing SGs and no shops able to keep them in stock.
Here’s a question for you fellas. Does Gibson season custom shop wood differently than the regular production ones?
I play mostly sitting weight is not the issue for me. Its neck dive. And how it feels and sounds
My Les Paul has the ultra modern weight relief and I'm fairly certain that its lighter than my Fender strat.
What is that orange Jazz Bass shaped 6 string guitar called behind you on the wall???
my first electric guitar was a Gretsch Silver Falcon and it weighed a metric ton... too much for me and I eventually traded it off... in contrast I play a Collings C10-35, which is light as air... somewhat disconcerting but a lovely instrument to play...
I have a Slick SL-57 strat style guitar that is close to 9 pounds. It’s heavy ash and I don’t play it that often because of the weight. I love the sound of it, but it is up for sale strictly because it’s too heavy for me. If it was lighter, I wouldn’t be selling.
Can y'all do a setup on my Harley Benton? How much?
/s
😁
I've never cared about how much a guitar weighs. If it gets heavy, I sit down.
Seems to me if you play for the right reasons it shouldn't matter. But that's just me.....
@casinoguitars do you guys find that a heavy guitar makes you play differently? I'm a tiny guy and when i play my 9 pound les paul I take it more seriously than when I play something really light. My playing stance changes a bit and I play more serious sounding music. When I play my Little martin acoustic however I literally throw it around like a toy. Everything I play is silly and fun, not a care in the world!
I just bought an Acoustasonic Telecaster and the weight was a big factor for me.
I’ve grown to love the idea of a tele, but every time I picked one up, it felt cumbersome and wrong. It made me miss the resonance, light weight, and ebony fretboard of my violin. I started guitar to learn something different, and yet… the draw of familiarity is a funny thing.
I thought the Acoustasonic was a gimmick, neither a good electric nor acoustic. But I loved how it felt in my hands, and when I plugged it in, it had the spank and honk of a tele in the 5th position.
I was sold.
Yes, I realize teles aren’t heavy in the scheme of things. Yes, the weight of Les Pauls terrifies me.
Lol
so, people are actually buying acoustasonics. now I know. I was getting a barrage of offers for acoustasonics late 21 / early 22 so I guessed they had large inventory of them.
@@zoomzoom3950 It’s worth mentioning I did get a deal on mine. But I’m not some Fender shill evangelizing a product that’s not for everyone. Most people would be better off with a great acoustic and nice electric. But for me, it just clicked.
@@ItsVictoriaG all good, didn't imply anything wrong with them, just that it seemed they were available and being pushed heavily by advertisements and deals. during a time when the Fender I've wanted has been unavailable since last summer, and is only now getting to my retailer.
Cheers!
@@zoomzoom3950 Nope, I didn’t think anything bad at all! I hope you get your Fender from your retailer soon. That’s a long time to wait, but it makes receiving it that much more satisfying.
I couldn't care less about the weight of a guitar. My first guitar was/is a Les Paul knock off with a bolt on neck. I picked it out of a flyer I thought/think it looks great with a dark green quilt veneer. I played many shows with it for 7 years & it's 9 pounds 8 ounces. I agree "Peacemaker" is AWESOME! The intro was the biggest selling point for me!
I buy guitars based on how they feel and play first and foremost. Sound comes in second because that can be changed with pickups and pots. Weight comes in last with aesthetics. If if plays great and sounds great I gravitate toward purchasing the guitar.
First, how does it feel; then how does it sound; finally, does it inspire me....
I think lighter guitars tend to be louder unplugged. They usually vibrate longer too. Which translates to sustain when plugged in. Just like aluminum vs steel. Guitar frequencies tend to resonate better in lighter materials. Just my opinion.
I like my guitars to be on the lighter side (7.5 lbs or so). I have some around 8.5 lbs (including my Les Paul) but most are 8lbs or less. I just bought a new alder body HSS Strat that's pushing 9+ lbs and I'm finding that even though it sounds better, and has a neck profile I prefer, I just don't want to pick it up as much as my 2004 ash HSS Strat that is closer to 7lbs.
You ever get a little too excited with a Bigsby and the spring goes flying across the room? Haha!
Hrm. I don't find those cool shirts on the website.
Just bought a paulownia cabronita style body for a build. It was 2.5 lbs.
I think low weight is a big reason why Novo guitars are so hot right now. They just feel better to play. Lighter guitars change the way I play for the better. I am playing the guitar instead of the guitar playing me. It’s also easier to move around and be expressive. I wish all sellers would put weight on their listings.
My ES-335 ‘59 reissue weighs 8 lbs 14 oz. It’s sounds good unplugged however it matters more in a acoustic. Imho
I built an ash strat with a flame maple neck. Wound my own pup's too. It ended up a 9 pound hammer. I just added the SRV kingtone sw👍. I wouldn't trade or sell it for anything. The tone outweighs the guitar.
That’s why I like the acoutasonics
I have heavy & light and love them all
My bass is the biggest,but one of the lightest
So far it hasn’t been a factor
Size of guitar has.been a bigger factor for me.
But I get why heavy guitars are an issue for some people, and why weight matters for them
I'm a total sit down player. I do not rock out and swing my axe! As long as the guitar is well balanced when you are seated I'm happy. I do get if you are gigging then a beast pulling on your neck would be an issue.
I prefer the heaviest guitar I can get my hands on. I can’t stand light guitars. (I Love a double neck / triple neck guitars too!) I prefer a guitar that sounds & plays great though. If it’s heavy that’s a bonus! 😎
I prefer my guitars to weigh under 9lbs. I picked up a Heritage Custom Core H-150 that weighs in at 8.5 lbs and sounds phenominal. My ESP LTD Alex Skolnick weighs in closer to 10 lbs, but it sustains so well. Playing the ESP starts to wear after an hour however.
For Gibsons I never really cared, but for. Fenders I always prefer the lightest ones. I’ve only seen the lighter ones offered by the custom shop though. For Les Pauls 9-10lbs is not a problem. my ES-355 is 7.3 lbs and my Les Paul custom is at 10.13lbs. I’m young so it’s not a problem but I hate heavy fenders, anything past 8 is a no for me
I believe that the weight of the wood is more important than overall weight. Lighter cuts if wood, seem to me, to be more resonant and lively feeling. I dont like a heavy guitars with light hardware, they always feel dead and dry, but a light guitar with a heavy bridge doesn't suffer the same way. Give me a light tele with a big old Bixby any day!
There is a rig run down with Derek Trucks. Where he talks about always looking for a really light SG. He thinks a lighter SG sounds better... what do you think about that? I've decided I know nothing about what makes good tone. Lol lol lol
Never once cared or asked about weight. It makes no difference to me. Thinking about it though, I seem to pickup heavier guitars to play when I’m practising such as my 8.5lb Ash Telecaster. And I play/practice standing most of the time.
I'm guessing with prices skyrocketing on big name guitars, the buyers are of the older generation. Weight matters to old folks like me. Very important on my purchases.