Lighter weight bass

[Guest]

37 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I`ve recently gone short scale and it`s made a real difference, but am still thinking of going further and getting a Sandberg Superlight of some sort - short scale preferred. I figure it`s a worthy investment.

 

I very recently came across fretmeister's NBD thread for his superlight short scale Sandberg - 5.7 lbs!!

[petebassist]

1 hour ago, Munurmunuh said:

 

I very recently came across fretmeister's NBD thread for his superlight short scale Sandberg - 5.7 lbs!!

The trick is, to go light BEFORE your back's knackered ! 😁

[Lozz196]

29 minutes ago, petebassist said:

The trick is, to go light BEFORE your back's knackered ! 😁

I wish I’d realised that, still, better late than never

[Raslee]

Have to say I’m in heaven with my 6.4lbs Spector RST - no back pain since. No neck dive, great tone and top quality build too. 

[Marc S]

6 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

 

But there's no getting away from the fact that it's £600 for a cardboard bass. 😱

But my cardboard bass is the most comfy and lightweight to play. Sounds amazing too 😀

[Grahambythesea]

Play an electric upright, you don’t have to hold them at all, the stand does it for you. 👍🏼

[SuperSeagull]

My P Lyte comes in at 7lbs, two pounds lighter than my Status S2. When my back is struggling I'll use the P Lyte at rehearsals but always default back to the Status for a gig. 

[martthebass]

On 30/09/2024 at 13:59, Lozz196 said:

I`ve recently gone short scale and it`s made a real difference, but am still thinking of going further and getting a Sandberg Superlight of some sort - short scale preferred. I figure it`s a worthy investment.

I can only extol the virtues of the Lionel.  If you get an alder bodied one (gloss, soft or hard core aged) they all seem to be in the 7.5lb area and really well balanced.  I'm a 'petite' guy with some rotator cuff hassle and I hardly know im wearing it even after a couple of 1 hour sets.  The ash bodied are about a pound heavier (matte/satin finish, not aged).

[RichT]

These days weight is an overriding factor in my bass choices. I know I'm ok up to 7.5lbs, but going much above that tends to completely screw my shoulder up. 

 

Current favourites are:

 

(short scales)

EBMM Stingray - 7.5lbs

Vox Starstream A1H - 7lbs

Maruszczyk Jake - 7.4lbs

Hofner HCT Club - 6lbs

 

(long scales)

Ibanez EHB 1505 (5 string) - 7lbs

Ibanez Portamento (4 string) - 7.5lbs

 

I've also previously had and moved on:

Hofner Ignition Club - 4.5lbs

Gretsch G2220 - 7lbs

Ibanez Aerium fretless - 6.5lbs

 

On the one hand it's fantastic that there are plenty of light basses around if you look, but on the other I find it massively frustrating when some bass makers and online sellers really just can't be bothered to even try, or to understand that this can be absolutely crucial to someone's ability to play an instrument.

 

I recently had a farcical discussion with a customer service rep from Gear4Music who insisted on quoting the weight of a Mustang as 8kg, because that was the official 'shipping weight' in the specs, wouldn't budge on it despite me gently explaining this would literally make it one of the heaviest basses ever made at more than 17lbs, before they admitted that they didn't have a scale in the warehouse to weigh them even if they wanted to. 

 

If the likes of Bass Direct, Peach Guitars and Sweetwater are capable of weighing everything, then the failure of Andertons, Gear4Music, PMT, GAK, Guitarguitar etc to do likewise is at the least pure laziness (or worse... I could go on far more of a rant about it, but I won't, I just never spend money with those places any more).