Can anything else be done for a heavy bass?

[Stub Mandrel]

33 minutes ago, chris_b said:

Straps don't make a bass lighter, so if weight is the problem buy the right bass for the job.

 

There aren't many of us who would struggle to carry a rucksack with 10 to 15lbs in it for the equivalent of a gig or rehearsal. Because a decent rucksack spreads the load well. A good strap does make a huge difference.  I have Lekato neoprene straps for two five strings, and it barely feels like I have the bass on my shoulders.

[Muzz]

I'm another borderline-obsessed with weight: I won't buy a bass over 7 1/2lbs again, and the ones I have which are more than 8lbs or so just don't get used. I gig a lot, and no matter how you spread the weight it's still there (tho I have a 4-inch wide strap on my main gigging bass), very luckily I bought a cheap, very giggable P-bass that's Poplar and weighs 7lbs 9 after some Ultralights (I have them on everything...why wouldn't you?), and sounds exactly like a P-Bass in my hands.

 

Other than the aforementioned Ultralights, the best way to get a light bass is to try a lot of light basses and find one that sounds the way you want it to; if you want to mod with routers, be aware it'll probably reduce the value of the instrument,  so start with a cheap one you won't mind losing a bit of money on. Although the other substitutions mentioned can have a cumulative effect, it's down to how much tinkering you want to do.

[neepheid]

10 minutes ago, Muzz said:

 Ultralights (I have them on everything...why wouldn't you?)

 

Because they're expensive and I'm a tightwad.

 

You asked...

Edited Thursday at 13:08 by neepheid

[fretmeister]

3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Meanwhile, in a parallel thread, people are adding lead to their pickup cavities to cure neck dive.

 

 

 

TBH, whatever the OP's preference was, strap choice, wearing and setting the strap comfortably and a good stance cure 90% of balance and weight issues.

 

A strap can fix comfort. It cannot make a bass lighter. The amount of force from the bass into the body remains the same.

It also cannot cure balance issues, it only papers over the cracks. An unbalanced bass remains an unbalanced bass. A grippy strap just grips.

[Woodinblack]

3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 A good strap does make a huge difference.  I have Lekato neoprene straps for two five strings, and it barely feels like I have the bass on my shoulders.

 

I find it easy to just play each of the five strings separately, which halves the weight!

[neepheid]

5 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

 

A strap can fix comfort. It cannot make a bass lighter. The amount of force from the bass into the body remains the same.

It also cannot cure balance issues, it only papers over the cracks. An unbalanced bass remains an unbalanced bass. A grippy strap just grips.

 

Yes, but if you spread that force over a wider area, the pressure is reduced.  P=F/A.  Force doesn't go into your body, pressure is applied to your body.   It explains why knives cut through substrates better than a length of 4"x2" wood or a concrete block with the same force applied (in this case, gravity).

 

And that's quite enough high school physics for one day!

Edited Thursday at 15:29 by neepheid

[fretmeister]

3 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

These are all good things that can be done, but there are really only two sensible routes to take if you have a bass that is too heavy to be comfortable; work out until you can deal with the weight, or sell it and buy the right bass for the job.

 

Most of us were OK with 10lb basses in our youth so why can't we deal with that weight now we are older? Because we've become sedentary and lost a lot of our muscle mass. Work out and put that muscle back. You won't be limited by weight and, according to statistics, you'll live longer and happier lives.

 

You can do a lot of DIY on a bass, most of which won't enhance it's value, instead will reduce it's resale value. There are plenty of 6, 7 and 8lb basses around at all levels, from Asian production lines to boutique. Straps don't make a bass lighter, so if weight is the problem buy the right bass for the job.

 

 

 

Can't argue with a lot of that, but then again while we can all cope with a 10lb bass when we are 20 years old, perhaps we wouldn't have so many issues when we get older if we had lighter basses from the start. Wear and Tear accumulates. There's been reports of school children and early 20s people with degenerative type back injuries because they are carrying excessive weight in books / laptops etc all the time.

 

All of us have asymptomatic degenerative changes far earlier than we'd think possible. Joint degeneration is already able to be seen on an MRI scan from the age of 30. Might not even notice it at all before we hit 50, but it's there.

 

For me personally - I've had 5 hernias. No amount exercise will fix that weakness and I'm now "strongly advised" to not do certain exercises at all.

 

The irony being the last 3 all occurred during exercise - and I was doing it properly.

[ezbass]

On 12/03/2025 at 11:07, martthebass said:

How's the balance, is it neck heavy?  I've occasionally had basses that gave me more shoulder problems not just from the total weight but from the 'drag' on my shoulder.  

My old '63 P Bass was light as a feather but had awful neck dive. A US MM SUB I also had at the time was bordering on boat anchor. On the strap the P Bass was more uncomfortable than the SUB, which was perfectly balanced.

[fretmeister]

4 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

Yes, but if you spread that force over a wider area, the pressure is reduced.  P=F/A.  Force doesn't go into your body, pressure is applied to your body.   It explains why knives cut through substrates better than a length of 4"x2" wood or a concrete block with the same force applied (in this case, gravity).

 

And that's quite enough high school physics for one day!

 

I know that but the pressure is only spread out on the part of the body the strap is touching. Surface pressure on part of the supporting structure (the shoulder) is not the same as total load through the entire supporting structure.

 

A 10lb bass hung on a bootlace thin strap still puts the same force on the spine as a 10lb bass on a 6inch wide strap. The body is still supporting a 10lb item. Nothing can change that. The 6inch wide strap user will just not have a big dent in his shoulder. A wider strap gives a localised benefit only. So it depends what the user needs to achieve. If there is back pain and no shoulder pain then a wider strap will not help at all.

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, fretmeister said:

 

A strap can fix comfort. It cannot make a bass lighter. The amount of force from the bass into the body remains the same.

It also cannot cure balance issues, it only papers over the cracks. An unbalanced bass remains an unbalanced bass. A grippy strap just grips.

 

Virtually no basses are perfectly balanced, and even if they were, they all rely on strap grip to maintain position as you move to some extent.

 

Two pounds of extra weight is an average meal and a pint.

 

If a strap grips and solves shoulder comfort issues, balance and a heavy bass are irrelevant to most of us, largely just a real issue to people with musculoskeletal issues.

 

But I accept it's as personal as something like scale length, neck profile and width. For some people it has to be just right. Some, like me, adapt readily ... perhaps because I've always played a wide variety of basses and other instruments.

[chris_b]

IMO the right advice is not to buy the wrong bass and try to fix it, but to buy the right bass first time.

[crazycloud]

8 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

There aren't many of us who would struggle to carry a rucksack with 10 to 15lbs in it for the equivalent of a gig or rehearsal.

This is true, but most basses, especially the Musicmaster, is that because of the ginormous headstock (out of proportion to the smaller body vs a full size P or J) and boat anchor tuners, is that it has a lever effect weighing down the left (fretting) side making it feel heavier than the same weight centred on the spine like a backpack would be*. Plus all of the many 70s Fenders I've had are veneered concrete construction, because of the "mass means sustain" mythos of that era, whereas any engineer with 1/2 a brain could tell you it's rigidity of the primary structure that's most important.

 

So, to lighten the MM by chambering the body, you're going to shift the weight balance further to the fretting side, increasing the apparent weight on the L shoulder and increasing the torque on the spine.

 

Replacing the tuners with Hipshots will help with the torque on the spine, and that might be enough, but based on personal experience, I doubt it. The huge 4IL headstock is still there and so is the moment it creates by it's placement and design.

 

* I've now crossed the threshold into old fart and I ruck with a 20kg plate, and a backpack containing water, clothes and other stuff; my point being that spine centred weight is less of an issue than an imbalanced bass (almost all of them in my experience). In the next month or so I'm going to do a 70km beach and headland trip in a single day so taking care of myself, because of a whole raft of injuries including spinal breaks etc when I was younger, I'm still out and active and my 5.2kg ATK doesn't bother me at all.

 

5 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

If a strap grips and solves shoulder comfort issues, balance and a heavy bass are irrelevant to most of us, largely just a real issue to people with musculoskeletal issues.

A good strap helps, but it can't overcome the poor ergos of most basses, especially if you have issues. Doubly so if you're not interesting in working on these to help improve your lifestyle too.

 

FWIW, I use a DSL 5" strap on the ATK and the SR706. I use 3.5 versions on most of my other instruments and own lots of his straps because they're so good. 

5 hours ago, chris_b said:

IMO the right advice is not to buy the wrong bass and try to fix it, but to buy the right bass first time.

This is the point I've been working my way to.

I don't play SS or 4s any more, but I still have this Samick Greg Bennett SS PJ. Weighs maybe 7lb, is 30", cost maybe 100Quid and has a teeny, weeny headstock with modern smaller diameter tuners so there's little spinal torque. It's PJ and sounds great to my ears, though mine has Villexes in it because I had them laying around unused and the hardware and general build is fine, likely better than the typically sloppy 70's F work. In the decade or more it's been here, and was purchased S/H, it's never been touched because it hasn't needed it. Apart from being a SS 4, the only thing I don't like about the Samick is it's too trad looking for my tastes.

 

 

 

Sell the MM and buy something that better suits your needs.