Weight, Does It Matter To You?

[JasonE]

I have never cared about weight with my guitars. If they pay and sound good I have been happy. I have never had an issue with standing for 4 hours with any guitar I have ever owned. For some reason I got a wild hair to weigh my guitars. I bought a scale and started the process. I put the data in a spreadsheet so I can do a little analysis on it. I have guitars ranging from 5.69 lbs. to 9.51 lbs. I am still looking for trends in which guitars I tend to play the most and seeing what interesting things I may be able to determine from the data. I am left with a few questions.

1. What is considered a light guitar?
2. What is the preferred weight range for those that it matters to?
3. What is considered a heavy guitar?
4. What is a deal breaker weight if you are looking to buy a guitar?

 

[spawnofthesith]

Not particularly but at the same time I'd rather not be getting into the double digits. My heaviest guitar is my les paul at a little over 8lbs. I dont have exact weights on my strandberg or PRS vela but I'm pretty confident both are under 6lbs

 

[newholland]

no. i have a pancake norlin LP Custom and a buncha teles. i even have a bad back. i just like guitars.

 

[JasonE]

I had one Les Paul a while back that I did weigh because it was heavy. It just topped 10 lbs. by a couple of ounces. That guitar sounded huge. I probably should have kept that one. I had a Hamer Monaco Elite for a good while that I was sure was a 10 lb. guitar. I weighed it before I sold it and it was like 8.5 lbs. That surprised me. I think that is probably a lighter weight for a single cut guitar.

I am really trying to figure out if I have a weight range that I prefer tone wise. I don't dislike any of the guitars I have. I have gigged nearly all of them. I weighed most of them. I have a few that are tucked away that I didn't dig out to weigh but I know they will be in the rang of some of my others.

 

[sleewell]

that EGC i had was a fucking boat anchor. the agile i still have is very heavy but that EGC was probably twice as heavy.


weight doesnt really matter that much too me even though i mainly use fairly light guitars not intentionally. our set is so short and even after rehearsals i never really feel sore of have a back ache from the guitar.

 

[maddnotez]

Being too heavy and not having neck dive. Can't really define what's too heavy but I like 7-8 pounds probably.

 

[Cirrus]

I have an 11.5lb Gretsch duo jet, I think the weight is part of the character & tone which I love but it can make my shoulder a bit sore after a couple of hours of use.

 

[JasonE]

I have an 11.5lb Gretsch duo jet, I think the weight is part of the character & tone which I love but it can make my shoulder a bit sore after a couple of hours of use.

I think that is the heaviest Gretsch I have ever heard of.

 

[Oddguitar]

For me, the lighter the better. My Strandberg and Parker Fly are my two lightest, with my Klein with replacement RWB SK-HT bridge coming in a close third.

 

[Eagle]

Light is nice but go too far and they start to feel wrong. There is only so far you an go before neck dive starts to be an issue. Unless headless then you can go a little further. For me anything between 6 / 10lb is fine.

 

[aivoryuk]

I prefer lighter, but as long as it’s balanced I don’t mind.

 

[Eagle]

Esp Kamikaze and Pancake Les Paul’s are about the most consistently stupid heavy guitars I see.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I played a les paul over 12lbs once. I was buying a les paul and mentioned it was a nice weight. The seller started to laugh and brought out a Vester or Vexter Japanese LP copy, it was the heaviest LP I've ever played.

He said he bought it sight unseen over the Internet and didn't know how heavy it was until it arrived. It looked cool but way too heavy for me.

 

[Tenebris]

My Yamaha SG1500 weighs over 11 pounds with the strap. I don't notice when I'm playing it but if I play it standing for a while I notice later that my core and lower back are doing all sorts of weird shit, and I'm not even old. I've never found the right strap height for it. The EBMM Silhouette I have is almost too light and too small, it's a hardtail and it's 6.7 lbs. I have big shoulders and long arms and it feels like I'm a chimpanzee pretending to play guitar on a tennis racket.

 

[Chocol8]

No. There are so many other things I care about in a guitar. Weight is way down the list.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Yeah, it bothers me. I work out literally every day, and eat right, but can't shed the middle-aged spare tire. Thought about Ozempic, but they'll probably find out in 10 years that it causes the growth of a third eye or something.

 

[Oddguitar]

Yeah, it bothers me. I work out literally every day, and eat right, but can't shed the middle-aged spare tire. Thought about Ozempic, but they'll probably find out in 10 years that it causes the growth of a third eye or something.

Keep doing what you are doing, but eat very low carb, make sure you eat meals you cooked at home and add intermittent fasting and the weight will fly off you.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Keep doing what you are doing, but eat very low carb, make sure you eat meals you cooked at home and add intermittent fasting and the weight will fly off you.

Dude, I'm trying. But bread is so good. If someone said "you can never have chocolate the rest of your life, but keep lovin' that sourdough", I'd be okay.


And okay, as far as guitar weight......as long as it's not over 9. Anything more, and it's just tedious.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

But bread is so good. If someone said "you can never have chocolate the rest of your life, but keep lovin' that sourdough", I'd be okay.

That is the truest thing I've read on the Internet this year.

 

[Chocol8]

but they'll probably find out in 10 years that it causes the growth of a third eye or something.

In 10 years your original eyes wont work as well and you will probably appreciate having that new third eye.