Guitar Weights

[Thom]

This probably isn't going to be of much interest to anyone else, but I was playing around with a few guitars this afternoon and picking them up one after the other it struck me that my Strat was heavier than I thought - I've always thought it was lighter than my Jag or Jazz. I've never weighed any of my guitars, so that's what I did. Results below:

Squier CV Tele: 3.77kg (8lb5)
CIJ '68 Strat: 3.80kg (8lb6)
CIJ Jag: 3.80kg (8lb6)
Jagstang: 2.87kg (6lb5)
KC Mustang: 3.38kg (7lb4)
Am Pro Jazz: 3.59kg (7lb14)
Seth Baccus LP: 3.49kg (7lb11)
Chinese LP Custom: 4.29kg (9lb7)

My Jagstang is strikingly the lightest, and there isn't a great deal between the rest of the Fenders. Funny that my SB LP is lighter than most. The LP Custom I got when I lived in Beijing is a boat anchor!

[paul_]

The heaviest guitars I've owned were all Teles.

[jcyphe]

The heaviest guitars I've owned were all Teles.

Heaviest guitar I ever picked up was 70's Gibson Les Paul in a pawnshop. Everybody thinks this is one of the signs of bad workmanship/quality from that era but they also forget that in the 70s lots of players were chasing "SUSTAIN" and it was thought a heavier guitar = more tone.

[NickD]

I had an early 70s LP Deluxe and it weighed more than the moon.

[paul_]

Heaviest guitar I ever picked up was 70's Gibson Les Paul in a Pawnshop. Everybody thinks this is one of the signs of bad workmanship/quality from that era but they also forget that in the 70s lots of players were chasing "SUSTAIN" and it was thought a heavier guitar = more tone.

Also had a lot to do with them using laminated maple necks/bodies and changing the pitched angles of necks and headstocks in an erroneous attempt to enhance durability (all of which decreased the low end and sustain of the models).

Norlins didn't have bad craftsmanship, but they also lost a lot of the traits that attracted people to '50s Gibson guitars in the mid '60s and early '70s. People often say that the "lawsuit guitars" from Japan "were being made better than the real Gibson stuff at the time," but that's the result of a game of telephone when people started pointing out they were closer to a '50s LP than anything Gibson had offered since (this was true until the late '80s or something).

I've had a few Norlin SGs and they're great guitars, but not very SG-like apart from the body shape. Nice and affordable though, unless you're on eBay where people think "old Gibson = vintage bl00zrawk legacy instrument = $1k minimum thx very much"

[mickie08]

My custom tele is probably 9lbs easily. Ill try to weigh it later.

THat said, it is solid cherry body wiht no weight relief, cherry neck with cocobola pickguard and fretboard. So its gonna be heavy

[jcyphe]

Heaviest guitar I ever picked up was 70's Gibson Les Paul in a Pawnshop. Everybody thinks this is one of the signs of bad workmanship/quality from that era but they also forget that in the 70s lots of players were chasing "SUSTAIN" and it was thought a heavier guitar = more tone.

Also had a lot to do with them using laminated maple necks/bodies and changing the pitched angles of necks and headstocks in an erroneous attempt to enhance durability (all of which decreased the low end and sustain of the models).

Norlins didn't have bad craftsmanship, but they also lost a lot of the traits that attracted people to '50s Gibson guitars in the mid '60s and early '70s. People often say that the "lawsuit guitars" from Japan "were being made better than the real Gibson stuff at the time," but that's the result of a game of telephone when people started pointing out they were closer to a '50s LP than anything Gibson had offered since (this was true until the late '80s or something).

I've had a few Norlin SGs and they're great guitars, but not very SG-like apart from the body shape. Nice and affordable though, unless you're on eBay where people think "old Gibson = vintage bl00zrawk legacy instrument = $1k minimum thx very much"

So much great music was made with mid-late 70s Les Pauls.

[sunshiner]

I think both Fender and Gibson lost their exclusive wood suppliers by the late 60s who had provided them with selected lightweight premium wood.

Weight relief in les pauls is a must imo. Late 2000s and early 2010s Les Paul Studious were such fun guitars to play because they weighed nothing and had great big necks. I played a later Tribute model with no weight relief which for the time replaced Studios and it was one of the heaviest guitars

[NickD]

Gibson can make a fairly light Les Paul again without weight relief, but you have to go to the custom shop level to get it.

[Gabriel]

I had a 335 that weighed around 10lbs, that thing was like a damn boat anchor. I ended up selling it because it kept putting my back out. I try to stick to guitars under 8lbs these days. My Fibenare is right around 7lbs.

[kingkiller]

I should weigh my guitars. All this thread has done has confirmed that despite how much I do want a cool Blues Lawyer Les Paul, theyre way too heavy for my frail thin body

[BearBoy]

I’ve no idea how much any of my guitars weigh. Not sure I really care either. Have always found it slightly bemusing how people (mainly on it must be said) obsess about it.

Having said that, a friend of mine has some sort of Les Paul without any weight relief and the thing weighs a fucking tonne. Proper ridiculous.

[dezb1]

I had a plexi glass strat that was the weight of 3 guitars after that all others are just fine.

[Doog]

My Squier CV Jag is like 9.5lbs, and is definitely on the "only just manageable" side for me, in terms of how much it hurts my bony shoulders and hip bone that it loves banging into

[robroe]

My Squier CV Jag is like 9.5lbs, and is definitely on the "only just manageable" side for me, in terms of how much it hurts my bony shoulders and hip bone that it loves banging into

[sunshiner]

Edit: I don't like heavy guitars

[plopswagon]

You need heavy fingers for more tone.

[NickD]

You need heavy fingers for more tone.

You need to go a bit lower than the fingers for the source of the tone.

[Nick]

This made me curious so I just weighed all my electrics (I forgot to check the Daisy Rock and the Hondo II but eh...)

From lightest to heaviest:

Ovation Tornado - 6lbs 11.8oz
Fender Strat (1985 CIJ '68 reissue) - 6lbs 12.1oz
Kay Speed Demon - 6lbs 14.3oz
Burny MG145s - 7lbs 0.6oz
Hondo II Metal Master - 7lbs 1.1oz
Yamaha SA-30T - 7lbs 5.7oz
Fender Mustang (1966) - 7lbs 7.3oz
Daisy Rock Venus Elite - 7lbs 9.1oz
Squier Bronco bass 8lbs 0.9oz
Musima V2 bass - 8lbs 2.3oz
Fender Alternate Reality XII - 8lbs 11.7oz

Of these, the Strat, Speed Demon and Burny feel the lightest. I wouldn't have guessed the Mustang is my heaviest 6 string, or that the Tornado is the lightest. After the Yamaha SG-80T I just sold (9lb 7oz IIRC), I think I'm going to stick to <8lb guitars. The XII gets a pass for what it is and how often I use it.

Edit for Hondo/Daisy weights. The Daisy is now the heaviest, I guess it’s to be expected from a chunk of mahogany-way to break gender stereotypes Daisy Rock!

[BillClay]

I'm sure there's some science behind it but the XII weighing more than the basses blows my mind. it's obviously those extra strings