How heavy is your guitar?

Armistice

Armistice

Son of Yoda
I was reading a guitar mag and came across an ad featuring Gibson Custom Shop Les Pauls - including their weight, which seemed to be about 8.3 lbs on average. I'd always heard that Les Pauls were supposed to be heavy as far as electric guitars go, and I knew that my 1983 English Burns Bison always felt pretty damn heavy, but I'd never weighed it.

So I did.

4.75 kgs, which I think converts to 10.5 lbs. Yikes!!! No wonder I've had to have steel rods inserted in my back to keep me upright and I'm ony 4' 6" tall. 20 years of carrying that beast.

Anyone else got any particularly "heavy" guitars out there?

Cheers
 
i don't know exact measurements, but as a rule of thumb SG's are neck heavy, and Les Paul's are more heavy on the body. a good example of effects of Les Pauls on people is Jimmy Page..he can barely play standing upright now, because he has backproblems from playing years and years with his les paul below his waist..
 
My G & L F100 has a solid mahogany body.

I weighed it years ago and as I recall it's just an ounce or two under 9 pounds. But this guitar has a fairly large headstock and is really well balanced, so it doesn't seem all that heavy when playing it.
 
All I know is that my guitars are HEAAAAAAAAAAAAVY!!

If you have a heavy axe get a wider strap, it can help spread the load. I had a friend once with an SG copy guitar that was really heavy. In order to lighten the load he drilled hundreds of holes through it!!
 
When I used to play live every night of the week I opted for an alder wood guitar, strat or tele. You give up some sustain and volume but the shoulder and back would not ache after the same experience using a Les Paul.
 
The all mahogany with maple top is just over eight pounds. The maple neck with alder body wings is just under eight pounds. The mahogany neck with ash body wings and maple top is just under seven pounds. All of those are neck through designs. My favorite is the lightest of them all.

To be honest, I don't think weight is at all reliable as a method of judging what a guitar will sound like. Those of us who build guitars all like to talk like we know what we are doing, and to some extent we do. There is another degree, however, where what we are doing is completely beyond our control. We work very hard to do the best quality of work we can, but wood is an extremely inconsistent material. There is just no way to know exactly what we are getting. Certain woods will give you certain sounds, and it is pretty consistent. However, every now and then, you will find a piece of wood that is just not normal. What we can do is make educated guesses, but that is about it.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I have the winner here. My Gibson 1275 doubleneck comes in a little over 18 lbs. I am good for about 20 minutes with it, after that I am looking for the SG or Strat.
 
I guess the obvious answer to that particular weight problem is to cut it in half! Thats what my friend would have done anyway!!
 
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