Physically Heavy Mex Strat

[Fusioninspace]

I bought a MIM several years ago. It's a great guitar and I've done a number of mods on it. But it always seemed to be rather heavy, and after I brought in to work to show a friend of mine my mods, He noticed is was heavier than he was used to also.

He's got 6 or 7 american strats of various age and set ups. He play professionally, etc. So I trust his opinion that it's unusually heavy. I have a 7 or 8 guitars of various styles and types (many more over the years) and this Strat is definately the heaviest thing I've ever owned.

Is there something unusualy about the wood that would cause that?

Beside the shoulder ache of playing it for extended periods of time, I love it. Is there an advantage or disadvantage to this extra weight - It weighs more than solid body LPs.

Any comments?

 

[guitarist]

I've always heard that the heavier a guitar is the more sustain it has, but I haven't played enough different guitars to notice this myself.

 

[donkeystyle]

at least it's not a les paul. well i mean it would be better if it was, but those things are a ton heavier.

just dont be a wimp.

 

[Light]

The two possibilities which recomend themselves to me are:

1) It is made from a different wood. Strats are most commonly made of alder, but some have been made of ash, which can be heavier.

2) It is made of wood, and the only thing I can tell you for sure about wood is that, it is completely unpredictable. Your guitar may just be made of a particularly dense piece of wood.


Either way, it is not a bad thing. If you like the guitar, then don't worry about it. If you don't like the guitar, get a new one.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Fusioninspace]

Hi Donkey,

Like I said in the post, this thing is heavier than a Les Paul.

But I still can't imagine why this thing weighs so much. Any good Fender techs out there to answer this????

 

[faderbug]

i'm absolutely NOT a guitar tech but is it possible that the guitar has been modded and a heavy metal sustain block has been built in to it?

 

[c7sus]

Garcia's Tiger weighs in at something like 12 or 13 pounds. He actually had curvature in his spine from wearing that guitar so much!

 

[philboyd studge]

Hmmm, maybe it's pressed or plywood. Look inside.

 

[mixmkr]

My Deering Sierra banjo weighs 17 lbs.

 

[Fusioninspace]

Philboy,

That's actually a good guess. But it is real wood all the way through. It does appear to have a laminated top. I've been inside that thing a dozen times to change electronics and stuff.

Hey, there's a topic for a new thread! Strat mods! Seems like everybody does them...

 

[SemiCrazy]

The body of guitar may have been cut from a couple of peices of heart wood. Meaning, wood from the center of the tree. The wood from the heart of a tree is harder and is very dense. If you have ever seen a cut log, you most likely noticed the wood in the center of the log was a much darker color than the rest of the wood. The darker wood is heart wood.

I have an '82 Squire -which is a late 70's body assembled in Japan- that is made of heart wood. It is very heavy for a Strat type guitar ever though a previous owner routed out the bridge area for a humbucker.

As far as mods go...I ripped out the crappy humbucker and put in Texas specials when they first came out 12 years or so ago and I changed the stock black pickguard - wich was butchered by the before mentioned owner when he put the humbucker in- to vintage cream and left the stock black pickup covers and knobs. Looks cool on the black body and rosewood fingerboard.

 

[grinder]

Get a wide, padded leather strap.It will make a heavy guitar much more bearable to play.

 

[savageblues]

Not sure why yours is so heavy, but I would suggest it might lie in the body wood type.

My '90 Strat Deluxe Plus is VERY heavy compared to my buddies early 80's '62 reissue.

It has an ash body laminated with Alder on top and bottom whereas the '62 type has a alder(?) body I think.
I had the neck screws replaced with hex-bolts, and stopped the trem at the back with 5 springs. These things together with the heavy body and maple neck provide great sustain, and a more solid feel.

It does sound quite a bit different than the '62 though...both sound good. After 14 years Im not complaining about the weight ...yet.

C7SUS - did you see 'Tiger' at the Rock N Roll hall of fame? Several of Garcia's custom guitars were there looking rather road-worn, but cool.

 

[pennylink]

Unless it's been modded with some heavy piece of metal somewhere, like a sustain block mentioned earlier, it must be the wood.

However, that's kind of surprising, since for the most part MIM Strats (at least till recently), were made of Poplar, which is a relatively light wood, at least compared to the usual tone woods such as alder and ash. Poplar actulally has a pretty nice warm tone, it just hasn't got the best sustain.

If you just can't sleep until you figure this out, you could take your guitar to a wood connoisseur, who could tell you what wood it's made of by scratching a little paint off in the pick-up cavity. I'm assuming your guitar is painted a solid color and you can't see the woodgrain...

 

[King Elvis]

Make sure there is no bondo in there!!!

 

[schenkerguy]

Weight

I have an 82 Squire Strat, I always heard they were made of "basswood". That sounds heavy!

I have an accurate scale at home, I'll weigh it and let you know...

 

[Fusioninspace]

This is great! I want to thank everyone for taking time to comment on this.

One of my favs is the Bondo comment

One of my other hobbies is woodworking, so I'm fairly comfortable with various kinds of woods...

Based on these post, I think it's probably due to wood denisity (Thanks Semicrazy and Light!). I like Grinders suggestion of getting a different strap - That sounds like the way to go with this particular chunk of wood.

Thanks to all! Fusioninspace (Jam'n for Jesus!)

 

[schenkerguy]

Axe weighage

Just for reference:

82 Squire MIJ strat with several mods: Just over 8 pounds

Hohner Marlin Strat copy: 8 pounds, exactly the same

Ibanez AF75 hollowbody: 6.8 pounds

 

[DJL]

Squire pickups suck ass... get the Fender American Strat.

 

[gvarko]

What?

This thread was about a MIM strat and a weight issue, what does that have to do with Squire pickups? Nothing