Guitar weight

FelineGuitars

I know that it is a varied subject with some people not concerned with the weight of a guitar, whilst for others it's a real make or break thing with a guitar.

Generally with the guitars I build I aim mostly for what is considered the middle ground - not overly light but certainly not heavyweight. I decided to look at the weights of my main playing guitars seen here:

I'm personally not keen on overly heavy guitars, and think a lot of people would prefer a guitar that doesn't require a trip to the Osteopath after every time you play. Here are my main 5 guitars showing their weights in lbs and Oz.

Lion Cub singlecut - has a little careful chambering and clocks in at just under 7lbs

Lion Supreme Light 25th Anniversary (Floyd Rose equipped model) - under 7.5lbs

Lion Special (all mahogany variant) under 7.5lbs. Exactly the same weight as the Floyd Equipped one!


Lion Cub HH (based on "the Paul", but essentially a Flying V stuffed into a LP shape). Surprisingly heavy compared to the other junior but no chambering on this one.

Lion Supreme 20th Anniversary - the heaviest of the pack , but still only 8lbs, so pretty comfy for an LP shaped guitar.

Moltisanti

i've become more aware of weight as i get older, i've had nice guitars that i never played because they were too heavy (i always practise standing up). For me under 8 lbs is a must, and my favourite SG is well under 7lbs

MikeS

Under 7lb for me. It's just a habit I've got myself into. Also IMO, all the lightweight guitars are so resonant. Played an original 1959 Tele recently, and it was a 5 pounder, and I can't stop thinking about it.

TINMAN82

Good weights there. No idea how Gibson (USA) manage to produce such heavy Les Paul standards these days. I wouldn’t buy online from a site that doesn’t list weight. Very difficult to find anything 9lbs or less. Many of them over 10lbs.

rossi

Sweetwater often give weights .Although in the US it will give you some idea.Peach also often give weights .I prefer light guitars .My Tele to go has a paulwonia body  and is very light and resonant .You have to watch what tuners you put on as a heavy set of tuners can make a light body neck heavy .My Tele has Fender Gotoh locking tuners.I think roasted maple is also very light judging from my Fender  replacement neck on it .My Gibson Midtown is pretty  light but its case weighs a ton with the guitar inside   so I often put it in a gig bag for blues jams in town .Not ideal.

Johnnyseven

I play mostly Teles and have 4 altogether. The best sounding one is by far the heaviest, it has a nitro @GoldenEraGuitars 4lbs 12oz body with a Baja Tele neck. Lighter Teles that I have played have all sounded too thin for my taste.

Philly_Q

Those are the kinds of weights I like.  I accept that an LP type can be well over 8lb and still be a "reasonable" weight, but 8lb is the upper limit for me personally.

Lestratcaster

Don't play standing up as much as I did but wouldn't wanna be playing 30-60 minute sets with a heavy guitar! I got lucky with my Les Paul Studio its pretty light and still sounds great. Some of the Traditional/Standard models weigh a ton!

clarkefan

It's a weird problem.  I (perfectly happily) played my 9lb Les Paul for 15ish years (at home).

I've since been playing 8lb Wolfgangs for 2 years.

Now the weight of the LP is an issue.

I think it's a case of stuff you get used to, like string gauge, action, scale length.

All that said, back in the day I had a beautiful black 81 Les Paul Custom which could have doubled for an anchor for the Titanic. It actually put my back out.

Meantime some people swear by those things.

Tenebrous

Gorgeous work as always.

guitars4you

Saw a late 70's 3 p/up LP Custom the other day in Natural that reminded me of those old storage heaters with concrete blocks in them - It was well over 10lbs

Yet equally I've sometimes found Custom Shop black guard early 50's Tele's that are to light with  'lack of body' in the tone

I don't think weight alone tells all the story, but there is a spectrum of acceptability for each model

guitars4you

by the way Jon, that LP flavoured model on the far right looks stunning

mcsdan

Under 9lbs for me. Around the 7-8lb mark is good for fender and 8-9lbs for Gibson types. More about being comfortable with the guitar than anything else. I do have a 6lb 11oz tele that every time I pick it up I comment how light it is even if nobody else is around! ha

Danielsguitars

I'm around 9lb max for a full fat les Paul, that is with a cap that's around 15mm thick to start, my bigsby goldtop weighs 9.2lb but is comfortable and the sound is epic so I don't care, bigsby weighs 3/4lb, it's my no 1 now

I've recently made some lightweight stuff which I'm finishing now, they're so easy to pickup and play 

My conclusion is I like lightweight guitars in general but when I want that les paul tone I'll play them even at 9lb 

Strangefan

Good god that les paul with the single coil looks immense 

WezV

TINMAN82 said:

Good weights there. No idea how Gibson (USA) manage to produce such heavy Les Paul standards these days.

Honestly, I think they put a fair bit of effort into not making them heavy.... But the average weights of the required materials make this very hard

stocks of quality lightweight mahogany don't exist in the volume they require.  The lighter stuff then gets saved for the higher end guitars

Of course, they can  easily control the weight by using different materials or various weight relief strategies. Then people complain it's not a les Paul.  Gibson literally can't win on this topic.

stephen.wood125

It's never bothered me but then I'm relatively tall and stronger than I look. my P90 Goldtop from 1980 is 10.45 lbs and i don't feel that's heavy. I know it's subjective. Just be glad you don't play the accordion like 7 stone, 4'9" Edith Piaf. 

Anyhow facetiousness aside, stunning, stunning guitars!!

Dominic

I have usually found heavy guitars to have the most sustain but having got a very light tele I enjoy the difference

p90fool

MikeS said:

Played an original 1959 Tele recently, and it was a 5 pounder, and I can't stop thinking about it.

Really? Unless it's balsa I can't see how that's possible. 

Fishboy7

I only seem to notice weight when switching between guitars.  Even the heaviest of guitars isn't all that heavy really. 

Danielsguitars

p90fool said:

MikeS said:

Played an original 1959 Tele recently, and it was a 5 pounder, and I can't stop thinking about it.

Really? Unless it's balsa I can't see how that's possible. 

I had a guy tell me a vintage Gibson custom was something like 5 or 6 pounds with 3 pickups, just not possible as well