Guitar Weight Preferences

[Fuzzbuzz]

Curious if others have a preference for a certain weight in a solid body 6 string guitar. I have found myself capping out at about 8 pounds give or take a few ounces. How heavy is too heavy for you?

[SneakyT]

I prefer heavier guitars. I move around on stage a bunch and lighter guitars move around way too much. I won't use anything on stage under 9lbs. Works out pretty well for me as most people prefer light so I find otherwise great guitars for way under asking price on the regular. My heaviest is a 78 tele bass at 10.6lbs. My lightest is a thinline tele at 7.5lbs but I never use it on stage. BTW I am a fairly large strong guy so the weight never causes any back or shoulder fatigue for me.

[sunburster]

I can go up to 9lbs. But I won't buy anything over that. 7.5-8lbs is the sweet spot, IMO. Not too light, not too heavy.

[sirspens]

I agree.. 7.5 to 8lbs is the sweet spot, and then I'd rather be a little under than a little over.

Once again, I'm a big guy and I like big guitars.

[Larsongs]

I never gave weight much thought until recently. In the past couple years I've played some really great Guitars that are light weight & I'm finding them more comfortable for longer playing time.

I have an LP & a Tele are almost 10 lbs.. I've got others, including my Offsets, that are in the 7 1/2 - 8 1/2 lb. range. They're all great Guitars & don't plan on parting with any of them soon..

I did pick up 3 great light weight Guitars in the past year.. A Gibson Memphis Blacktop ES Les Paul with Bigsby (6 1/2 lbs), a Fender RI 69 Thinline Tele (5 1/2 lbs) & a Gretsch G-6128T George Harrison Duo Jet (7.25 lbs). I like all 3 of them & play them a lot. Great Sound & very easy to live with. Especially for long Sessions, Rehearsals & Gigs....

Lars

[s_mcsleazy]

mine are often as/more heavy than les pauls. i feel weird playing lighter guitars.


those are my 3 main guitars. the black jaguar is around 5.5kg
the green jagmaster is about 4.9kg
the white jazzmaster is around 4.4kg

[MechaBulletBill]

I am a feeble, sickly creature which is why I'm spending over the odds to get the lightest Tele body I can right now

[Fuzzbuzz]

It seems for me as I get older I want/need lighter guitars solely for the purpose of not blowing my back out. I think all those years of jumping around with a 70’s p bass that weighed 10.5 pounds finally caught up with me.

[Maggieo]

The lighter, the better.

[marqueemoon]

I generally prefer lighter guitars for their sonic properties, but the comfort is a nice bonus. Sustain is overrated.

[Jan Deal]

I prefer lighter guitars, as I'm little and wearing a guitar on-stage that is heavy really does start to hurt my back. No chance that I'd gig something like a Les Paul!

[popvulture]

Mine all generally clock in around 7-8, with a Les Paul and a rosewood tele being the big exceptions (esp the latter, total backbreaker!).

I do like light guitars, but tbh they feel a bit weird. I've played featherlight ones that just feel plain wrong... I guess I need at least a little heft.

[Meriphew]

I won’t buy anything that’s much over 8.5 lbs. On Strats and Teles I prefer them around 7lbs.

[PJazzmaster]

ideally in the range of 8 lbs. But for some reason my heaviest guitar (almost 9 lbs) is the one I play the most (best feeling neck and best overall action for some magical reason, a parts guitar) but that's really the maximum I wanna carry, if I have the choice.

[CivoLee]

My main guitar is a Tokai Love Rock (Les Paul copy). It's a hair over 10 lbs, but I have a fairly thick nanoweb strap for it.

It's comfortable enough, but I think if/when I get a "real" Gibson Les Paul, I'm gonna shoot for something in the 8.5-9.5 lbs range...