My next bass project.

fretmeister · June 2022

My next project is another Ibanez Mezzo 32 scale. I've already done a full blown EMG upgrade one but the next one won't just be expensive upgrades.

With a variety of medical issues I am obsessed with bass weights.

I found a 7lb Mezzo 4 string. That is actually about my limit these days. As you can imagine that really limits me on anything I might want to buy.

As a bit of an experiment as I'm going to see how much weight I can take off it by just selecting the lightest components I can find. Pickups, bridge, pots etc.

Planning is early stages but the existing electronics are all going.

I've been weighing stuff and swapping 4 heavy knurled metal knobs for plastic or wooden ones can save as much as 100g. Losing the battery and the clip loses another 50g. That's about third of a pound off already.

The existing bridge is basically a thicker version of the old Fender BBOT and it looks like a BBOT will be half the weight of the Ibby bridge.

I'm going full blown Colin Chapman on this one. Nothing will be too stupid if it lowers the weight. If a single ply 'plate saves 10g then it will get a single ply plate. If (I haven't looked yet) the paint under the plate is good it might lose the plate completely.

If it still needs the plate then the screws will get swapped for titanium ones.

I've discovered that some pickups weigh double that of others even if they aren't stacked humbuckers or actives.
I might keep it as PJ, or maybe just P, or I might go for a single passive MM style pickup instead if I can make the routing look good. I'll have to draw out some life sized sketches to see, and then see how much a 'plate to hide the existing holes would weight and the comparative weight of an MM style with a plate next to a PJ without etc.

Image: https://cdn.basschat.co.uk/monthly_2022_05/IMG_3818.JPG.3b4a5ffcea1a1584c891b2aa4f47b571.JPG

I won't be doing any weight reducing routing. I've done that before and it never makes much of a difference unless there is enough room to take out a hell of a lot more wood than expected.

The tuners are already mini ones so I think I'm stuck with them.

The aim is to see if I can take an already small and light bass and knock off at least half a pound / 226.5g.

First thing on order is a new loom with Bourns mini pots. Vol and Tone with a new switchcraft jack. If I go PJ then it will have a 3 way switch rather than a balance pot.

Should be fun!

UnclePsychosis · June 2022

Interesting idea.

I find myself wondering how much the paint on a bass weighs...

fretmeister · June 2022

I've thought about that too!

There's a fair to middling chance the paint will get stripped off and replaced with a wax finish!

I've never done any paint stripping before. I'll have to learn as I go.

wrinkleygit · June 2022

Interesting project, I wonder how much you could save by reshaping the headstock and the lower horn, then you could always relief the body in the same manner John Mayall did to his Strat back in the early 60’s.
Good luck in your quest.

fretmeister · June 2022

The headstock is tiny already.

The lower horn - might shave a few grams but it won't be more than that. I've done the wood removal thing before and most of the time it's not work the effort unless its going all the way to almost making it a lattice structure.

Shark_Eyes · June 2022

Someone took the paint off a Squire Bass VI and weighed it, I think it was about a pound. So could be an easy route.

Could take out a bit of wood under the pickguard too.

fretmeister · June 2022

Just as I've got the scales out - a spare empty scratch plate for my strat is 97g

3 ply BWB. It's heavier than I thought.

fretmeister · June 2022

I've just taken off the scratch plate and screws - together they weight 77g.

It turns out the last owner of the bass had left the plastic film on the plate - what a wally - that was 1g on it's own!

The Mezzo has 2 large and 2 small knobs. Large are 22g and the small are 12g but curiously they weight together 66g. My kitchen scales don't go smaller than 1 gram so I suspect the scale is rounding quite a lot.

Swapping the knobs to some of these 4g ones

Image: https://scontent.fltn3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/284283363_10159624185303726_5044400529731496854_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=fVW-mHhDp_wAX_0baVe&_nc_ht=scontent.fltn3-1.fna&oh=00_AT_s8Gb-6q-11Vj64vxjXWuXAqm3ZHhbaRRmsCTLINzNfA&oe=62A5613B

has a total weight of 16g.

So that's a 50g saving.

Total savings so far from the plate and the knobs is 127g / 0.28lb.

The battery and clip will be coming out - that will be 50g or so.

What I don't yet know is if the Bourns mini pots / loom will weigh less than the existing pots and preamp. I'm hoping they will be a little lighter.

The P pickup I want in it is an Aguilar AG 4P-60. It's only 92g. I'll weigh the existing pickup when I'm ready to swap them over. The Aguilar is a very old fashioned build - almost looks like it's on cardboard with cloth wire covers.

Then I'll have the chance to weigh the existing J pickup too. If I go PJ I'll need to find an Aguilar 60s J from somewhere. Unfortunately Aguilar won't sell them individually, only as a set or as a PJ and as I've already got the P I don't really want to spend that money.

Still the target of Half a Pound / 226.5g only has 99g left to knock off already. Maybe the replacement parts will be heavier than I expect or maybe getting that 99g off as well will be relatively easy.

I'll know as the parts arrive in the post.

fretmeister · June 2022

I'm now wondering if I should weigh strings...

fretmeister · June 2022

Image: https://cdn.basschat.co.uk/monthly_2022_06/1567546476_Basspartweightssofar.jpg.e3544adddad25dc5d4ea5811727c3e77.jpg

What I've got so far. Thought I might as well weight all the bits handy.
I'll find more.

UnclePsychosis · June 2022

I'm really amused that you noted the weight of the film

Funkfingers · June 2022

You forgot to weight your neck pocket shims.

While you're in there, how about weighing any QA inspection labels?

prowla · June 2022

Aluminium bridge?

Shave the neck.

Strip the body to bare wood.

Oh, and for ultimate weight-saving you should definitely use lead-free solder! :-)

prowla · June 2022

Would piezo pickups be lighter?

sgosden · June 2022

Frets. they'll be heavy. make it fret less.

Funkfingers · June 2022

fretmeister said:

The P pickup I want in it is an Aguilar AG 4P-60. … If I go PJ, I'll need to find an Aguilar 60s J from somewhere. Unfortunately, Aguilar won't sell them individually, only as a set or as a PJ and as I've already got the P I don't really want to spend that money.

Whichever PJ set you eventually purchase, it shouldn't be too difficult to sell your "surplus" Aguilar P pickup on this here forum.

The only model I would turn my nose up at is the AG-4P Hot with its Duncan Quarter Pound lookalike oversized polepieces.

FWIIW, I was recently impressed by a Nordstrand NP4. (Almost certainly the regular Alnico 5 version.) Unfortunately, they do not offer a Jazz pickup with the offset angled polepieces.

fretmeister · June 2022

prowla said:

Would piezo pickups be lighter?

I'm not sure what the trade off would be with battery power and so on.

But at the same time that would mean metal strings wouldn't be needed. There are some nylon only strings out there for piezo systems. I doubt the weight saving would be a lot though.

fretmeister · June 2022

prowla said:

Aluminium bridge?
Shave the neck.
Strip the body to bare wood.
Oh, and for ultimate weight-saving you should definitely use lead-free solder! :-)

The neck is a thin J type anyway.

I think the Fender BBOT bridge is still the lightest. I have one somewhere so I'll be seeing if that will drop in.

fretmeister · June 2022

UnclePsychosis said:

I'm really amused that you noted the weight of the film

I weighed the plate with and without it.

I was curious!

olafgarten · June 2022

I wonder if you can ditch the buttons of the tuners and fashion some sort of screwdriver like tool to turn the heads.

fretmeister · June 2022

olafgarten said:

I wonder if you can ditch the buttons of the tuners and fashion some sort of screwdriver like tool to turn the heads.

I’d lose it at a gig!

Sporky · June 2022

Under 7lb is an interesting target - I thought I'd made Sporkbasster 1 pretty light for a bass, but it's 8lb 1oz. Pretty thick body, though, hefty Hipshot bridge, two big humbuckers, preamp with battery, blah blah.

I wonder (more practical for a scratchbuild than modding) if losing the truss rod in favour of lots of carbon in the neck would help much. Thin neck, 2+2 headstock, poplar body might all help.

fretmeister · June 2022

My Sandberg jazz type TT4 Superlight is under 6.5lb.

It has a cedar body and Norwegian maple neck. The newer ones use paulownia for the body.

No need for basses to be as heavy as they usually are.

DavidRees · June 2022

there is always https://strandbergguitars.com/eu/product/boden-bass-original-4-natural/ @ 6lbs

fretmeister · June 2022

DavidRees said:

there is always https://strandbergguitars.com/eu/product/boden-bass-original-4-natural/ @ 6lbs

I've seen one in the flesh and I was not at all convinced it was worth the money. Wasn't any better built than my sub 7lb 5 string Ibanez EHB

I've already got a Sandberg Superlight too.

This project is more about what can be done to an existing bass rather than just buying a new bass. It's an experiment for a bit of fun.

JezWynd · June 2022

You could always follow Pete Shelley's example...

DavidRees · June 2022

fretmeister said:

DavidRees said:

there is always https://strandbergguitars.com/eu/product/boden-bass-original-4-natural/ @ 6lbs

I've seen one in the flesh and I was not at all convinced it was worth the money. Wasn't any better built than my sub 7lb 5 string Ibanez EHB

I've already got a Sandberg Superlight too.

This project is more about what can be done to an existing bass rather than just buying a new bass. It's an experiment for a bit of fun.

sorry for the misunderstanding - your point is well taken - good luck with the experimentation ...

fretmeister · June 2022

No problem.

I've got some more parts that have now arrived so I can start removing the preamp & battery stuff.

Then I can weigh that lot against the passive loom that is going in. Slight fly in the ointment is that the passive loom has a solderless screw connector set up that is heavier than just soldering it all in.

Still, we'll see!

PAL · June 2022

If you have problems with the weight of guitar or bass instead of trying to make the instrument lighter why not try one of
the double guitar shoulder straps this will distribute the weight of the instrument over both of your shoulders.

fretmeister · June 2022

PAL said:

If you have problems with the weight of guitar or bass instead of trying to make the instrument lighter why not try one of
the double guitar shoulder straps this will distribute the weight of the instrument over both of your shoulders.

I’ve tried them.

They work if it’s a shoulder problem alone.

If it’s a core or back problem it does not and cannot change the pressure in the spine and core muscles. The weight is the same. The force going through the body is the same.

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My next bass project.

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