My bass is neck heavy and it bugs me!

[tfarny]

Love the look, love the rock sound (have to work a bit to get a mellow sound) from the dimarzio pups, LOVE the feel, play, and action of the neck. But it weighs 10.2 pounds, seems like half of which is in the headstock. I don't think that just going to a lighter tuner would really do it in this case. The more I play it the more it bugs me unfortunately, it's not something I'm getting used to.

Do I need to 'downgrade' the neck for a lighter maple or similar model? Agh.
Or should I get a second, lighter bass, maybe a 32 scale W J bass, or one of those aerodyne jazz basses I just played at GC?

 

[line6man]

Why did you put full size tuners on it??
You should have started with lightweight tuners.

 

[Wyliee]

A wenge/ebony neck will be heavy.  Sorry, but there's no way around that.

 

[tfarny]

Just did my homework and found that the ultralight tuners W sells will shave 1/2 lb off the headstock and are made to fit the same holes, but you have to drill a stupid index hole.
That probably would make a big difference wouldn't it. Sigh, more GAS!

 

[line6man]

Just did my homework and found that the ultralight tuners W sells will shave 1/2 lb off the headstock and are made to fit the same holes, but you have to drill a stupid index hole.
That probably would make a big difference wouldn't it. Sigh, more GAS!

Absolutely makes a difference.

What size tuners are on there?
Hipshot sells a 1/2" post version of the Ultralite tuner that IIRC will fit 11/16" tuner reams.
You only need to drill one hole for the screw and that's it.
The problem though is that will leave you with 4 (4 holes on your current tuners, right?) visible holes on the back of the headstock. Not the prettiest thing to look at...

 

[rockskate4x]

I bet a G4 bass body would make a huge difference with the balance. Definitely try to lighten up the tuners...

 

[tfarny]

More homework: Hipshot sells a "1/2 inch tuner" ultralight tuner that fits the Warmoth standard 11/16 hole, saves 1/2 lb, and even has the cloverleaf things, in all major colors. Their "3/8 ultralight tuner" only fits a 9/16 hole. And you have to go their FAQ to find this out. And the Stew Mac ones are the wrong size. GOD we need a good sticky about this stuff.  :dontknow:

$100 for four bass tuners is outrageous but I'm gonna have to do this or add 5 lb of lead to the body cavity and cancel my gym membership.

 

[tfarny]

Edit: Thanks for the tip line6man!!!!

 

[Nando Vallart]

Tell us about how worked the lightweight tuners

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

More homework: Hipshot sells a "1/2 inch tuner" ultralight tuner that fits the Warmoth standard 11/16 hole, saves 1/2 lb, and even has the cloverleaf things, in all major colors. Their "3/8 ultralight tuner" only fits a 9/16 hole. And you have to go their FAQ to find this out. And the Stew Mac ones are the wrong size. GOD we need a good sticky about this stuff.  :dontknow:

$100 for four bass tuners is outrageous but I'm gonna have to do this or add 5 lb of lead to the body cavity and cancel my gym membership.

I did the dance around with Hipshot and W about what 3/8" means for my first build.  Hipshot probably wanted to kill me.  That post got deleted here BTW. 

 

[Nando Vallart]

That post got deleted here BTW. 

:icon_scratch:

 

[tfarny]

Wow these make a huge difference, it's not quite 'strat' balanced but WAY better, with a strap it's just fine now and sitting down is much better too. Have to fill in those holes at some point. Don't notice any real change in tone, but obviously I changed strings too so who knows.
Edit: yeah I changed all four, the pic just shows how different they are.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Good deal.  I've got their 3/8" UltraLites on my current J-Bass and will be putting them on my Wenge neck shortly.  I think they have them in clover key as well.

 

[line6man]

Wow these make a huge difference, it's not quite 'strat' balanced but WAY better, with a strap it's just fine now and sitting down is much better too.

I told you guys the Ultralites were awesome... :icon_biggrin:

But why Y keys?
IMO Fender headstocks look weird without clover keys.

Here is my Jazz headstock with clovers:

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I've got the Y keys too.  They are definitely more modern looking.  Different tastes man.  It just an opinion, like binding.

 

[jackthehack]

You could have just used a 35-50 lb dumbbell and built up your left biscep to more manly proportions....

 

[line6man]

Hey, I'm not sure if I have mentioned this on this forum yet, but between the 3 batteries, the pickup and the heavy metal dome knobs that I added to my Jazz bass, it now weighs at least a pound more than it did before.
Big plus for me, because it's extra weight on the body end to cancel out the neck weight a bit, and I love really heavy basses too. (But only when they balance of course. Balance and weight are different things entirely.)

 

[deluxemeat]

hipshot ultra lites help alot!

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Hey Tim, I just saw your build in the Gallery on the main site.  I'd never noticed, but is that a Dinky J-Bass body?  Even before changing to the ultralites, the Dinky body may have been the boggest contributor to the balance issues.

 

[tfarny]

Yeah, but the dinky J isn't all that different from the regular J, just a bit smaller. Plus that body weighs nearly 6 lb as is.
The tuners really made it easy to deal with - it's now just fine standing up and not a big deal sitting down. If I had a heavier bridge I might change it but I'm pretty happy now.