Guitar Fun

Let's start with this post from January 11, 2019 titled "Electric Guitar Weights" that for some reason I never published.

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Despite my attestations, another guitarist couldn't believe how heavy my 1978 Tele was. I weighed the St. Vincent for comparison. So I decided to weigh them all. I used a bathroom scale accurate to 0.5#, standing on it with and without a guitar. The Tele indeed wins.

Make & Model	Year	#
Gibson Les Paul Jr	1961	7.5
Fender Telecaster	1978	10.5
Gibson Les Paul Custom Classic	2007	10
Steinberger synapse transcale	2008	7
Fender 50th anniversary Stratocaster	2004	9
Gibson ES-335	2008	9
DBZ Imperial	2011	8.5
Sterling by Music Man St. Vincent Signature	2018	7

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I've been playing a different guitar every month. I've been through them all in the last year. Now that I'm in a band (Coral Stone Band, based in Bonita Springs, FL), I feel I should be more professional about it. So going forward, I'm just going to play the Strat and the St. Vincent. They have the same style whammy bar (tremolo) with the springs in the back.

• The Les Paul Jr (SG), the Les Paul (and the Flying-V semi-permanently on loan to excellent young guitarist Harlan Cecil) all have Stets Bar whammy bars. It's not bad, but not as good as the Strat style.
• The ES-335 and the DBZ Imperial have a Bigsby tremolo, which gives you very little whammy. However, I am still trying to swap the heavy 1978 Tele for one with a Bigsby, just so I can play it sometimes.

One thing that really surprised me was the St. Vincent is head-heavy - if you let go of the guitar while wearing it, the head heads for the floor. It was surprising because is has a fairly big body and a small head. But it only weighs 7#. Here's pictures and discussion from when I 1st got it.

So I had the thought, since the St. Vincent would be 1 of only 2 I'm playing, could I maybe address the head-heaviness? Could I put some weights in the electronics cavity so it would balance better? It had a fairly big electronics cavity.

Amazon, of course, had 4x4oz lead weights for $5.99, which I paid for with Amazon bucks.

They fit stacked in the cavity perfectly!

But, I don't want them rattling, so it's time for my secret sauce: mounting putty.

For fixing "shouldn't move, moves" problems, I use mounting putty pretty much exclusively - duct tape, hardly ever. So put some putty on the side and bottom.

Fini! Installation feels very solid.

So the guitar now weighs 8# instead of 7# - my only guitar lighter than it is the SG at 7.5# - but it is still head heavy. Not as bad tho, so I think the additional weight is a win.

It's tempting to just play the Strat, which is perfectly balanced. If you are addicted to whammy bars as I am it is the way to go. After I 1st got that Strat, I played nothing else for maybe 3 years. But, damn, everybody brings out Strats. It is the default blues guitar. So, I will bring out the St. Vincent for some variety.