Why is my guitar so light?

[Filipe Marquez]

Hey guys! So i went and bought myself this cheap strat copy, by a company called Condor Guitars (Brazilian, Made in China), and i have this question:

Why does the neck feels so light? The guitar is SUPPOSED to be made of Maple and Rosewood neck and basswood body, but my other guitar, a JEM 555, which has the same woods, feels A LOT tighter in the neck.

So does this mean that better guitars will have heavier, tighter woods? I ask it cause this is my third guitar, and i want to know how good/bad it really is. Thanks!

[Fender_Punk]

Re: Why is my guitar so light?

Heavier wood doesn't necessarily mean better tone. A tighter grain pattern isn't a sure-fire guarantee of a heavier piece of lumber either.

If you paid $200 or less for it than it isn't going to be anything super special. I would expect your JEM 555 to be better quality, as it was probably quite a bit more than this Condor. You get what you pay for.

[Filipe Marquez]

Re: Why is my guitar so light?

It's weird, i have been struggling to find flaws in it but i can't. It's like it has only some minor sanding mistakes on the edges of the fingerboard, and one bad thing is the placement of some frets, which i'll have to send for repair, but other than that it's a fine guitar, it even stays in tune better than the JEM nowadays O.o

That's why i was wondering, why is it so cheap...Do hardware and finish really put the cost "up there", instead of the woods? Or do the quality of the woods varies so much, independently if they are from the same species?

[ExplorersRock]

Re: Why is my guitar so light?

That's why i was wondering, why is it so cheap...Do hardware and finish really put the cost "up there", instead of the woods? Or do the quality of the woods varies so much, independently if they are from the same species?

Yes... and yes, but the wood also plays a factor. Take Fender. The craftsmanship on the MIMs is pretty solid, but they put in pickups with cheaper materials that are not as consistent. The pots are all cheaply made as is the jack. The bridge uses cheaper alloys as is proven by it's cost on darrenriley.com of less than $20. The finish is also polyester which, though harder and considered to be more durable by many, also is less flexible and sorta muffles the sound. And the body will be made up of 4-7 pieces of wood from what I've heard.

Go American and you see the difference. The pickups are more consistent with better materials. The pots come from CTS. The bridge has better alloys in the block and saddles increasing sustain. The finish is now urethane which allows the body to breathe and vibrate better (and to my hand feels smoother). The body woods are more carefully chosen with a Special being 3-4 pieces, a Standard being 2-3 pieces , and a Deluxe being 2 "select" pieces. Playing my MIM against my Amer. Spec. while unplugged I can say that the Amer. has a fuller tone.

To me the difference is also very pronounced between Epiphone and Gibson when it comes to wood. I had an Epiphone Explorer but after buying a Gibson, the Epi got traded-in. The tone was drastically better but what really sold me was the Gibson was significantly lighter and perfectly balanced! My Epi's headstock always went lemming towards the floor the second I moved my hand off the neck (and before I get asked, yes I moved the strap button behind the neck and it still went lemming, although not as bad).

Keep this in mind though. My tech once told me the following: "The difference between cheaper guitars and expensive guitars is that you're more likely to get a good one from the more expensive line." In other words, there are some GREAT cheapies out there but the good to bad ratio is higher than in the higher end stuff. I love my Gibson Explorers... but I have two MIM Strats and an Epi LP that play WAY better than they should for what I paid! Enjoy that new guitar you bought!

[verbotenco]

Re: Why is my guitar so light?

To me the difference is also very pronounced between Epiphone and Gibson when it comes to wood. I had an Epiphone Explorer but after buying a Gibson, the Epi got traded-in. The tone was drastically better but what really sold me was the Gibson was significantly lighter and perfectly balanced! My Epi's headstock always went lemming towards the floor the second I moved my hand off the neck (and before I get asked, yes I moved the strap button behind the neck and it still went lemming, although not as bad).

Enjoy that new guitar you bought!

I read in My Les Paul forum that Gibson LP is weight relieved, meaning that the body has 9 holes chiseled in order to decrease the weight. Probably this also applies to other models?

[Johnny-DK]

Re: Why is my guitar so light?

and one bad thing is the placement of some frets

I think you have the answer to why it is cheaper right there.

As for the weigth differences in maple, I have no clue how big a difference in weight there is between different pieces of maple, but I can't imagine it should be radical. However the shape of the neck and the routing for the trussrod are things that comes to mind.

A difference in body weight would be more explainable since a lot of the cheaper strat models have the "bathtub" routing for pickups, which does take quite a chunk of wood out of the body.
The more expensive ones have pickup specific routings.

Just my 2 cents.

[ExplorersRock]

Re: Why is my guitar so light?

I read in My Les Paul forum that Gibson LP is weight relieved, meaning that the body has 9 holes chiseled in order to decrease the weight. Probably this also applies to other models?

A lot of weight relief does occur with Les Pauls at Gibson. I actually called Gibson customer service when I first got my Explorer to ask, but nope. It's solid through and through. Two things make it lighter. Gibson is more selective with their body wood to ensure balance and often to give your neck a break. I also was told that a lot of their wood is "aged," which is a fancy way of saying that they let it sit and dry before building with it. The idea, supposedly, is to allow the wood to let some of of the moisture out. This reduces weight a bit and also allows for the finish to take better. I have seen the results of too much moisture which can cause a haze under the finish. One of my lower-end acoustics has this problem.

Then again, I recently held a Zakk Wylde Custom Shop LP and it was the heaviest guitar I have ever held!

[atreidesheir]

Re: Why is my guitar so light?

A lot of weight relief does occur with Les Pauls at Gibson. I actually called Gibson customer service when I first got my Explorer to ask, but nope. It's solid through and through. Two things make it lighter. Gibson is more selective with their body wood to ensure balance and often to give your neck a break. I also was told that a lot of their wood is "aged," which is a fancy way of saying that they let it sit and dry before building with it. The idea, supposedly, is to allow the wood to let some of of the moisture out. This reduces weight a bit and also allows for the finish to take better. I have seen the results of too much moisture which can cause a haze under the finish. One of my lower-end acoustics has this problem.

Then again, I recently held a Zakk Wylde Custom Shop LP and it was the heaviest guitar I have ever held!

Yes weight is hard yo judge for tone. There are different types of maple with pretty different weights. Hardrock maple and so on. There are less expensive cuts of maple or maybe even a different wood that passes for maple wherever the guitar was made. I specifically remember the old Japanese strats and such made from "Japanese ash" which is just a locally available wood known as Sen. Looks like ash but does not have nearly the same sound. But not too bad judged on its own. The Japanese companies called it local ash because buyers expected starts to be made from ash or alder.

The wood treatment is also extremely important. If it is air dried over years instead of weeks, or kiln dried makes a huge impact on weight and tone. I have seen some high end Gibson Les Pauls and acoustics made from wood that was too green. It was about ten years ago they had lots of problems and a good friend almost lost his business due to the terrible condition of a $50,000 order from Gibson.

Poplar wood in American guitars is actually not the same as the legendary Poplar the great Alpine violins were built from. It is an unrelated wood from the cottonwood tree (I think). Not bad tone, but cheaper and has a bad rap for being in cheap guitars as a result. So materials with similar named woods could be completely different in sound or feel.

If it is light, be thankful 2 hours into your set. If you enjoy the sound of your guitar, just rock on and roll with it.

[Filipe Marquez]

Re: Why is my guitar so light?

Keep this in mind though. My tech once told me the following: "The difference between cheaper guitars and expensive guitars is that you're more likely to get a good one from the more expensive line." In other words, there are some GREAT cheapies out there but the good to bad ratio is higher than in the higher end stuff. I love my Gibson Explorers... but I have two MIM Strats and an Epi LP that play WAY better than they should for what I paid! Enjoy that new guitar you bought!

If it is light, be thankful 2 hours into your set. If you enjoy the sound of your guitar, just rock on and roll with it.

LOL, thanks for the answers guys! I think i'm actually thankfull i now bought this one...I'll probably just send it to repair for the guy to place the frets correctly so i will get low action and no buzz. Thank you very much!!!!!!!!!