What is the ideal weight for an alder Strat body?

[MikeRocker]

I think this one has been discussed before, but I'd love any new thoughts and opinions. I'm getting the itch to build a Strat, and I'm wondering what the ideal weight is for an unfinished alder body. I like lighter guitars (easier to play for long sets), and the prevailing wisdom seems to be that lighter guitars are more resonant...but how light is too light? It looks like you can get a body under 3 1/2 pounds, up to well above 4 pounds. Are there pros and cons as far as different weights? Any other thoughts/insight? Thanks!

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: What is the ideal weight for an alder Strat body?

4 pounds seems to be a rough average for Fender guitar bodies. Nothing is really "ideal" in the general sense, only ideal for each person. Personally, while I don't mind heavy guitars, I feel that the lighter, the better. That's partly laziness, and partly the fact that the best sounding guitars I've ever owned have also been the lightest, at around 6.5 lb. (Pretty crazy that my former Norlin Les Paul, which is a physically smaller guitar, weighs nearly twice as much...though sounds more than twice as ****ty.)

With a 4 lb. Tele body, you can cheat paying for a lightweight body by shaving off about 3/4 lb. from the back of the guitar. and you also end up with a slimmer and IMO more comfortable body that way). But if you do that with a Strat, you must also have a machine shop modify your vibrato block to match.

G&L does the above on their guitars. They are thinner than the standard Fender width. It take off about 15 percent of the weight versus a Fender. Smart move that hardly anybody ever seems to talk about.

 

[El Supremo]

Re: What is the ideal weight for an alder Strat body?

I don't mind a little weight myself. What I do find really important is a good balance weight wise between the neck and body. Nothing more annoying to me than a neck that keeps tilting.
As far as sound goes, lighter bodies may resonate a bit more and sound a bit louder acoustically initially. Heavier guitars sustain longer though in my experience.

 

[AlexR]

Re: What is the ideal weight for an alder Strat body?

4 pounds seems to be a rough average for Fender guitar bodies. Nothing is really "ideal" in the general sense, only ideal for each person. Personally, while I don't mind heavy guitars, I feel that the lighter, the better. That's partly laziness, and partly the fact that the best sounding guitars I've ever owned have also been the lightest, at around 6.5 lb. (Pretty crazy that my former Norlin Les Paul, which is a physically smaller guitar, weighs nearly twice as much...though sounds more than twice as ****ty.)

With a 4 lb. Tele body, you can cheat paying for a lightweight body by shaving off about 3/4 lb. from the back of the guitar. and you also end up with a slimmer and IMO more comfortable body that way). But if you do that with a Strat, you must also have a machine shop modify your vibrato block to match.

G&L does the above on their guitars. They are thinner than the standard Fender width. It take off about 15 percent of the weight versus a Fender. Smart move that hardly anybody ever seems to talk about.

Buying a body which is lighter is in no way the same as simply shaving off material from a heavier body. The density and structure is what determines the tone of the body, not merely weight.

 

[MikeRocker]

Re: What is the ideal weight for an alder Strat body?

Yeah, I'm not gonna mess around with modifying the body...I'm just wondering if body weight gets too light to the point where it's a detriment to tone, sustain, etc...

 

[ItsaBass]

What is the ideal weight for an alder Strat body?

Buying a body which is lighter is in no way the same as simply shaving off material from a heavier body. The density and structure is what determines the tone of the body, not merely weight.

First of all, I didn't say a thing about tone when I was talking about shaving thickness off the back. I never equated the two methods either. I said shaving was a cheat to reduce weight, as a way around paying extra for a lightweight body.

Secondly, please point me to the published experiments that showed the world what and how the specifications of an electric guitar body affect its tone.

 

[AlexR]

Re: What is the ideal weight for an alder Strat body?

Would you accept aural, and this is a published experiment with 2 different guitars on youtube.......would have been nice to have higher quality but its been enough more most who've viewed it.

2 different densities of wood......pretty much the same as what we've been chatting about, wouldn't you say??

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: What is the ideal weight for an alder Strat body?

Sorry but thats just an awful comparison... There is no way you can say that the difference you hear is from the body wood. You can hear easily that he is inconsistent in how hard he hits the strings. The only thing that this video might prove is that 2 different guitars sound different. They did not even attempt to isolate the other variables... At least do a bolt on neck and swap the exact same neck, pickups and hardware to the other body. Nah that video was just hooey

 

[Oinkus]

Re: What is the ideal weight for an alder Strat body?

You folks think way too much.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: What is the ideal weight for an alder Strat body?

about 4 pounds. super light weights can lead to neck dive although strats due to their offset body are a lot more forgiving on this front than teles.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: What is the ideal weight for an alder Strat body?

Yeah, I'm not gonna mess around with modifying the body...I'm just wondering if body weight gets too light to the point where it's a detriment to tone, sustain, etc...

In my experience lighter usually = better tone on Fenders. I have light weight guitars with very good sustain too.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: What is the ideal weight for an alder Strat body?

Would you accept aural, and this is a published experiment with 2 different guitars on youtube.......would have been nice to have higher quality but its been enough more most who've viewed it.

2 different densities of wood......pretty much the same as what we've been chatting about, wouldn't you say??

You can't be serious...