How Heavy is Heavy?

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8bit Barry

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I just picked up a LS-60 LP Reborn and its 4.6kg.... is this going to be too much?!
 
I sold an LS60 Reborn not long ago - it was around 11 lbs too.
How heavy is too heavy? That's entirely up to you. I've seen some hefty 13 pound Les Pauls before and they sound great. Older Greco's can run kind of heavy too...
 
Yeah I guess it's personal.... I do concern myself about neck aching / shoulder pain and wondered whether 4kg was too much. All my guitars are under this weight...
 
8bit Barry said:
Yeah I guess it's personal.... I do concern myself about neck aching / shoulder pain and wondered whether 4kg was too much. All my guitars are under this weight...

You will only know if you try.
A good (wide) strap helps indeed. As does good physical condition (do you work out?)
 
If it's your only LP and you gig out a lot, then I'd want something light, like around 3.5kg. But if you have several and you play it at home, who cares? Some of my favorite ones are 4.6-4.7kg. I would never have bought them if I knew the weight, but now that I have them I don't want to sell them.

And then there's always this: :)

slinger-straps-harness-guitar-strap-jbbk.jpg
 
haha that's amazing

perfect weight for me is 3.9kg-4.2kg

79 tokais all seem to be in this range :)
 
Hi guys,

It also depends on your height as this distributes the weight of the guitar through the strap at a much longer interval as you get taller.
I'm 1.85M tall and a 4.5kg Les Paul Custom is not as harsh on me as my friend who is only 1.78M. My Gibson weighs 4.1 kg and my LS-100S is a neat 4.0kg
I must agree also with felix - a good, wide strap helps distribute weight.
A good overall useable weight for a Les Paul is around 4.1kg +/- 0.2 kg.
In 36 years, I have owned 16 Les Pauls and worked on many more and find that around the 4.0 kg mark seem to work for most players.
I did own (briefly) a 1978 Gibson LP Artisan. That topped the scales at 5.0kg and was ssooo heavy - even for me. I was glad to sell it.

Peter Mac
 
Well, the weight to uphold stays the same, no matter the strap length.
What does matter is;
1. the angle the strap makes on your shoulder for this changes the the amount of body contact surface
2. the width of the strap for this changes the amount of body contact surface
3. the position of the strap on your shoulder
4. the shape of your body
5. the physical condition of your muscles

The main muscle that need to uphold guitar through the strap is the trapezius.
The function of this muscle is to lift your shoulder and to position/stabilize your shoulder blade (it's predominantly a posture muscle).
This muscle is quite large and has several sections. The upper section goes from head & upper vertebrae to top side of the shoulder blade & clavicle.
This part is where the strap rests on also.
The further the strap is positioned towards the shoulder the more work this muscle has to do. So it would be better to have the strap rest more towards the neck.
The problem is that there are many variations in trapezius angle in humans. If you have a sharper angled trapezius (which also enhances when you do fitness work out) the strap will automatically slide more towards the shoulder.
When you make your strap too short you will have to lift your arm sideways a bit to reach the upper frets, which in turn will activate the trapezius. So a high position will fatigue the trapezius earlier.
When you make the strap too long, you get the feeling it will slide off of your shoulder, so that activates the trapezius too (and will cause overuse of your wrist because of the increased angle).
Training of the trapezius, like dumbell flys and shoulder press will help you to have less fatigue when playing standing up.
 
FWIW, I own a 1989 3PU Custom Burny weighing around 6 KG (all mahogany).
Needless to say I only play it at home and sitting down. I would trade it for a lighther one but I never actually go ahead and place the ad because it has the sweetest and fatest tone (as well as the longest sustain) of all my LPs.
 
thats beyond heavy into stupid

iove got amazing heatley LPs weighing just over 8lbs with one piece back and top

yeah!
 
petercrisscuola said:
Call me stupid if you like, but I love the sound of that **** guitar.

Nothing stupid about it at all.... don't worry about the weight if you play it sitting down. If it sounds and plays good, then have at it. You're not going to dump your best girl if she gains a few pounds - just more to love.

Some people say that the heavier Les Pauls sound better
 
Peter Mac said:
In 36 years, I have owned 16 Les Pauls and worked on many more and find that around the 4.0 kg mark seem to work for most players.
Peter Mac
There's the good answer - thanks Peter
 
jacco said:
Well, the weight to uphold stays the same, no matter the strap length.
What does matter is;
1. the angle the strap makes on your shoulder for this changes the the amount of body contact surface
2. the width of the strap for this changes the amount of body contact surface
3. the position of the strap on your shoulder
4. the shape of your body
5. the physical condition of your muscles

The main muscle that need to uphold guitar through the strap is the trapezius.
The function of this muscle is to lift your shoulder and to position/stabilize your shoulder blade (it's predominantly a posture muscle).
This muscle is quite large and has several sections. The upper section goes from head & upper vertebrae to top side of the shoulder blade & clavicle.
This part is where the strap rests on also.
The further the strap is positioned towards the shoulder the more work this muscle has to do. So it would be better to have the strap rest more towards the neck.
The problem is that there are many variations in trapezius angle in humans. If you have a sharper angled trapezius (which also enhances when you do fitness work out) the strap will automatically slide more towards the shoulder.
When you make your strap too short you will have to lift your arm sideways a bit to reach the upper frets, which in turn will activate the trapezius. So a high position will fatigue the trapezius earlier.
When you make the strap too long, you get the feeling it will slide off of your shoulder, so that activates the trapezius too (and will cause overuse of your wrist because of the increased angle).
Training of the trapezius, like dumbell flys and shoulder press will help you to have less fatigue when playing standing up.

What an informative reply. Thank you.
At last a reason to do exercise!
 
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