New fretless bass is very neck heavy. Not unworkable when wearing a strap, but noticeable. It’s a Warmoth neck in a Fender P-Bass style. It currently has Schaller bass tuners.
Deciding if I take steps to lighten, and how extreme to go.
Possibilities in rough order of simplicity:
Lighter tuners - Gotoh or Hipshot would save me 160-200 grams (~5.6-7 ounces)
Trim excess shape from the headstock. (I could easily make the “nose” smaller, and trim down the backside crest)
Relocate G tuner to the MM 3+1 position.
Sand or plane down to remove extra thickness (it’s 16mm thick, as opposed to 14mm on my Reverend.)
I’m thinking I start with tuners and see how much difference that makes. If I want more, I’d probably want to have a luthier relocate the tuner rather than try to do it myself.
I know you are “supposed” to use a “right hand” tuner if you move it to the other side, but I imagine that wouldn’t make a significant difference?
Correct. Neck dive. The balance point is closer to the head.
The balance point is around the 13th-14th fret position, (edge of the body)
Whereas on my Reverend it balances around 18th-19th fret (way up in the cutout), and my Ibanez balances around the 17th.
Hipshot USA Ultralite tuning machines should be your first step.
Then, rather than reworking the headstock mass, an easier and more effective solution is to reposition the strap button location(s). This will redistribute the entire weight of the bass and move its center of gravity to counteract the neck dive.
I would not shave any headstock or modify it in anyway. If you need to balanced the bass then switching the tuners is one popular way to do it and if weight is not the issue, I’ve add weight to another end (body) before, it’s actually an easier solution and cheapest way to the problem.
Where to? This is a P-bass. Buttons are on the end of the top horn and at the tail end of the body. I can’t really position the horn button any further forward, unless I add some sort of extension. I’m already using Dunlop strap locks.
Maybe look into getting a beefier bridge as well as the lighter tuners? I don’t know if it would actually do anything but my half asleep right now brain says it makes sense.
My Reverend has Hipshot and my Ibanez has Gotoh. I don’t have a strong opinion between the two. I figure I’d just go with whatever is less expensive, or what’s lighter if equally priced.
Okay - the important question is finding hardware that is the correct size.
Headstock has 11/16 holes designed to fit Schaller BM tuners. What else will fit? 11/16 seems to be an odd size.
It looks like Hipshot USA fits, but Hipshot Licensed does NOT?!?
Trying to find Gotoh Res-O-Lite tuners in that size, and having trouble. GB640 maybe? I’d prefer ligther than 61g though.
Edit: Looks like the Hipshot USA will be the best fit and the Mini-Clover will be the lightest. The made-in-USA also provide the option of flipping the peg to convert it between left and right-hand tuning if I feel like doing more drastic surgery.
