What Scale To Weigh Guitars

Today, I weighed all my G&Ls. Ginny has a digital bathroom scale that weighs in tenths of a pound, but after the results were in I suspected that it weighs in 2 tenths increments. I found the specs online and that turned out to be true. Now, this is not an important thing but ranges were grouped and can they be this close? Three came in at 6.6, Three at 7.0, three at 7.2, one at 8.0, three at 8.4, and one at 8.8. The l2500 was 10.6 lbs. I'm am not convinced this scale works good at such low values. What do you think would be the best scale to use for under $50. The choices being a baby scale, Postage scale or what else can you think of that would be accurate? Thanks in advance.-- Darwin

Darwin,

Here is an experiment you can do: Weigh yourself with and without the instrument in hand. The difference should be the weight of the guitar. Than you can cross-check that number with what you measured for the guitar alone.

- Jos

BTW, I would go for a postage scale but make sure they have an appropriate range. I have seen them with an upper limit of only 3lb. The Weightmax series of postal scales come in a variety of limits and are all pretty cheap on Amazon.

- Jos

Jos, I have done that and the results vary too much depending exactly how I stand on the scale. Thanks for the input Jos. There are 10LB postal scales available for about $25 to $30. I may opt for one of those, What really got me thinking is I was getting the same weight for 3 guitars and I can feel a difference. Thanks again Jos-- Darwin

Darwin, try a luggage scale. The one I have is accurate within 5g when the weight is between 0 and 10kg, and cost me less than $10.
http://www.tmart.com/40kg-x-10g-2004-Portable-Luggage-Hanging-Digital-Pocket-Scale-with-Blue-Backlight-Black-FREE-2-x-CR2032_p133466.html?fixed_price=hk_intl&utm_source=baseau&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=product&gclid=CM71ps7YmLUCFYdcpQodrE0AFw

Jos, I have done that and the results vary too much depending exactly how I stand on the scale. Thanks for the input Jos. There are 10LB postal scales available for about $25 to $30. I may opt for one of those, What really got me thinking is I was getting the same weight for 3 guitars and I can feel a difference. Thanks again Jos-- Darwin

then you have a poor quality bathroom scale. it should lock in on a weight and it should be consistent several times in a row. jos' suggestion is the best way. bathroom scales are not accurate below 40-50lbs.

Thanks guys, Jamie, the scale you mentioned looks like a good idea but it only goes to 8.8 lbs. Louis, I don't think that a bathroom scale is accurate enough to really do the job. You can tell Ginny her bathroom scale is a dud, I'm not going to! She would probably ask me what the hell I am doing with her bathroom scale in the first place! I have done more research and can get a 35 lb postal scale for about $22 including shipping. I may jump on that tomorrow. Anyway I found that there is a lot of consistency between brands that use the similar materials. I still bring the Spalted Bluesboy out and look at it. It is a piece of art.-- Darwin

There are other ones out there, I just googled 'postage scale' and put the first one up. Mine goes up to 40kg - around 100lbs. Thats enough to weigh most Les Pauls

A lot of my work involves taking measurements (heat, sound levels, force, etc.). My experience over the past couple of years with inexpensive meters of various types has been very negative. Most of the cheap imports I've evaluated have had misleading instructions/specifications, and were so grossly inaccurate that they flat out didn't work. For force measurements (including weighing objects) the least expensive GOOD meter I've used was made by Imada. They run about $400-$500, so they aren't a reasonable choice for weighing a couple of guitars.

I would go with a mechanical scale if possible, and try to find one with an operating range that is slightly over the weight of the heaviest guitar you'll weigh. A 20 lb. scale would be ideal. I would run a quick calibration on it with a gallon milk jug filled with water. Excluding the weight of the container, the water should weigh about 8.3 lbs. If you can rig it up, weighing two gallon jugs of water would give you a second calibration point at the upper end of the range. From there its just a matter of applying any error in the water weight to the result you get from weighing the guitar.

Ken

I have a scale that I bought at the Post Office. It only goes up to 10lbs. It's worked great for weighing every guitar I've owned except for my 12lbs. 4oz. 1978 Les Paul Deluxe.

A lot of my work involves taking measurements (heat, sound levels, force, etc.). My experience over the past couple of years with inexpensive meters of various types has been very negative. Most of the cheap imports I've evaluated have had misleading instructions/specifications, and were so grossly inaccurate that they flat out didn't work. For force measurements (including weighing objects) the least expensive GOOD meter I've used was made by Imada. They run about $400-$500, so they aren't a reasonable choice for weighing a couple of guitars.

I would go with a mechanical scale if possible, and try to find one with an operating range that is slightly over the weight of the heaviest guitar you'll weigh. A 20 lb. scale would be ideal. I would run a quick calibration on it with a gallon milk jug filled with water. Excluding the weight of the container, the water should weigh about 8.3 lbs. If you can rig it up, weighing two gallon jugs of water would give you a second calibration point at the upper end of the range. From there its just a matter of applying any error in the water weight to the result you get from weighing the guitar.

Ken

the only problem is knowing the fill line for the 1 gallon mark on the milk jug.

the only problem is knowing the fill line for the 1 gallon mark on the milk jug.

Mark it before you start drinking? Large dairies should have good enough QC to come within a couple of mL of the mark. That variability would be well within the error tolerances of any scale you'd use outside a laboratory...

Ken

I wanted to follow up on this thread. I did buy an electronic, digital fish scale (hey, I'm from Minnesota) for about $25. I goes up to 50 lbs but weighed 12 ounces accurately and I also checked it against a 10 pound weight only to discover that the weights weigh differently. The weights were from a weight set in the basement. If I were a fisherman I would use this thing for bragging rites. I was impressed and it is close enough to give me a good idea what the guitars weigh and it turns out that we can estimate fairly well on weight. I weighed all of them and the heaviest and lightest are G&Ls and all the other brands are somewhere in between. This scale is close to what Jamie was getting at for weighing luggage. Here it is.


Ginny caught me using it with an Asat in the bag and thought it was funny.


You calibrate with the yellow bag and it is good to go. It locks in when everything is settled in.

Here are the results on my 15 G&Ls. The Asat Semi hollows all came in the lowest as I would expect, with the other Asats in the middle and the Ash legacy and S-500 are on top with the l-2500 topping it off. The numbers are in pounds and ounces

Eq Mahog semi hollow Asat 6 2
Asat Z3 semi ash 6 9
Asat Z3 semi ash 6 11
Asat Special Semi ash 6 11
Asat Alnico Pine 7 1
Asat Classic S semi 7 7
Asat Gold Sparkle alder 7 11
Legacy alder 7 11
Asat Spalted Maple/ ash 7 13
Asat 30 th Aniv classic 7 15
F 100 Return Mahog/ Maple cap 7 15
SC-2 Alder with dft 7 15
S-500 ash 8 7
Legacy Blonde ash 8 13
L-2500 Bass ash/maple cap 10 7

For a comparison to the bass, my Carvin LB75 Koa 5 string came in at 8 1, lighter than the S-500 and ash Legacy.
All trem guitars had the trem arms installed.
More information most don't want to know, but for someone ordering, this is how mine run.-- Darwin

darwin,, the weights on cheap sets are off by as much as 20% often. you can not check scales by weighing gym weights.

Bags of flour or rice are what I use to check scales. Accurate enough for my puropses.

Louis, your are correct but I am smooth and did not tell Ginny that she had horse s*** weights or I may be wearing one. Goat, I did weigh some food and the scale was accurate according to that and it is good enough for me also. -- Darwin

I think I paid $12 for a Berkeley digital fish scale. Seems accurate enough. Many of my Les Pauls weigh in at 9.1 lbs., but my heaviest guitars are an ash-bodied Legacy Special at 9.4 and my ASAT Deluxe at 9.6 lbs.

Bill

I'm using one of these happy ones:



Works fine. You may hold it in your hand having a good grip for it widens up on the upper part, or you may hang it on the ceiling. For heavy luggage I put a leather belt through the upper ring and hold it with both hands.

Sold, for example here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Weighing-Portab ... 0419000700
or
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Weighing-Portab ... 1237957357

Louis, your are correct but I am smooth and did not tell Ginny that she had horse s*** weights or I may be wearing one. Goat, I did weigh some food and the scale was accurate according to that and it is good enough for me also. -- Darwin

is that smooth or is that chicken?
remember, you can tell her things truthfully as long as she asks the right question. for example, if she asks "does this dress make me look fat?", you can truthfully tell her no. (it's not the dress, but you don't say that part), if she asks "do i look fat in this dress?", you are SOL