Weight responsibility

Hi,

Can anyone tell me what's responsible for the difference between a heavy and a light guitar? (body, hardware, neck ?).
The reason for this question is that I own a wonderful 1996 S-500 (US) which is really heavy (5 KG 11 LBS). I get older and have more and more problems playing it for hours.
So I'm thinking about changing the body.
Selling it and buying another one is not really an option because I love it.
Is it possible to buy a Tribute S-500 and use that body with american neck and hardware?
Do you thinks that this will affect the sound?

Body weight of a solid body electric guitar does NOT effect sound, although depending on luck of the draw, you may get more or less resonant and sustaining guitars. sometimes the grain plays a part in that but the wood itself does not affect the tone. it's an electric instrument, not an acoustic instrument.

I definitely recommend you get a lighter guitar if the weight is hurting you. 11 lb is REALLY heavy for a guitar. it's heavy for a bass.

Weight is determined by a preponderance of things. The body definitely plays a big role and so does the neck. I have a bass with a basswood body which is light as a feather but the neck is maple and is denser and heavier so the bass is "neck heavy."

G&L hardware is made of brass and steel so it'll definitely add some weight too.

However, the hardware isn't making that puppy 11 lbs.

If you change the body make sure it's to specification of G&Ls from that time period because the switched to all metric I think as of 2007 I want to say.

Unless that guitar has particular sentimental value, I would just buy a new USA s-500 and make sure you confirm the weight before your purchase. no solid body S type should weight more than 7 lbs 8 oz.

I thought several times about buying another one, but it's not only sentimental ... I love my very comfortable birdseye maple neck.
And buying a new guitar and and then change the neck ...??? No good idea.
If I would find another one of these years, this could be a solution.

Last edited by bluesywoosy on Thu Dec 16, 2021 2:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

do you know where I can find the specification of the mid 90's models?

do you know where I can find the specification of the mid 90's models?

See our Gallery for the various G&L Catalogs and Price Lists we have there. Here's the link for the Album: Ad Slicks and Memorabilia.

Hope this helps.

Take your guitar to a g&l dealer and see if they can't send your guitar to the factory to have the neck matched to a replacement body. It will probably be something like a custom shop order and wouldn't cheap but hey. It may be a fun expereince giving the neck you love all new life. Maybe even a refret as well!

Or you could just order custom shop and request birdseye.

If you do decide to try a Tribute body get one with the pick guard included. The US pick guard will not line up properly on a Tribute body (main shape isn't too bad but the screw holes will not be in the right place). They don't even line up very well Tribute to Tribute in my experience. You would likely need to make a tracing of the US pick guard shape but add the screw hole locations from the body to have Pickguard Heaven/Chandler Music make one (I have a mahogany S-500 Tribute body and will likely take that route to build an HH configuration).

If you watch the G&L store closely you could very well score a whole Tribute S-500 factory second for less than most discount stores sell new ones. If you get one try it as is. I have one that I truly enjoy more than a US Legacy that I have.

If you watch Reverb and the classifies here closely you might be able to score a US Legacy, Comanche or S-500 body for a decent price. That way your pickguard would have a much better chance of lining up.

I have another US Legacy body that I tried selling at one time but nobody wanted to spend what I think a US body is worth. It was priced almost as much as some used Tribute guitars whole. I have decided to hang on to it until I find a US neck to put on it. It'll probably end up being an S-500 or maybe an HSS or something.

I thought about bying a body, but the G&L shop doesn't ship to Europe.
I'm also thinking about geting my body copied by a luthier, using llightweight wood.