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How to fix topheaviness?


Jared Maurtua

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Oh, that's real comfortable. Kinda like carrying a dead person I would say . . . ^_^

 

Muting the strings between songs is a natural thing for me and when I play my G-400 it keeps the neck off the floor. We all will forget at some point and it helps to have carpet on stage (not our call, though).

 

That reminds me, I need to order a couple more sets of strap locks. I use the same leather strap on all three of my LP's but the length has to be changed for the G-400, so I just use the plastic twist locks for now. You have to check them religiously or they loosen.

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if only it was that easy. i played hundreds of shows when i was younger with an epi sg. i damaged so many tuning pegs and put so many dings into my headstock just from bending over to get a drink or whatnot.

 

How big are your drinks that you need two hands to pick them up? You drinking from pitchers? I have one hand on the neck and the other is free for drinks or whatever else.

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Oh, that's real comfortable. Kinda like carrying a dead person I would say . . . ^_^

 

When you're not playing, like on breaks, you set the guitar down. Are you carrying it all over the bar and into the restroom? When you are playing, do you expect not to have to support its weight? I don't see a problem unless you have medical issues or are exceptionally puny. Use a stool to sit on.

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When you're not playing, like on breaks, you set the guitar down. Are you carrying it all over the bar and into the restroom? When you are playing, do you expect not to have to support its weight? I don't see a problem unless you have medical issues or are exceptionally puny. Use a stool to sit on.

 

My problem was when I would bend over to grab my water beer bottle to grab a drink between songs or need to fiddle with cables or pedal board was when i would have the neck dive problems. If you're playing a gig you're not going to set the guitar on a stand for a quick 5 second drink. I know it sounds idiotic because you think it only takes one hand to grab a bottle but there are times when you're scrambling between songs to do a few things at once and you let go of the neck for a second and bam.

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damn!!! now thats ugly...

 

-No permenant modification to the guitar.

-While "ugly" is in the eye of the beholder, this can't be seen by the audience anyway.

-Cost me less than $5 to make.

-Adds no weight to the guitar.

-Near perfect balance.

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JCW777 - I had the same experience.

 

My Epi solidbody is extremely light (I'd say 6lb max) and has strap buttons on both the next joint and the upper (bass) horn - I use the horn one and have strap locks in place. When I first got it my only concern was the neck dive - not terrible but annoying, and I can relate to the concerns with picking up drinks, sheets of tab/songlist, changing amp settings etc. It only takes a second of being distracted and anything up to a cracked headstock could be the result.

After a few days I changed from thin nylon strap to a wide leather/suede one and problem solved permanently.

 

Won't necessarily work for all, but on lightweights like 60's Epis and (hopefully) SGs it should help in big way.

 

good luck!

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Looks like it could hinder playing in the upper octaves.

 

I play with classical hand position, thumb in the center of the back of the neck except when bending/ vibrato. Playing that way, there is ample room between the devise and the neck to not interfere. For someone who plays with their whole hand wraped around the neck, it would get in the way. I attached another photo to show this.

 

 

God bless, Spamonkis

post-47914-026279400 1375101527_thumb.jpg

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  • 3 months later...

This is precisely the reason I don't care for SG's - Gibson or Epiphone. I had a Korean short run SG for a while... my Tony Iommi worship got the better of me. The only fix that worked for me was to move the top strap button from behind the neck joint to the tip of the top horn, just like Iommi. Take it to a guitar tech to get this done. It worked for me. In fact... Tony Iommi's guitars are all that way too.

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Shop around, a bit more/better! [tongue] I have 3 SG's, none of which are

neck heavy. Am I just "lucky?" I don't think so...I have played SG's, in

the stores, that were neck heavy, but I didn't buy them. Waited until I found

one's that weren't. There was no compromise in tone, or playability, either

way, really. But, the ones I bought also were quite "lively" unplugged.

 

If anything, mine feel very balanced, to very slightly body heavy. So...??? [unsure]

 

CB

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