Tele vs Strat Weight

thegummy

I've borrowed a Tele to try out for a bit and one of the most noticeable things is how much lighter it feels than my Strat.

Is that intrinsic to Teles vs Strats or would it be possible to ferry Strats that light?

Is it the body wood material?

CasperCaster

All things being equal unloaded Strat bodies are lighter than unloaded Tele bodies, due to the material removed from a Strat (contours, trem routs etc). Of course, between guitars there will be variations due to the differences between timber.

Decent Strat hardware, bridges, pickups etc weigh a lot more than that for a Tele, so in the end loaded bodies often come out with similar weights, again, all things being equal (i.e. if timber is the same density).

Other things which can make a difference includes the quality of hardware (skinny cast trem blocks vs cold rolled steel, locking modern tuners versus klusons etc). Type of finish is also a factor - elsewhere people have weighed the poly finish when stripping guitars - around half a pound in the case of a Baja Tele if I remember correctly).

So, with similar density timber, if a Strat and Tele.are built and finished in the same style, with equivalent quality parts and finish, they will likely be quite similar in weight.

Tenebrous

Wow, half a pound of poly finish on a Baja Tele? That's absolutely crazy to me.

CasperCaster

Yup!

I can't remember which forum, but someone used the heat gun method to strip the finish. Weighed the body first, peeled off the finish and then weighed both finish and stripped body. Finish weighed about half a pound. I don't know how much a nitro finish would weigh, but certainly less than half a pound! In fairness to Fender this was a few years ago, and a 2017 classic series body I picked up at the start of this year appears to be quite thinly finished, so maybe things have changed in recent years.

EDIT: it was over at TDPRI
http://www.tdpri.com/threads/refinishing-a-baja-tele.558376/

stickyfiddle

My Strat is way lighter than my Tele. The density of the wood is the main factor. Don't stress about it.

ICBM

CasperCaster said:

I can't remember which forum, but someone used the heat gun method to strip the finish. Weighed the body first, peeled off the finish and then weighed both finish and stripped body. Finish weighed about half a pound. I don't know how much a nitro finish would weigh, but certainly less than half a pound! In fairness to Fender this was a few years ago, and a 2017 classic series body I picked up at the start of this year appears to be quite thinly finished, so maybe things have changed in recent years.

EDIT: it was over at TDPRI
http://www.tdpri.com/threads/refinishing-a-baja-tele.558376/

I stripped a 1970s 'Thick Skin' finish Strat once, and although I didn't weigh it - and I did also improve the contouring, which must have taken off a bit more - it made the body probably about a pound lighter. The whole guitar went from pretty heavy for a Strat to about normal.

In general Teles seem very slightly lighter than Strats to me, but there isn't a lot in it and it's easily outweighed ( ) by the difference between individual pieces of wood.

richardhomer

I stripped down a CS Strat I bought used some years ago and was amazed how light the body was on its own. The complete guitar was (if anything) slightly heavier that I’d have wanted, ideally.

The trem assembly is a major contributor to the total weight - especially considering how light a Tele bridge assembly is.

crunchman

richardhomer said:

The trem assembly is a major contributor to the total weight - especially considering how light a Tele bridge assembly is.

This

thegummy

I just remembered actually, when I got my les Paul I compared it to my Strat and thought I must have a light LP. Maybe I've just got a heavy Strat.

 Think I might have compared the actual weight measurement to online figures though so maybe this Tele is just very light.

Would love a Strat as light as that as long as it sounded the same as mine. Suppose it doesn't really matter when I'm sitting playing it, just feels nice lifting it out of the rack.

richardhomer

thegummy said:

Would love a Strat as light as that as long as it sounded the same as mine. Suppose it doesn't really matter when I'm sitting playing it, just feels nice lifting it out of the rack.

My experience is that ‘very’ light Strats don’t sound the same - they tend to lack balls and sustain.

Most vintage examples weigh between 7.5 - 8lbs - ‘really’ light examples are very rare.

guitars4you

richardhomer said:

thegummy said:

Would love a Strat as light as that as long as it sounded the same as mine. Suppose it doesn't really matter when I'm sitting playing it, just feels nice lifting it out of the rack.

My experience is that ‘very’ light Strats don’t sound the same - they tend to lack balls and sustain.

Most vintage examples weigh between 7.5 - 8lbs - ‘really’ light examples are very rare.

most Custom Shop Strats tend to also fit in that 7 1/2  to 8lbs region - Don't get to many under 7 1/2 lbs on a Custom Shop 

Agree that some light weight Strats closer to 7lbs can appear to lack 'body' when it comes to the tone - pun intended - They will still be crisp, spanky and airy, but somehow not quite as big a voice - Not always, but often

crunchman

They tend to sound a bit dead if they are too heavy though.  There does seem to an optimum weight.

Lightweight seems to be good for Teles.  I've played several lightweight ones that sounded really good.  On the other hand, the first Baja Tele I tried (after reading all the glowing reports about them) was really heavy and sounded completely dead.  Lighter ones seem to sound much better.

Adamski

I have a CS Strat and Tele and my Tele is super light, like 7.1lbs and my Strat is closer to 8lbs. Both sound fucking amazing so I guess it doesn’t really matter. I don’t like ANY guitar over 9lbs though purely from a weight perspective and not because I can’t lift it (I go gym regularly and am as spritely as a 35 yr old can be) but because I like to move with my guitar and the lighter ones feel like I can be a bit more aggressive with them. 

CloudNine

I think Richard nailed it above re. Strats. I reckon the optimum weight for Strats is a pretty small window, between 7 1/4 lbs and 8lbs. Whereas Tele's can be amazing anywhere between 6lb and 8lbs. The character of light Tele's changes quite a bit, but in an appealing way. The Strat character just seems to disappear altogether as they get too light.

ICBM

guitars4you said:

richardhomer said:

My experience is that ‘very’ light Strats don’t sound the same - they tend to lack balls and sustain.

Agree that some light weight Strats closer to 7lbs can appear to lack 'body' when it comes to the tone - pun intended - They will still be crisp, spanky and airy, but somehow not quite as big a voice - Not always, but often

I find this is true of most guitars. There is an optimum weight - too heavy and they sound a bit 'dead' or 'sterile', too light and they lose 'body' and 'authority' and sound too middy and honky. For Strats it's in the 7.5 to 8.5lb range, for Teles a little lighter but not much, for Les Pauls it's around 9lbs unfortunately. The only one of the conventional designs which I don't think there is a lower limit to is the SG, I've never found one that sounded 'too light' even when they feel like they're hardly there at all.

brooom

Should also be noted that a lot of strats seem to be alder whereas a lot of teles are ash. Generally speaking a lot of
builders se to agree that it is easier to find lightweight swamp ash, than it is to find alder.

thegummy

I'll weigh them all tonight.

My p bass is very light in the body, I wonder if I'm missing out on any tone because of that

ESBlonde

My original 76 strat is way heavier than me 52 AVRI Tele. But it's heavy as strats go and my Blackface Tele isn't as light as some I've fondled!
Each example is unique as far as weight goes, pick one that plays nice and feels comfy to you.
My Strat is very heavy for a strat and being a hard tail too gives a very tight focused sound as opposed to the light airy springy sound some others do, but still intrinsicly strat. Getting hung up on 'period correct detail' or internet folk myth can have you missing some wonderful guitars.

thebreeze

ESBlonde said:

My original 76 strat is way heavier than me 52 AVRI Tele. But it's heavy as strats go and my Blackface Tele isn't as light as some I've fondled!
Each example is unique as far as weight goes, pick one that plays nice and feels comfy to you.
My Strat is very heavy for a strat and being a hard tail too gives a very tight focused sound as opposed to the light airy springy sound some others do, but still intrinsicly strat. Getting hung up on 'period correct detail' or internet folk myth can have you missing some wonderful guitars.

Yes, I really agree.  I don’t think it’s wise to be too fixed on the weight thing.  I’ve had a ‘54 CS Strat that was ash and dead on 7.0 lbs - sounded really sweet and a 1981 Strat that was predictably heavy, 9.14 lbs, but sounded amazing in a different way.  I’ve also got an R8 weighing 9.5 lbs which sounds better than the much lighter CC choice I had.  It goes back to the “every guitar is different” thing.  Becoming too closed on the weight means some really nice guitars will slip you by.

Strat54

I have a 1994 '54 Custom Shop Strat that's 6.9lbs and a 1994 '54 CS Tele that's 6.7lbs. They just came that way, bought both unseen and the owners never said they were lightweight....odd. When I spoke to John Black who built the Tele he said that he would always try to find the lighter ash in the wood shop before building. 

Henrytwang

The weight thing has more to do with the body wood than anything. I had an ash Baja Tele and it weighed more than some of my Les Pauls. I’ve found that recent ash bodied solids are quite heavy, alder poplar and pine guitars are usually a reasonable weight but my personal favourite material for a Fender style instrument is swamp ash, not only is it nice and light it also gives a bright balanced tone with lots of presence. A pine body is my second choice for both light weight and good tone.