Head stock heavy

[I’ll give it a go]

Hi all,

Been a while since I’ve posted. I built a TL1 almost 12 months ago, Basswood body (pic attached for ref). It’s a great guitar, lovely sound but it is head stock heavy when I strap it up. I’m thinking about getting another Tele, either a Squire Affinity or the Bullet or even do another build, this time in butterscotch blonde (or as close as). Is the TL-1A (alder body) heavier so the headstock will not pull down.

Thanks in advance guys.

[king casey]

Sounds odd to me.
Do you have an exceptionally slippery guitar strap?
Satin shirts?

Perhaps a grippier strap may do the trick.
Tele does seem to have the smallest headstock out there?

cheers, Mark.

[I’ll give it a go]

Hey Mark,

It is a cheapo strap. Think it’s made out of nylon or something.
That might be the reason. When it’s on my strat copy that doesn’t slip .

Now I guess the choice is do I buy or build.


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[king casey]

I'm sure some guitar kit acquisitions have been based on flimsier material?

cheers, Mark.

[edit]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nom8syBzqqY

[I’ll give it a go]

Nice strap .

I’ve actually seen these in my local guitar shop. The Mack Daddy “Raging Bull” looks and feels awesome.


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[Simon Barden]

I'd try a less slippery strap. I always use Levy's suede straps as they are nice and grippy and also easily adjustable as I get the ones with the sliding buckle adjustment.

I always use Schaller straplocks, so I can't be bothered to keep removing and fitting them if I want to change strap length with the pick-a-slot style adjustment straps, hence my choice of the sliding buckle type.

I can't think of anything easy that would make the guitar balance better. It must just be lack of weight in the body, as the standard kit tuners aren't that heavy. The plus point is that the guitar is nice and light!

[Joe Garfield]

I absolutely hate neck-heavy guitars (at least unbalanced ones.) I sold my otherwise favorite guitar because the neck was always diving.

As mentioned, more grippy straps can help. Some people have put weight on the strap near the strap button. You can also change to lighter tuning machines.

[Simon Barden]

However, lightweight tuners cost just as much as the guitar did, probably more!

Next time you change the strings, take off the high-E string and also the high-E tuner and see if the guitar hangs any better. If it still nose-dives, then I doubt that a change to lightweight tuners would solve the problem. If it now balances, then they are worth considering, if you want to spend that sort of money on the guitar.

[Joe Garfield]

All good points. If he loves the guitar it may be worth it. If not, then maybe not. But good idea to pull an existing tuner and check the balance.

[I’ll give it a go]

Hey guys, thanks for such great feed back and advice.
I do love my guitar cause I built it, and to me it sounds great when playing Brown Sugar and start me up. I’m not in a band so it’s not that important I guess. I might actually buy a new strap that might stop it dropping. Whether I buy another Tele or build again, nothing will take away my first build Tele. Especially the neck, it’s so smooth. It felt as good if not better than the Bullet or the Affinity I checked out the other day. Even the classic vibe .
Thanks again guys .


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