Fix for *bottom* heavy guitar?

[Woody Sound]

There's always talk about neck dive. I have the opposite problem, a guitar with neck *lift*. It's a semi with a lot of electronics & battery in the lower bout, and I am using two wireless units on it. I am playing sitting, guitar on my right thigh. Guitar wants to roll off my leg to the right, neck pulling up. (A strap works, but for my gig application I can't use one - need to switch instruments very fast and subtly.)

Can anyone think of something, maybe something to wrap around the headstock, heavy enough to balance it?

[wintermoon]

Swap out the tuners for an old set of Grovers.
Then you'll have the opposite problem.

[Woody Sound]

I was thinking maybe something like a heavy bracelet around the headstock under the strings.

[Ukena]

I was thinking maybe something like a heavy bracelet around the headstock under the strings.

Maybe a C clamp? This is probably a situation where you're going to have to be the guinea pig for a solution...

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Try light wrist weights with bound holes. Hang one from a cord wrapped around the headstock like our old school straps before we put buttons on or near the heel. You might even be able to wrap one around the headstock over the tuners, although that would hamper tuning touch ups.

You might find relief by using a short extension cable to get your wireless transmitters out of the guitar and onto the music stand, the floor, or the guitar stand. I don’t know why you have 2. If they’re just for redundancy and are driven by the same output jack, wire up a splitter with one plug and cable into 2 jacks in a small project box. If they’re each in a separate output jack (stereo split pickups, mag & piezo, etc), use 2 extensions.

If the battery or batteries is or are heavy enough to matter, you could even add a battery holder in the adapter box and run power wires along with the cable extension for the signal.

This seems like a long run for a short slide. Have you considered using a synth to cover the styles and sounds you need? The latest Roland is amazing - the nylon string and acoustic voices are excellent. With GraphTech pickup saddles in your bridge, there’s no audible latency, and they also serve as standard piezos for a traditional amplified acoustic sound.

Ghost electronics put all the controls you need in with your guitar’s pots and switches. Most of the samples and patches are really convincing. I’m still using a GR20 and GK pickup, which are light years behind the GR55 with GraphTech pickups for sound quality and ease of use.

If you like the synth idea, you can plug your wireless transmitter(s) into it. You’ll have one cable from guitar to synth pedal that carries both your guitar’s signal and the synth signal.

[Dave24309]

guitar sustain enhancer clamp on amazon. $6. You could probably add more weight to taste.

[Woody Sound]

Try light wrist weights with bound holes. Hang one from a cord wrapped around the headstock like our old school straps before we put buttons on or near the heel. You might even be able to wrap one around the headstock over the tuners, although that would hamper tuning touch ups.

You might find relief by using a short extension cable to get your wireless transmitters out of the guitar and onto the music stand, the floor, or the guitar stand. I don’t know why you have 2. If they’re just for redundancy and are driven by the same output jack, wire up a splitter with one plug and cable into 2 jacks in a small project box. If they’re each in a separate output jack (stereo split pickups, mag & piezo, etc), use 2 extensions.

If the battery or batteries is or are heavy enough to matter, you could even add a battery holder in the adapter box and run power wires along with the cable extension for the signal.

This seems like a long run for a short slide. Have you considered using a synth to cover the styles and sounds you need? The latest Roland is amazing - the nylon string and acoustic voices are excellent. With GraphTech pickup saddles in your bridge, there’s no audible latency, and they also serve as standard piezos for a traditional amplified acoustic sound.

Ghost electronics put all the controls you need in with your guitar’s pots and switches. Most of the samples and patches are really convincing. I’m still using a GR20 and GK pickup, which are light years behind the GR55 with GraphTech pickups for sound quality and ease of use.

If you like the synth idea, you can plug your wireless transmitter(s) into it. You’ll have one cable from guitar to synth pedal that carries both your guitar’s signal and the synth signal.

Thanks N, lots of interesting ideas. Re the two wireless's there's one for the mags, one for the piezo. To two different amps.

[sgosnell]

It shouldn't take much weight on the headstock to get the center of gravity to an acceptable location. The center of gravity is defined by mass x arm, and the arm of weight on the headstock is rather long. Even a couple of ounces can make a difference. I've solved mild neck dive by just changing tuner buttons, removing metal ones and replacing them with wood. You might be able to get by with just doing the opposite, depending on what is on the guitar now. If it already has heavy buttons, then placing any sort of weight on the headstock should help, and the nearer to the end, the better. A disk or other flat piece of lead or other metal could be attached to the back of the headstock near the end using double-sided tape, or you could just tie something on, I suppose.

[Cunamara]

How about a Fathead sustain plate? These came out a few decades ago; they were brass plates cut to the same shape as the headstock and bolted onto the back, between the tuners and the headstock. I've never seen one in person, but I remember reading about them. They look like this:

Just a moment...

I don't think they were ever very common I don't believe they're in production anymore, but if a guy knew somebody with a metal band saw they could make one.