How the weight of your electric guitar affects its performance and build

Fender Telecaster
(Image credit: Future)

The weight of a guitar can be an emotive subject. There are those who think it doesn’t matter, while others won’t touch an instrument if it’s a few ounces ‘overweight’. 

In every Guitarist review we weigh the guitars, so if we comment “it’s a great weight”, you know exactly what that weight is. Likewise, we might comment that the guitar is on the heavy side: again, you can see precisely what it weighs in the spec list. 

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Dave Burrluck
Gear Reviews Editor, Guitarist

Dave Burrluck is one of the world’s most experienced guitar journalists, who started writing back in the '80s for International Musician and Recording World, co-founded The Guitar Magazine and has been the Gear Reviews Editor of Guitarist magazine for the past two decades. Along the way, Dave has been the sole author of The PRS Guitar Book and The Player's Guide to Guitar Maintenance as well as contributing to numerous other books on the electric guitar. Dave is an active gigging and recording musician and still finds time to make, repair and mod guitars, not least for Guitarist’s The Mod Squad.