2-fold question for y'all

[Ninemile]

UGH, I'm 49 and have been playing in steady bands since the 6th grade when I started playing guitar. Unfortunately, my back is only getting weaker it seems.

We had band practice last night and my back was killing me. It was almost a 3 hour practice. I used, as usual, my MM90 Sport which weighs in 7.8 pounds. For the last 4 songs, I switched to my thinline which weighs 5.7 pounds, and it was a significant difference. But, I prefer my Sports, all 3 of them. So, I spent the remainder of the night trying to ascertain what the typical weight for a semi-hollow Axis SS is? The closest I came was one on reverb maybe and showed it weights 6.8 pounds, not bad!. But it also had a regular tremelo bridge, as do all 3 of mine. I wanted a fixed bridge on all 3 of mine but none came with one and therefore I have a tremelo.

Questions:
1- Does anyone know how much a typical semi-hollow Super Sport with the fixed bridge weighs? Does the difference between the fixed bridge and the tremelo account for a big weight difference? If I am wanting to stay with the Axis, can anyone recommend the lightest one I can find?
2- Regardless of everything above, does anyone have good tips or recommendations about how to relive your back when playing. Posture or any other tips that will help while standing?

Thanks!

 

[Iperfungus]

Hi there!
I would suggest the usage of a stretch strap: it better distributes weight and gives relief to the back.
I use one for the heavier guitars and it works fine.
A significant improvement at low price.
The combination of a light-weighting guitar and a stretch strap could help you a lot.

 

[kimonostereo]

I can't answer your other questions, but I recall my Axis Super Sport semi-hollow was probably the lightest guitar I ever had. I had a trem version but I do wonder if the non-trem wouldn't be as light since there wouldn't be a route on the back. It may actually weigh less as the trem block adds some weight.

 

[Sweat]

The semi hollow is very light , wish I still had mine, no advice on the other, back brace and arthritis creme?

 

[DrKev]

A thicker strap will certainly help any shoulder pain. Back pain though, maybe not (because it's same weight being carried. I can't tell you how much lighter the semi-hollow Axes/Axises? are but they are lighter and that will help. A brace might help too if it supports the back muscles. which brings me smoothly to...

[Old man hat on]
Frequently at our age (yeah we're old now) lower back pain is caused by weakening core muscles. As the core muscles lose tone, the lower back muscles have to do more work to help keep us upright. Sooner or later those back muscles start to complain or even seize up entirely (which I learned at 41 is incredibly painful and disabling). Turns out it's a very common thing. A physical therapist can help you with exercises to strengthen those muscles.

The simple fact of life that I'm realizing more every day (approaching my 51st birthday this month) is that the rest of my life must include exercises if I am to stay mobile. In my case with Long Covid (2 years and counting) the lack of physical activity is wreaking havoc. Shoulders and hips are seizing up, I'm losing muscle mass, and back pain is on the rise again. But it's fixable with exercises (the pain and seizing, not the long covid, that's not fixable with exercise). So there is a simple question for me: what do I want my future life to look like and how do I get there? The answer is "as active and mobile as possible" and so regular targeted exercises have to be a permanent part of my life. It's not a hardship, just a new daily habit to build so I can keep enjoying the things I like doing. Now, if ya'll excuse me, I have a core muscles and a frozen shoulder and tenosynovitis to do some work on.
[/Old man hat off]

 

[Ninemile]

I can't answer your other questions, but I recall my Axis Super Sport semi-hollow was probably the lightest guitar I ever had. I had a trem version but I do wonder if the non-trem wouldn't be as light since there wouldn't be a route on the back. It may actually weigh less as the trem block adds some weight.

Ah, good point! I had not thought about that but had a good look at my open trem cavity last night. Hard to tell but if I had to place a bet, I'm going to bet that the metal trem is a little heavier than the routed-out wood, especially if it's basswood with a mapled capped ASS. Maybe not though.

A thicker strap will certainly help any shoulder pain. Back pain though, maybe not (because it's same weight being carried. I can't tell you how much lighter the semi-hollow Axes/Axises? are but they are lighter and that will help. A brace might help too if it supports the back muscles. which brings me smoothly to...

[Old man hat on]
Frequently at our age (yeah we're old now) lower back pain is caused by weakening core muscles. As the core muscles lose tone, the lower back muscles have to do more work to help keep us upright. Sooner or later those back muscles start to complain or even seize up entirely (which I learned at 41 is incredibly painful and disabling). Turns out it's a very common thing. A physical therapist can help you with exercises to strengthen those muscles.

The simple fact of life that I'm realizing more every day (approaching my 51st birthday this month) is that the rest of my life must include exercises if I am to stay mobile. In my case with Long Covid (2 years and counting) the lack of physical activity is wreaking havoc. Shoulders and hips are seizing up, I'm losing muscle mass, and back pain is on the rise again. But it's fixable with exercises (the pain and seizing, not the long covid, that's not fixable with exercise). So there is a simple question for me: what do I want my future life to look like and how do I get there? The answer is "as active and mobile as possible" and so regular targeted exercises have to be a permanent part of my life. It's not a hardship, just a new daily habit to build so I can keep enjoying the things I like doing. Now, if ya'll excuse me, I have a core muscles and a frozen shoulder and tenosynovitis to do some work on.
[/Old man hat off]

Great advice. I'm actually going to start today strengthening my back. A great bit of advice vs constantly trying to get lighter guitars.

Hi there!
I would suggest the usage of a stretch strap: it better distributes weight and gives relief to the back.
I use one for the heavier guitars and it works fine.
A significant improvement at low price.
The combination of a light-weighting guitar and a stretch strap could help you a lot.

Yes indeed! Years ago I went searching for the neoprene strap that Jerry Garcia used, especially considering that he was hauling around Tiger at 13.5# and then Rosebud at a much lighter 11.5 #. The company that made his, it's the blue one seen in many videos, is no longer is biz but I found a company making the same style and that's Comfort Strap. I bought mine on amazon several years ago and it helped tremendously. Everything has been fine until this last practice and then I'm like, "what the ras claat is going on!?"

Appreciate all the advice y'all. I think I'd still love to find a semi H Axis SS with a maple neck and a fixed bridge. I saw one for sale that only has one humbucker pickup almost in the middle of the pickup area. Makes me wonder how much weight having only one pickup shaves off.

 

[fbecir]

Hello

I am 52 and I did (and still do) a lot of sport in my life (swimming, rock climbing, biking, tennis, and long distance running : marathons and ultra trails ...). And of course, I worked also in my house (a lot of tree in my garden ...). Perhaps I did a bit too much because 10 years ago, I had a sciatica ... during 6 months, it was impossible to run and even walking was painful.
Thus my back is a wreck ...
Lighter guitars, a good strap are part of the solution, but the best you can do is to build muscle ... Every day, I do exercises in order to strengthen my back : bike, push-ups, ... As DrKev said a physical therapist can help you, but you can already do a lot of things in your living room !

And of course, if you play guitar and you build muscles, girls will get crazy

PS : my Morse is quite heavy : 4 kg ... and it is my main guitar

 

[xjbebop]

I'll second (3rd?) building up you core muscles. If you are able, spend a few minutes every day (twice a day is even better...) doing some basic stretching and exercises. There are many styles / methods to choose from. Try different ones until you find what works for you. And be sure to start off easy and slowly increase over time. It's easy to hurt yourself if you over do it...

 

[fbecir]

@Ninemile : if you need a good teacher and some ideas for training at home (the video was made during the COVID pandemic). The video is in French but I'm sure YouTube knows how to translate it in English :

 

[Astrofreq]

I feel your pain, brother. I can't play my full-sized guitars unless the gig is under an hour, which is maybe two gigs a year. For all my DJ gigs (generally 5-8 hours), I can only use my mini-guitar (which weighs only two pounds). I play guitar probably half of the time I'm DJing, if not more. The mini guitar has drawbacks and I'd much rather be using one of my EBMM guitar, but I have to keep my pain managed when I can.

 

[click track]

Ninemile,
I am turning 60 this summer, I am also, I think very active, however, my wife views it as very foolish, I do an acre of landscaping all spring/summer and fall, I snowboard and hunt way too much, I have a steady, 1-2 times a month rotation at a big Church and play 3 services a Sunday. I have a guitar on for hours at a time, as well as a 3-4 hour rehearsal each Thurday and a 1-hour sound check each Sunday morning. I could no longer use my Les Pauls regardless of the straps I used, I switched to an Axis SS, which is about 6 lbs and I have not looked back. Since then I have used the JP6, the Reflex and my main go-to is the Albert Lee, my all-time favorite. These guitars are perfect! They are super light and ergonomically perfect and the tone is exactly what I want. No more aches and pains ! I suggest trying one out.

 

[Ted]

Getting up there myself-- I can only confirm that when I fall out of my routine of working out, I start having back and hip pains. In February i had a sinus issue for a few weeks that caused me to stop going to the gym. I have a fairly physical job that involves a lot of standing and walking and some lifting-- and I started having excruciating lower back and hip pain-- it felt like maybe a pinched nerve. It got so bad, it was agony to walk-- and yet as soon as I forced myself back into the gym, all the pain and issues went away after two workouts.

These days I've stopped trying to keep going up on my amount of weight lifted (that's when I am asking for an injury) and just do maintenance-- and I tend to avoid things like barbell bench presses (risk of shoulder injury) and stick more with machines and dumbbells. I have three basic routines that I cycle through on different days.
-- Push Day; machine bench press, machine incline press, machine overhead press, etc (chest day basically)
--Pull Day; lat pulldowns, hammer curls, rows,. etc (back and biceps)
--Leg Day; hack squats, leg machines, calf raises (legs)
-- miscellaneous days ; sometimes If i'm going everyday I'll do a bunch of other miscellaneous excercises on the 4th day before restarting the cycle.

Also on each day I do half an hour of low impact cardio like an elliptical machine (running is bad for aging knees imo) and/or if the weather is nice I try to go for a 3.5 mile walk at the park.

On each of these days I always do my core abdominal workouts like machine crunches and those exercises where you work your erector spinae muscles in the back (can't think of what this exercise is called but I do it every session.) It's so counter-intuitive but often when I have a nagging pain-- like in my lower back or a tweaked knee-- going to the gym and working out that area of the body fixes the problem almost immediately.

I do favor lighter weight guitars and basses too-- but I think ultimately the answer lies in regular, moderate weight training and keeping your core muscles toned.

 

[beej]

I'm 52, pretty active (work out, mountain bike, ski, etc.) and I've had lots of it as well. One thing that made a big difference when I was stuck was foundation training (Google it- there are a couple of good YouTube vids). I will say it's the best thing I've done for my back pain, hands down.

 

[Ninemile]

foundation training

great stuff! exactly what I need. give thanks

 

[kimonostereo]

Just made 54 last month. Time sure flies. Will be checking out the foundation training stuff. Thanks @beej!