How Hipshot Ultralite tuners can improve your playing
by Millard Ellingsworth, bass player, The Marsh Mellow Stone Band
 It changed the look a little and left some exposed screw holes on the back of the headstock, the the change in playability was worth it. |
As you can probably tell from other comments I've made, playability and comfort are more than features on a guitar, IMO. Until I found the Birdsong Cortobass (which, no surprise, uses Hipshot Ultralite tuners), I played other short scale basses including the Fender Mustang. On the whole, the Mustang is a very nice short-scale bass. While it sounds a bit one-dimensional, it does do that small range of sounds well.
However, Fender puts the same huge tuners on the Mustang's smaller frame that it uses on their full size line. If you think a normal Fender has a bit of head dive (a tendency of the bass headstock to pull towards the ground when not supported by your fret hand), imagine a Mustang with roughly the same size headstock and those heavy tuners. The problem with head dive is that one of the things you have to do as a player is keep the bass up and in position. Playing energetically and well is hard enough without holding up your guitar.
So I decided to put a set of Hipshot Ultralite tuners on the Mustang to see how much it would help. Jumping to the punch line, it helped a lot. There was no head dive with the Ultralites. They moved the center of balance on the bass 1 3/8" towards the body, from inside the 17th fret with the Fender tuners to the 19th fret wire with the Hipshot Ultralites. It was a joy to play after making the upgrade.
The Fender tuners, collars and screws weighed in at 5896 grams while the Hipshot Ultralites (clover leaf version to match the Fender keys as much as possible) weight in at 2917 grams (less than half as much). Using a common kitchen tool, I made a fulcrum and balanced the bass on it, noting the point of balance. Scientific enough for my purposes.
Your results may vary, but if you find your bass pulling a head dive on you, there is a chance that a set of replacement tuners could help, perhaps quite a bit. More info on Hipshot products at hipshotproducts.com.
 Not exactly rocket science, but it worked to find the center of balance. |
Comments? Spelling errorz? Shoot me an email at millard@MarshMellowStoneBand.com.
About the author
Millard Ellingsworth lives and makes music and writes and develops software in southern California. He has been playing bass and guitar on an off since high school, more on than off in the last several years. After stints with Taking Fire, Oceans Apart and dear jane, he has settled into a great group of musicians with The Marsh Mellow Stone Band.
Millard used to own and publish a competition shooting web site, sportshooter.com, before it was purchased by The Outdoor Channel several years ago as supporting content for a new show they were developing. He wrote many detailed articles on all aspects of competition shooting including many equipment reviews.
There is no financial relationship of any sort between Millard and HipShot Products (except that he is a customer). No compensation of any sort was provided for writing this review. But you can send money and gear if you want to. Or just buy my band's CD and a t-shirt.