Here's the details: The pickups have been replaced with the Aguilar PJ set (AG4PJ-HCPU). The stock pickups were suprisingly quiet and dull sounding to my ears. I believe the Aguilar pickups make a huge improvement in tone, they are brighter and offer more clarity, and the bridge pickup is hum cancelling which eliminates the single coil hum that is more apparent on basses in active mode. I also have the original pickups and will include those in the sale/trade. If the buyer wants the stock pickups in the bass then I will remove the Aguilars and reduce the price by $110. The pickups are $185 new.
This bass weighs 8lbs 6oz. If you've looked at these basses in any detail then you'll notice that most of the BB734a's are over 9lbs. As soon as this bass became available and I saw the weight I ordered it.
The overall condition of the bass is excellent. There is some light player wear near the pickups and pickguard...swirling in the top coat. There is a small checking mark on the bottom/leg cutout, but it doesn't go through the top coat. There are no dings, dents, or finish scratches anywhere on the bass.
Also included is the original Yamaha gig bag, which is a really nice gig bag. And the tools will be included.
The bass plays really nicely and has a good balance to it when held on a strap. The fretwork is really good and there are no sharp fret ends or high frets. The tuners are very smooth and work better than some of the higher end ultralight tuners I own and use.
The tone: the only reason I'm looking to sell or trade this bass is because the tone doesn't work for my style, and as much as I really want to like this bass (because everything else is great) I haven't been able to bond with the tone. This bass has a huge range of available tones but it does the thick jazz bass like tone very well. In the mix I prefer the P bass tone and add in the J pickup about 20% of the time. This bass has a more mellow, warm P tone. It's a thick round tone and I prefer the edgy and bright P tone (think Quarter Pounders with maple neck).
Let me know if you have any questions or need more details.
Full specs can be found here: BB Series - 700 Series - Basses - Guitars & Basses - Musical Instruments - Products - Yamaha - United States
As for trades: Like I mentioned above, I like bright aggressive basses so I'm interested in a G&L SB-2 or possibly a Stingray with maple board. Only interested in 4 strings. Feel free to run other basses by me. I'm also interested in a higher end lightweight cab, probably a 1x12.
$760 shipped in the continental US
$650 shipped in the continental US with the stock pickups only
