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Did you change the preamp as well? I know that the stock preamp has quick connects to use with their own pickups
That's a good weight! Mine is at 9.48lbs(4.3kg)
I really thought about this. I had a Yamaha BB605 that I replaced the pickups and preamp for Delanos as well. The preamp was really good and I thought about putting the same preamp in this one. I also thought about the Darkglass Tone Capsule and the Aguilar. However, I had to wait because none of them were in stock. Since I already had the pickups, I took the bass to my luthier and told him about the pickups and that I would change the preamp in the future. When I switched the pickups he told me "just wait, try this new pickups with the stock preamp. I think you are going to like it" and I did. The preamp is very transparent and it just changes the eq very musically. I just loved the combination and I kept the preamp.
My luthier did mention about the difficulties of changing the pickups. In my BB605 was just soldering. For this one he showed me some pictures of the inside and it was not that easy.
I think a lot of the unique tone you get from a Stingray comes from the preamp, as well as the position of the pickup and the large size of the pickup giving it a wider magnetic field. I'm just swinging wildly here but having the poles directly under the strings might give a little more "punch" to the sound. I'm not sure how much pole piece size matters. Maybe larger ones pull on the string slightly more?
Received my 734a yesterday. Initial impressions are pretty great. Needed a setup badly and I was able to get it close to my preferred action. But even with the neck relief and saddles set to my usual specs it still seems a little high. Thinking the nut may need some work, but I’ll give everything a chance to settle in first.
Removed the XL’s and gave the fret board a little oil to get the dust off. Restrung with new XL 165’s.
I only had a chance to play through a tiny practice amp but I’m loving the tones I’m getting, especially in passive mode. I think I’ll explore the active side more this weekend when I plug into my big rig.
Sorry no pics yet, but will post soon. Interestingly the “Fired Red” color looks a lot darker than the examples I’ve seen online. Which is a good thing in my book. The red with the wood grain and black pickguard is giving me Brian May’s Red Special vibes.
Removed the XL’s and gave the fret board a little oil to get the dust off. Restrung with new XL 165’s.
I only had a chance to play through a tiny practice amp but I’m loving the tones I’m getting, especially in passive mode. I think I’ll explore the active side more this weekend when I plug into my big rig.
Sorry no pics yet, but will post soon. Interestingly the “Fired Red” color looks a lot darker than the examples I’ve seen online. Which is a good thing in my book. The red with the wood grain and black pickguard is giving me Brian May’s Red Special vibes.
FYI - The 734's I've experienced seem to like a very straight neck - straighter than you'd think.
I initially thought the same thing - action seemed high until I made the neck straighter.
Of course everyone's setup specs are different.
I put a hum canceling bridge pickup in my 735A when I had it. I soldered the wires to the back of the quick connect and it thankfully worked perfectly. Would have stuck with that bass if I if found a lighter one at the time.
That’s good to know! There is room to go straighter but I didn’t want to push it considering how much relief there was initially. I’ll fiddle with it some more this weekend.
Both the 735A and the BBP35 that I’ve had needed the nut slots lowered
Sounds good. Just remember to loosen the strings a bit before tightening the truss rod. .
Since I've still got this open, and was curious, can anyone tell me the differences between the BBN5, the BBG5, and the BB405? I'm kinda hoping to understand the chronology or timeframe of the mass-produced passive Nathan East BBs. The most I know is the BB405 started around 1999 and ended maybe around 2004/2005.
My 735 also needed a bit of filing in the nut slots.
The other thing I found when I first brought the bass home was that the neck pickup felt loose - when I tested my thumb on it it wanted to wobble just a bit. I opened it up and the piece of foam under the pickup was pretty small, but it was a simple and cheap fix.
Other than that, I haven't had to do anything else to this bass beyond the usual setup and maintenance.
Yeah the P pickup on the treble side is a bit loose. I run into that a lot on Fender basses too. I usually add screw springs.
Same on the 734A's I've encountered. The P pickup was a bit loose.
I've got GHS Pressurewounds medium-lights on my BBP34; they are my favorite strings and work well for me on the BBP
I have the light set on another bass and love them…great strings
