Nordstrand Zen Blade

[Richard Lindsey]

Seems like as good a time as any to post another picture of my Zen Blade-equipped Martin Keith hollow body Elfin 5. This one has extra-wide spacing at the bridge and nut (my preference), so it's actually using a 6-string Zen Blade....

View attachment 5284326

Sweet! One of the cool things about Zen Blades, as I'm sure you know (but conceivably some may not), is that although they *look* like they have individual sensing sections, they really don't--it's just one long, well, blade. So a Zen Blade 6 works perfectly well for your use case, with no need to worry about where the strings are in relation to the six visible metal bits.

 

[MingusBass]

Love that color!

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Serek calls it...Expired Toothpaste!

 

[MfEuTnAkL]

Hi! I'm Nick and I do in fact work at Nordstrand answering questions and phones among other things. I'm here to do my best to straighten out what looks like a number of compounded misunderstandings.

1. Nordstrand Pickup Instruction slips are not specific to any model. Any pickup with a 4+ lead will ship with humbucker instructions detailing Parallel, Series, and Single Coil wiring methods.
2. ZenBlades have 4+ leads, and thus you have direct access to the start and end of each coil. There's no internal wiring of the coils to each other, nor difference in how they're made to be optimized for Parallel or Series like Dual Coils are.
3. ZenBlades are fairly low output for passive pickups and benefit from a preamp with a gain trim that can be cranked up to push the signal.
   1. when used passive with no preamp, ZenBlades are best installed with their coils in series for the loudest signal.
   2. Unlike conventional 2-coil humbuckers, ZenBlades have two sidewound coils mounted orthogonally to the sensor blade. Series and Parallel do not sound as different from one another on a Zen as they do on conventional designs. (Series is much cleaner and more useful than typically expected)
   3. when used WITH a preamp, ZenBlades can be used with their coils in Parallel to get an even more articulate sound.
4. The only current internal coil to coil wiring happening here is on Precision and Split-coil pickups, in which they are hardwired in series because the individual coils are not under the same strings and are not providing signals that are the same for parallel hum cancelling.

I hope this hopes untangle some of the talking past each other on the subject.
If anyone has nordstrand questions, I'm here m-f and I do my best to answer email questions at [email protected]

Cheers,
Nick

As I'm about to get a bass with Zen Blade pickups and Lusithand filter preamps, how did you wire the pickups? Series or parallel? Did you wire them both ways to compare?

I noticed a few pages back that parallel is listed as default on the wiring instructions from Nordstrand.

Just trying to get some real world experience if possible.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Hi! I'm Nick and I do in fact work at Nordstrand answering questions and phones among other things. I'm here to do my best to straighten out what looks like a number of compounded misunderstandings.

1. Nordstrand Pickup Instruction slips are not specific to any model. Any pickup with a 4+ lead will ship with humbucker instructions detailing Parallel, Series, and Single Coil wiring methods.
2. ZenBlades have 4+ leads, and thus you have direct access to the start and end of each coil. There's no internal wiring of the coils to each other, nor difference in how they're made to be optimized for Parallel or Series like Dual Coils are.
3. ZenBlades are fairly low output for passive pickups and benefit from a preamp with a gain trim that can be cranked up to push the signal.
   1. when used passive with no preamp, ZenBlades are best installed with their coils in series for the loudest signal.
   2. Unlike conventional 2-coil humbuckers, ZenBlades have two sidewound coils mounted orthogonally to the sensor blade. Series and Parallel do not sound as different from one another on a Zen as they do on conventional designs. (Series is much cleaner and more useful than typically expected)
   3. when used WITH a preamp, ZenBlades can be used with their coils in Parallel to get an even more articulate sound.
4. The only current internal coil to coil wiring happening here is on Precision and Split-coil pickups, in which they are hardwired in series because the individual coils are not under the same strings and are not providing signals that are the same for parallel hum cancelling.

I hope this hopes untangle some of the talking past each other on the subject.
If anyone has nordstrand questions, I'm here m-f and I do my best to answer email questions at [email protected]

Cheers,
Nick

Thanks for the clarification. Always good to learn something.

 

[Johno Dunn]

Seems like as good a time as any to post another picture of my Zen Blade-equipped Martin Keith hollow body Elfin 5. This one has extra-wide spacing at the bridge and nut (my preference), so it's actually using a 6-string Zen Blade....

View attachment 5284326

That is beautiful! I bet the mwah on that thing kills!

 

[Lonnybass]

Just finished up this new jazz bass build and the Zens sound fantastic, especially with percussive work…”punchy” is the first word that comes to mind! Compared to my Bigrigs, which are all about top-to-bottom detail and character, these are all about the focus.
I want to hear Marcus Miller play this thing…

 

[MaHei]

I doubt Nordstrand could fit a sidewinder configuration into a small shell. Those look like Big Blades.

 

[XLunacy]

I believe these are Big J-blades indeed ! They seem to have a similar tonal profile (with the "clean & clear" winding) to the zens, and they are kind of cousins anyways, so you are still welcome here @Lonnybass

 

[MovinTarget]

I doubt Nordstrand could fit a sidewinder configuration into a small shell. Those look like Big Blades.

Yeah you can get Jazz - sized blades iirc, but they are single coil, not sidewound. Conversely, you can get Big Blades and Zen Blades in the same footprint and they will appear identical.

 

[Lonnybass]

Corrected my original post for the official record - I went back and checked and these are indeed Big J Blades.

 

[5StringPocket]

Corrected my original post for the official record - I went back and checked and these are indeed Big J Blades.

Beautiful bass. Clean and clear or warm and wooly J blades?

 

[Lonnybass]

Beautiful bass. Clean and clear or warm and wooly J blades?

Clean and clear! My rationale in selecting them is that the Vintage Tone Control on the Sadowsky preamp provides an approximation of both windings depending upon how the control is set. Whereas with the “Warm and Wooly” option, it would be difficult to go the other direction.

 

[mikezimmerman]

I had the W & W J Blades on my Warmoth Jazz for a bit. They were great sounding pickups, but I'm a fairly aggressive player (especially in the hard rock band where the Jazz was my primary bass) and I kept hitting the strings on the radiused blades...

 

[BunchyMutt]

Just finished up this new jazz bass build and the Zens sound fantastic, especially with percussive work…”punchy” is the first word that comes to mind! Compared to my Bigrigs, which are all about top-to-bottom detail and character, these are all about the focus.
I want to hear Marcus Miller play this thing…

View attachment 5285095

Sometimes when tone is described as focused, it can mean mid forward and/or less low end. Is this the case with the Big J Blades?

 

[Lonnybass]

Sometimes when tone is described as focused, it can mean mid forward and/or less low end. Is this the case with the Big J Blades?

I haven’t noticed any absence of lows in the Blades. The BigRigs seem to have a more open and expansive characteristic to them (“detail” is the term that seems to be used most often) whereas the Blades seem really full, but without the extra detail.

There’s a Boden demo on YouTube that compares a Bigrig equipped bass to one with Blades, and you can make out what I’m talking about. Let me see if I can find it.

 

[Lonnybass]

 

[yutakesan]

Hi! I'm Nick and I do in fact work at Nordstrand answering questions and phones among other things. I'm here to do my best to straighten out what looks like a number of compounded misunderstandings.

1. Nordstrand Pickup Instruction slips are not specific to any model. Any pickup with a 4+ lead will ship with humbucker instructions detailing Parallel, Series, and Single Coil wiring methods.
2. ZenBlades have 4+ leads, and thus you have direct access to the start and end of each coil. There's no internal wiring of the coils to each other, nor difference in how they're made to be optimized for Parallel or Series like Dual Coils are.
3. ZenBlades are fairly low output for passive pickups and benefit from a preamp with a gain trim that can be cranked up to push the signal.
   1. when used passive with no preamp, ZenBlades are best installed with their coils in series for the loudest signal.
   2. Unlike conventional 2-coil humbuckers, ZenBlades have two sidewound coils mounted orthogonally to the sensor blade. Series and Parallel do not sound as different from one another on a Zen as they do on conventional designs. (Series is much cleaner and more useful than typically expected)
   3. when used WITH a preamp, ZenBlades can be used with their coils in Parallel to get an even more articulate sound.
4. The only current internal coil to coil wiring happening here is on Precision and Split-coil pickups, in which they are hardwired in series because the individual coils are not under the same strings and are not providing signals that are the same for parallel hum cancelling.

I hope this hopes untangle some of the talking past each other on the subject.
If anyone has nordstrand questions, I'm here m-f and I do my best to answer email questions at [email protected]

Cheers,
Nick

I wondered why zen blade volume sounds smaller than my single coil traditional jazz bass PU although zen blade are humbucker. I know it has fairly low output and it is natural that sound smaller.
I feel good since it is not wiring problem

 

[rapidfirerob]

I got an Ibanez SRMS a few weeks ago. I'm thinking about swapping pickups. The Zen Blades sound like
a great option. I have an Allman Brothers tribute band and play fingerstyle. No slap. What model
Zen Blades would fit in my bass? Does the cavity need to be shielded? Bartolini H2 in there currently.
Thanks!

 

[Toptube]

I got an Ibanez SRMS a few weeks ago. I'm thinking about swapping pickups. The Zen Blades sound like
a great option. I have an Allman Brothers tribute band and play fingerstyle. No slap. What model
Zen Blades would fit in my bass? Does the cavity need to be shielded? Bartolini H2 in there currently.
Thanks!

SRMS pickups may not be a standard size. Probably best to take one out, carefully measure it in millimeters, and email that to Nordstrand.

Utlimately, Nordstrand my ask you to mail one of the pickups, to see if they can accommodate a custom pickup casing which will fit.

 

[MovinTarget]

I got an Ibanez SRMS a few weeks ago. I'm thinking about swapping pickups. The Zen Blades sound like
a great option. I have an Allman Brothers tribute band and play fingerstyle. No slap. What model
Zen Blades would fit in my bass? Does the cavity need to be shielded? Bartolini H2 in there currently.
Thanks!

These are sidewound humbuckers. 60 cycle hum should be an issue, you may still consider shielding for all the other kinds of EM interference you may encounter...