dave_bass5

I really love the matt finish on the 734/5. One of the nicest black finishes ive seen. One of the things that attracted me to my old TRBX505 was the matt finish.

Ah, i wasn't aware of the black all over on the 734/735. im glad the P34/35 aren't though. i think that would bug me. Agree the black matches the sunburst perfectly though.

I went off to try and find a natural HS P35, wasn't sure if it was a special run lol. Now we are both on the same page. Totally agree, although i do like the look of the Stingray headstock.

It doesn't bother me that its black, i think it looks close enough, and as its a RW fretboard i dont mind a coloured headstock, but i can see that the same neck is used on different finishes, and the 734/735.

Talking of MHS (or MH?), its a shame Yamaha didn't match the headstock on the P34/35 to the body, at least on the dark blue version. A bit of cost cutting i imagine. Shame as its not a cheap bass.

Helps keep the prices low though.

I like the balanced tension sets they do. I used to buy a 4 string set and a .125 separately. Not the cheapest way of doing it though. The reason Ive switched to the Pro steels is because I seem to kill strings quite quickly.

Yep, and playing along to some music I cant even hear the buzz. I feel the bass has so much punch that it doesn’t need me digging unless I want a more cranky tone, but even then its not too noticeable. There are so many brands of string ive never tried, but I’m happy enough with the cheaper brands

Well Yamaha do mention that the strings are as above, so I’d be surprised if they do have a custom set on them. Since i posted this motoring I think ive got the ultimate set up for me and this bass now. I just cant stop playing it. 2.25mm on the E and .013 neck relief. No buzz unless i really dig in, and only on the E string, ive found I’m playing a bit lighter with this bass anyway, so its all good.....more than good in fact.

Its just the E ive dropped in size, and so far i love it. On my 425 and Sire V7 i have a .130 B, but still a .100 E.

Yeah, thats a really cool version. Haha, i thought the same,

We never can. They are in the bin now. I can say that the pro steels are pretty much the same, although they have the coloured ball ends. The bass was quite a bit cheaper than everywhere else, so I’m guessing it might have been a return that someone had changed strings on before returning it. just a guess though. It wasnt sold as a return or demo though, but it is perfect condition so I’m not complaining. I just believe is a price is too good to be true then it generally is. The EB Slinky’s that i first put on were ok, but they have a .105 E and I’m now using .100, so that might be why i didn’t get on with them. Again, ive only recently started using .100’s but i love how the feel. Ive only just started using these stirring, but i love the tone and feel of them. I tend to destroy stings quite quickly (he seems the original strings being thrown) due to my pick playing.

Yes, that’s been my experience. The distance selling regulation sates that you can return an item if you just change you mind, but this doesn’t apply to items brought from a shop. Saying that, a lot of shops do offer this but i dont think its law.

We used to do 2 songs written by our old singer at most weddings we played. More for fun than anything, but as they were really good pop songs most of the time people would still dance. We had people come up to us and ask who the song was by, and we would give them the old band name. They would go off quite happy.

Really, ive never had much luck with that. Anyway, its twice as much hassle to do that,

Yeah, although it sounds like the band know it better than Kenny does lol.

Agree about the playability, but the strings on mine weren’t EXL’s, at least not the normal type as they didnt have the colour ball ends. Ive been using these for years, and they just felt different (better) They are advertised as coming with them, but i have a feeling there is some reason mine didnt, especially considering the low price.

This is how I was with my P34. Straight out the box i loved the action, even though it was a bit higher than i normal go for. Not sure what the strings were, they all had brass ends, and were not Elixirs, but they felt good. But then i changed strings and mucked it all up lol.

Well when you go spending £1200 on a new bass, the £200 one gets pushed to the side lol. The 425 showed me how nice the Yamaha’s can be, and i now have my long sought after 5 string P, but as i think ive said a few times i always go back to 4, so i got the P34 and not the P35, plus im happy with the 425 as a 5 string P. The P34 was never meant to be an upgrade from the 425 and I’m glad have both. I’m also happy with the tone of both. In fact i was knocked out by how good the 425 sounded when i first plugged it in, and I’m still impressed with it. Probably more impressed than when i first plugged the P34 in. Love the tone of the P34, but i really love the character the 425 has as well. I do prefer the P34 now, it sits so well in the mix, but i like the aggressiveness of the 425 as well. For me shimming would just be a visual thing, so its not something i have to do to get the bass playable. I’m in no rush to do it. It plays really well at the moment and I’m loath to keep messing with it. The only mod ive done so far with the P34 is to put on some satin chrome strap locks to match the bridge and control knobs. Its the small things in life eh?

When we learnt Footloose a couple of years ago we learnt it from the Daryl’s house version.

Cheers for the info. Its something i may do in the near future if I’m still not settling with it. At the moment the bass is spot on so I’m going to leave things alone. All the tools have gone away and I’m just enjoying playing it. Really, .5mm difference is really not an issue as far as playing goes, its more when i look at it that it seems high, and I think the fact that its raising above the 12th fret (Where i never go) makes it look higher than it is.

Maybe I’m just used to the gloss my other necks have. I dont sweat too much when playing but the other night it felt like my hand was glued to the neck. All my basses are shimmed, i prefer to do that as i like to keep the string height as even as possible to the neck, but with this bass sounding so good i don’t want to start messing with it too much. I also wonder how the 6 bolt system will handle a shim. EDIT: Ah, of course, the Fender is shimmed. That explains it. Dont know why i didnt think of thats before. To be honest i like the action on the P34 at the moment, I’m just hoping it doesn't change.

BJ = 😲

Thought I’d do a quick update on my P34. Tomorrow is the first gig with it so this is just based on a rehearsal and 3 weeks at home. First off i love the tone. Its not quite as thick as my Fender P, but has a bit more mid poke, which is really cool. Ive always strived to get a finger tone, as i play mostly with a pick and don’t really like it a lot of the time. I can normally get close to sounding like finger playing with my BDDI, but this bass seems to get me very close without needing any effects. In fact i think this bass shines without needing my much loved BDDI. Ive always felt the need for a pre amp pedal in the past, but the P34 seems to not need it. The notes are all very articulate and clear, which makes me play better. The notes also all seem very well balanced volume wise, and ive started to use the higher frets on the E string more. In the past these got a bit too thick and boomy. It sounds silly but i find i can groove better with this bass. Even the band said it made them sound better lol. I can now start to produce the tones and style ive tried to in the past, but without the compromises i kept finding. I’ve been struggling for two weeks to get this playing As good as when it arrived. Since changing strings it’s almost got to the point where when i sit down to play, i get the Allen keys and ruler out. Maybe I’m obsessing too much about the action, but my Fender has a 2mm action on the E, and I’d expect, maybe wrongly, that this bass can do it as well. In fact i put some EB Slinky’s on it and took them off two days later, they just felt very wrong. Ive never used them before though so its not a bass issues. Ive recently started using Pro Steels, which i love for thair tone and feel. Its probably more an OCD thing, but most of my other basses can get a 2mm action, yet this one struggles, even though none of the frets are high. In fact i cant find any faults with this bass at all, so i guess its just me and i will settle down. Same strings on my 425, Fender P and P34. The 425 ive not really bothered with, it plays fine and i dont think ill be using it much anyway. The Fender wont get used much as ive found a better P bass now. I notice Yamaha suggest 3mm action at the E/12th. Thats pretty high for me, but i can settle on 2.25mm. one slight concern though, is the truss rod. To get a decent bow in the neck, say .013 - .015, the TR nut feels like its not even gripping. Its not rattling, and if i turn it th either way its working fine, but it just feels very loose. Never had a TR that felt like this before. I’m hoping its ok, and my one fear is the relief will change on its own. In fact I’m starting to think it is, and thats why i keep adjusting the bass. At the moment though its spot on and i played it for a sold 3 hours last night. I’d love to say ‘this is the one’, and once i get over the setup issues I’m sure ti will be. Ive never had such a perfect tone from a P bass. In fact I’d say there is a bit of that jazz snarl in there, and thats just from the neck pup. The one big negative is the finish on the back of the neck. I really hate it. I much prefer gloss, as i tend to slide my hand rather than just move it. Poor technique probably, and Its not that i cant play it, but i find its very sticky. Ill probably get it glossed at some point, but for now ill live with it. Anyway, the feeling is i made the right choice getting this (thanks again Bas), and i has rekindled my interest in playing again. Gig report to follow tomorrow. Its at the Hampstead summer festival so a good starter.

Sounds like the name of a band 😄