| Author | Message | ||
| musashi
Intermediate Member Username: musashi Post Number: 116 Registered: 5-2004 |
Just posted a new vid. This one features a 1976 Musicman Stingray Fretless: SQUARE DANCER (In A Round House) by Cut To The Chase http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsGr4R0I3ns  | ||
| mike1762
Senior Member Username: mike1762 Post Number: 682 Registered: 1-2008 |
SWWWWwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeetttttttt. I LOVE MMs (I have 4 of them in the stable). | ||
| benson_murrensun
Advanced Member Username: benson_murrensun Post Number: 381 Registered: 5-2007 |
I have a (fretted) Sterling (not one of the newer lower-priced ones). What's the difference between a Sterling and Sting Ray? | ||
| dfung60
Senior Member Username: dfung60 Post Number: 453 Registered: 5-2002 |
The Stingray in the original post was designed and built by Leo Fender, after he left Fender and started MusicMan. Leo left MusicMan some years later and started G&L after that. MusicMan wandered in the wilderness for a while and ended up getting bought by Ernie Ball. They moved production to San Luis Obispo. The Ernie Ball instruments have been in the spirit of the original Leo instruments with a lot of evolution. Part of the evolution was the development of the Sterling model, which is named after Ernie Ball's son Sterling, who runs the company now. The cool thing about being a God like Leo (or Ron W. for that matter) is that you can do anything you like and be revered. If you take over The Creator's company and screw with the slightest detail, you'll be chased through the streets with burning torches. So, EBMM was smart enough to launch an evolved instrument under a different name, rather than screw with the StingRay. The Sterling has a smaller body and neck which is more contoured. It also has a coil-configuration switch for the pickup. They were pretty nice when they were launched, and haven't changed much. The modern EBMM StingRays are pretty different than the original ones. They have a 6-bolt neck instead of 3 bolt and a much easier truss rod adjustment. The EBMMs have an oil finished neck instead of polyurethane (like on the bodies). The strings don't pass through the body anymore. And most StingRays have 3-band EQ instead of 2-band. I bought a new StingRay in 1977 and it was my buddy for more than 15 years. I have to admit, it was not the best StingRay or the best bass I had. During the craziness of vintage instrument prices in the 90's I decided to sell it and got way too much money for it. I later bought an EBMM which is a much better bass with a stiffer neck and better construction, but not nearly as interesting as the original StingRay. Are there cheaper MusicMans these days? They played around with an import line (SUB) for while, but I think that's gone now. Seems like every MusicMan I've seen for years now was $1500-2200. David Fung | ||
| benson_murrensun
Advanced Member Username: benson_murrensun Post Number: 384 Registered: 5-2007 |
Thank you for the education, David! Here is a link that shows a cheaper version Sterling for sale: http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Sterling-by-Music-Man-SB14-Bass?sku=580994 The Sterling I have, which is not from this cheaper line, does not have any switches for pickup coil configuration. The neck is VERY narrow at the nut, which is why I don't use it very much. The instrument is highly resonant acoustically; before you even plug it in you know you have a "live wire" on your hands. | ||
| musashi
Intermediate Member Username: musashi Post Number: 119 Registered: 5-2004 |
(Message edited by musashi on November 30, 2010) | ||
| musashi
Intermediate Member Username: musashi Post Number: 120 Registered: 5-2004 |
SQUARE DANCER (In A Round House) new and improved version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObshjOqhnks (For the old Stingray aficianados there's a slapped breakdown at 4:10...) | ||
| mike1762
Senior Member Username: mike1762 Post Number: 684 Registered: 1-2008 |
Sterling Ball was actually involved with the original design of the Sting Ray, so the EB buyout of MM wasn't the "hostile" takeover that one might imagine. That being said, I HATE trying to deal with EB... I have a Cutlass-I that I would love to have restored (the preamp got mangled and was subsequently lost), but they won't even talk to me about it. MM had an odd manufacturing process: the instruments were made by CLF research (headed by Leo Fender) and then shipped to Music Man (headed by Tommy Walker). MM was rejecting a high percentage of the instrument. This lead to a rift between the 2 principals and Leo's decision to go into business with George Fullerton (G&L). CLF made instruments for BOTH MM and G&L until around 1981. Between 1981 and the 1984 EB buyout of MM, Grover Jackson was building the instruments for MM. I'm not sure who builds the G&L stuff these days. (Message edited by mike1762 on November 30, 2010) | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 2252 Registered: 6-2002 |
I had one of the expensive sterling basses that I bought about 2001 I think, and it was a good bass too narrow at the nut i thought too. The body is the same size as a strat so was pretty light. Interestingly It had a hum cancelling coil inside which I found that out was when it went back for repair due to sounding really thin on one of the pickup settings and was told the hum canceller was connected wrongly inside. I sold it sometime in 2007 i think after I got my Elan, but with hindsight it would have been good beater bass and to get that fender tone for some of the Marcus Miller tracks I occasionally do on gigs. Jazzyvee | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 2253 Registered: 6-2002 |
I had one of the expensive sterling basses that I bought about 2001 I think, and it was a good bass too narrow at the nut i thought too. The body is the same size as a strat so was pretty light. Interestingly It had a hum cancelling coil inside which I found that out was when it went back for repair due to sounding really thin on one of the pickup settings and was told the hum canceller was connected wrongly inside. I sold it sometime in 2007 i think after I got my Elan, but with hindsight it would have been good beater bass and to get that fender tone for some of the Marcus Miller tracks I occasionally do on gigs. Jazzyvee | ||
| bassilisk
Member Username: bassilisk Post Number: 88 Registered: 4-2009 |
benson_murrensun - I bought my Sterling in '94 just a year after they became available and it had a 3 position switch that gave you both coils in either series or parallel, and the middle position was the bridge coil alone, along with a 3-band eq. I still have it and it is one of my favorite basses. The feel of the neck suits me perfectly and (I found out much later) was identical in profile to a '62 Jazz I had for a while. The short story is I ended up gutting the original electronics. I replaced the pickup with a Lane Poor (that I got direct from him when he was still in business) and put in an Aguilar OBP-3 @ 18v. there's nothing I don't like about this one. | ||
| benson_murrensun
Advanced Member Username: benson_murrensun Post Number: 389 Registered: 5-2007 |
In the interest of correcting my misinformation, my Sterling DOES indeed have a switch for pickup coil operation. It's been so long since I used this bass that I forgot, but I looked at it last night and there it was! According to a spec sheet I downloaded from somewhere, the nut width is 1-1/2 inches; and the weight is approximately 9 pounds, although mine seems considerably lighter. Guess I could weigh it.... | ||
| dfung60
Senior Member Username: dfung60 Post Number: 454 Registered: 5-2002 |
mike - That's interesting that Sterling Ball was involved with the StingRay. I've seen him at NAMM shows before and I would guess that he's younger than I am (I'm 50 now), so he would have been pretty young when the StingRay originally came out. Maybe he's older than he looks! I think the MusicMan instruments have turned out to be more memorable than the amps, but I do remember the guys in the stores telling me at the time that the focus of the company was more on amps than basses. David Fung | ||
| mike1762
Senior Member Username: mike1762 Post Number: 689 Registered: 1-2008 |
I'm not sure how old he is (Ernie was born in 1930), but he probably was fairly young during those early MM days. The amps were actually made by MM (rather than being sub-contracted out). There was a lot of bad blood between Fender and Walker, so I imagine that they WANTED the focus to be on the amps... but as you say. However, those amps were really nice. My recollection is that they used a solid state pre-amp with a tube driven power-amp. I remember that they were incredibly LOUD, but had a nice tone. | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1561 Registered: 9-2002 |
David: Don't the Sterlings have a 'dummy coil' set-up? For most people, the StingRay Five has become the 'defacto' five string, much like a Jazz or PBass in four-strings. Supposedly the Sterlings were meant to have more of a Jazz feel with the slimmer body and Jazz-width neck. J o e y | ||
| benson_murrensun
Advanced Member Username: benson_murrensun Post Number: 390 Registered: 5-2007 |
Here's the fact sheet I have on the Sterling. This says there is a dummy coil on the single pickup model: Model: Sterling Size: 12-1/2" wide, 1-5/8" thick, 43-7/8" long (31.8 cm wide, 4.1 cm thick, 111.4 cm long) Weight: 9 lbs (4.08 kg) - varies slightly Body Wood: Ash Body Finish: High gloss polyester Bridge: Standard - Music ManŽ chrome plated, hardened steel bridge plate with stainless steel saddles; Optional - Piezo bridge with nickel plated brass saddles Pickguard: Standard - Black or White; Optional - Shell, White Pearloid, Vintage White Pearloid, or Black Pearloid. Scale Length: 34" (86.4 cm) Neck Radius: 11" (27.9 cm) Headstock Size: Only 7-5/8" (19.4 cm) long Frets: 22 - High profile, wide Neck Width: 1-1/2" (38.1 mm) at nut, 2-1/2" (63.5 mm) at last fret Neck Wood: Select maple neck Fingerboard: Fretted - maple or rosewood; Fretless - Pau Ferro with or without inlaid fretlines Neck Finish: Gunstock oil and hand-rubbed special wax blend Neck Colors: Standard - Natural; Optional - Matching painted headstock Tuning Machines: Schaller BM, with tapered string posts Truss Rod: Adjustable - no component or string removal Neck Attachment: 5 bolts - perfect alignment with no shifting; Sculpted neck joint allows smooth access to higher frets Electronic Shielding: Graphite acrylic resin coated body cavity and aluminum lined control cover Controls: Single Pickup, 3-band active preamp; vol, treble, mid, bass; Dual Pickup, 3-band active preamp; vol, treble, mid, bass; Piezo 3-band active preamp: vol, mag/piezo pan, treble, mid, bass Switching: Single Pickup - 3-way lever pickup selector; Dual Pickup - 5-way lever pickup selector Pickups: Standard - Music ManŽ humbucking with ceramic magnets and hum canceling phantom coil; Optional - Dual Humbucking with ceramic magnets; Optional - Humbucking/Single coil with ceramic magnets Left Handed: Yes Strings: 45w-65w-80w-100w (Super Slinky Bass #2834) | ||
| bassilisk
Member Username: bassilisk Post Number: 89 Registered: 4-2009 |
Yes there is indeed a dummy coil on the single pickup Sterling. I found it when I pulled the pickup - it is below and between the two side by side upper coils, and there is an additional "channel" rout for it so it sits flush in the cavity. I had it with me when I visited Vinny Fodera's shop not long after I got it and he was very impressed with the build level and attention to detail for this price point. He specifically mentioned the use of inserts with machine screws on the control and battery plates. When the little things are thought through, you know the bigger things were too. | ||
| dfung60
Senior Member Username: dfung60 Post Number: 455 Registered: 5-2002 |
I've never looked inside a Sterling before, but there is a full history of the Sterling and Stingray 5 dummy coil on the EBMM forum from an insider. Check out http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-basses/39452-sting-ray-5-without-phantom-coil.html and look for a posting from 5Stringer. It's an interesting story - the dummy coil wasn't there at first, has been there for many years and now is no longer there anymore on most models. I could have sworn that the Sterling was out before the StingRay5, but it doesn't sound like this was the case (electronically, they are closer to each other than to the StingRay 4). I never had a Sterling or StingRay5, but I do have one of the original Paul Reed Smith basses. This bass has 3 pickups on the front and a dummy hum canceller on the back. It is exquistely constructed, but basically demonstrates that Paul Reed Smith is a master of the 6-string electric guitar... It's sort of like a Gibson bass - you can see how it came about, but the result just doesn't quite make sense. I also had an 80's Stratocaster Elite which was also very beautiful (they should bring back the pewter metallic finish) and had 3 pickups, a hum canceller under the pickguard and a one-knob active EQ. It was great to play and had very interesting tones, but was not aurally recognizable as a Strat. Hey, by that token an Alembic isn't a bass either... I never really thought about what the "standard" 5-string bass was. It could very well be the StingRay5, although I would have guessed it would have been the Fender Jazz 5 or maybe some sort of Ibanez. It's funny that nothing has emerged as prominently as the Jazz, Precision, or StingRay. There are certain brands like MTD or Pedulla where they all seem to be 5-strings, but the absolute numbers are pretty small. David Fung | ||
| bigredbass
Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1563 Registered: 9-2002 |
The succeeding PRS basses also proved he's a master electric guitar builder. I suppose we've come to a point where the evolution has come to a point to acknowledge just how different they are, electric basses from electric guitars. For my own taste, there are no Fender equivalents to the StingRay Five. The current Fender fives prove more to me that they have mastered building them from a construction sense, but somehow they fall short for me. The Victor Baileys are nice, but the only Fender five I ever was quite taken by was the Roscoe Beck Five, now discontinued. Interesting that I rarely like passive basses, but save for that massive Gotoh bridge (a marriage of convenience by Roscoe's admission), it truly felt like it was designed and tuned tone-wise (Bill Lawrence did the pickups) by someone who really knew what he was doing, and RB certainly filled that bill. Would like to run across one some day . . . J o e y |
