drTStingray

Those mitigating circumstances sound very good to me 😀 the G and L looks nice as well - enjoy.

Question 1) yes - the 2 band was an option from when the 3 band was introduced at the end of the 80s, till 2017 (with the rest of the standard Stingray features including contoured body). Not very many people bought them, and particularly in the 90s. The 3 band is arguably far more versatile and you can get close to a 2 band sound by cutting the mids back significantly and boosting the bass and treble a touch. The 2 band does not have the HPF which the 3 band does - which avoids the boomier bass frequencies. Question 2) yes - I’m my experience they are capable of the normal sounds you’d associate with a Stingray. In fact I did a dep gig (mostly R and B), sone of which was recorded - I used my SR4HH Special - and I was pleasantly surprised that the bass tone was reminiscent of Bernard Edwards with Chic or Alan Spenner using a Wal. Which pleased me greatly as those are my favourite bass sounds. There are comparison videos on You Tube between the Special and the earlier Stingray. The main difference is headroom and the mid range voicing - there is also more bass boost available with the Special. Question 3) The Stingray nut (standard neck size) measured on my basses (not massively accurately) is 1 and 11/16”. The Sterling (US) and Stingrays with ‘SLO Special’ necks are narrower (1 and 1/2” I think).

I love Pino’s playing with John Mayer - as you say very understated and laid back - however he does have his moments and especially live!! 😉

They seem to be extremely rare - I’ve already got three natural Stingrays (SR4 3 band with rosewood; SR5 with maple and the TC passive with ebony). The natural Classic Stingray is a thing of beauty. Im really loving this Bongo however - such a fast action I’m getting into playing upper register lines across the whole fretboard. I see @Old Horse Murphy has already cracked in his quest to not buy any more basses - I will confess to having had a look around but absolutely no likelihood of anything new…….well for several years!! 😁

Sounds great - you’ll have to post some pics when you get it.

It pre-dates the ‘funk fingers’. I think it was on a Cutlass 11 (Sabre with a Modulus graphite neck). Whatever, it sounds excellent - and as on one or two other occasions with isolated bass parts, has shown I’m playing slightly more notes than TL did in the linking sections in the cover version we do. I use my Classic Sabre (mahogany body) with an octave pedal for the track - it sounds very authentic!! Thanks for posting this @Bart Funk Bass - it is a great example to demonstrate P basses with flats were pretty much anathema in the 80s and 90s!!

Congratulations. Love that SR5 Special - got to love a natural Stingray. How long do you think you’ll last before succumbing to GAS again? 😉

That sounds interesting - will you be having a filter EQ? Oh yes I know - however I haven’t looked at any on line bass shops since receiving these new basses haha!! 😁

Indeed - very rare. They didn’t make them for long - something to do with difficulties matching the neck colour to the body - which isn’t a problem on mine. I think it’s just another option, cheaper than via a dealer - standard spec instruments aren’t available through direct sales (The Vault) though. Wow - that’s very nice indeed (if somewhat expensive 😳) - however I won’t be buying any more basses for the foreseeable!!

Agreed - the SR5 20th Anniversary is a great bass (I think the mahogany tone block affects the tone - mahogany works very well with Musicman basses (30th Anniversary Stingray and my mahog bodied Sabre are other cases of this) Fabulous bass - love the white LEDs

Don’t be tempting me 😂

I dig the evil twin!! Love the stealth look 😎 Ive had a little more playing time with the bass - it feels great and the light weight is unbelievable - my back is applauding both this and the TC Stingray - the Bongo is slightly lighter (the TC Stingray is approx 8 lbs). The fretboard has no markers which is a nice clean look, lovely grain and figuring. However (and thankfully), it has markers on the top - quite discrete as they are light coloured. Some more gratuitous pics!!

Spookily it arrived with a large piece of foam around the end of the headstock and the Bongo case has a piece of leather fitted in the case to prevent the headstock from making contact with the aluminium on the inside of the frame of the case. I guess I could play with the big piece of foam on the headstock 😁 Anyway, another piece of info - it appears to weigh somewhere less than 8 lbs - which is excellent. Thanks for the comments guys - it’s a great bass - only 66 made, I believe. It’s called a Bongo Crescendo - and has a BFR neck plate.

My NBD arrived yesterday - a rather tasty MM Bongo. Plays beautifully and looks the biz - it has a subtle light sparkle in the colour!! The fretboard is roasted and figured maple and there’s no pickguard. It appears to have taken exactly 10 days from build to reaching me - this was a direct order through their ‘Vault’ on line system - as was the long scale TC passive Stingray I bought - seems to be a seamless process. I’m sure it’ll be first choice for wedding gigs 😀

Fabulous - and that bass sound is so warm and defined.

Couldn’t you simply order a custom body from Warmoth or similar - the Stingray body is pretty similar to a P bass body but with different (and less extensive) routing?

Aha - I wondered how long it would be before someone noticed that……. I put my hands up to that - having been taken in for years by the ‘all the top players use flatwounds and don’t change their strings ever’ bass forum stories, I’m so out of practice changing strings that I hadn’t realised that bass guitar strings are supplied to fit 50” scale length, it seems - however it sounds fine and I was worried if I remove them and trim the length one or other would break in the process (as has happened to me in the past trimming the length of strings with silk wraps…….). Ps no intoxication but quite a few swear words were expended 😂😂😁

There are light Stingrays around from pre 2018, but they’re more likely to be 9.5 lbs plus. However the Stingray Specials (and particularly the 4 strings) are usually in the 8-9 lb range and often at the lighter end and below. I’ve just got a Tim Commerford signature ash bodied Stingray - it’s a bit of a hybrid as it is normal scale, has the lightweight hardware throughout, except the steel bridge with strings through and mutes as per a Stingray Classic - and passive electronics - but it weighs 8 lbs. NB it (along with the Stingray Specials) has a 5 bolt sculpted neck joint (as opposed to the 6 bolt joint used from circa 1991-2018). The point is these latest EBMM basses are generally very light, even at standard 34” scale. I’m guessing the short scale, downsized ones are even lighter. And all have the classic MM headstock referred to.

This sounds great. However having caught the news headlines last night which covered Man U’s 5-1 win over Leeds - and seemingly a capacity crowd (and all other Premiership matches having a similar situation) I wonder whether similar precautions re Covid are taken, will this will be a super spreader situation followed by a huge spike in infections in a couple of weeks? Time will tell I guess.

Still available earlier today!! How are you guys getting on with the passive electronics? I really like the way the bass is voiced - pure Stingray sound!! @Eldon Tyrell I guess the figuring on the natural bodies is somewhat luck as to what you get - I would have preferred more figuring on the front on mine but hey ho!! The back on mine is quite nice but there again only I’ll know that unless someone sees a photo!!

Congratulations guys - both basses look great - @Eldon Tyrell yours looks a very light colour like mine. These are excellent basses in my view and very rare in the U.K. I’m thinking 😊

👍 yeah I’d probably be interested - have another bass on order currently…… The TC is really nice and with passive electronics, which are really good. The Kingpin is nice (but about £700 more than if you bought it on line from EBMM - it’s supposed to be an on line exclusive!!!)

Wow 😳 I knew you had one of these - when did the other turn up?? As I’ve said before, if you ever think of selling one……(now you have two of them 😏) This is my lightest bass - I don’t know the exact weight but it’s near as damn it 8 lbs. I agree re heavier basses - as long as they balance they’re fine with me (although I don’t have a bad back - just advancing years)!!

Thanks guys - I’m really loving this bass - it will be used at my next gigs at the end of August 👍 can’t wait to hear it at gig volume but it sounds great at home practice level (and a bit louder when I tried the volume boost/cut).

But the sound is fabulous - sounds very Jack Bruce. Interesting to hear Neil Murray on bass on Politician as well. I don’t know if it’s just me (I’ve not followed Jethro Tull for years) but Ian Anderson appearing like an aging middle class country gentleman but still sounding fairly similar to how he did back in 1970 (when he looked rather like a manic long haired country type hippy) was a little incongruous.