drTStingray

White with white pg was definitely an option on pre-release (NB I ordered a Cruz teal 5 on the basis of this ad - by the time it arrived they’d changed the standard pg to white on this colour - so the details shown may have changed on release). I don’t remember what colour hardware was offered on the white one - the yellow was certainly black. The ad was circa NAMM 2018.

I think you’ve misunderstood when it comes to the points I made. I can’t imagine anyone would make the mistake of trying to argue that the constructional attributes of a solid body electric have exactly the same characteristics and reasoning as the materials and construction of an acoustic - that would be silly. However so would arguing the construction materials and fundamental design of a solid body electric somehow defies the laws of physics and makes absolutely no difference to the tone, timbre and sustain. Of course, so does the string choice and possibly most importantly, the skill (or lack of) if the player. It’s interesting looking at some of the types with more consistent quality - such as a Wal. They all have similar sound qualities (and you don’t hear of people trying 15 before they find the ‘one’). They’re all consistently good. There is variation and particularly where the body wood is different - in fact the fundamental design of a Wal is based on a mahogany body - the early ones with ash may well sound slightly different. I’ve found a similar thing with Stingrays and Bongos - consistent sound and quality although there are marginal variations in tone and sustain - and also where body wood is different (eg a mahogany bodied Stingray) - similarly, there are sound differences (marginal) between a maple board and a rosewood. The latter is particularly true with guitars - in fact Hank Marvin is on record saying that his use of rosewood board fiesta red Strats was based on feeling the tone was more mellow than the early maple board one he played initially. So @BigRedX we will have to agree to differ on this subject - I do know that people have produced electric guitars out of numerous items including simple planks of wood and got acceptable (to some) results. That the pick up design and position is probably a major contributor to the sound is not disputed - however the rest of the instrument clearly is - that some people can’t hear a difference is not a reason to argue differences don’t exist. All of the pro luthiers say so as well. At one time, I could barely hear the difference between series and parallel on a Stingray pick up, such was the marginality of it - however I can now hear a clear difference, and especially in certain mixes and EQ levels.

Unfortunately, this debate is likely to degenerate into the tonewood makes no difference debate - I tend to go along with the manufacturers of quality instruments who do this professionally and state that different woods create different effects etc. Debates amongst interested onlookers on the internet, and particularly those that claim the likes of Roger Sadowsky et al would say this wouldn’t they, seem to be deluded into a wild conspiracy theory!! Back to the OP - I would agree - a very resonant instrument translates into a certain tone, which I would describe as an improvement, and also an increase in sustain - I have such a bass and can tell the difference between that bass and others which are similar but less resonant. Of course transmission through the bridge to the strings is not a one way process - the body transmits vibrations back to the strings via the bridge - and presumably via the neck to the tuning pegs and strings - it’s a system of parts. That’s not to say that in an electric instrument there aren’t other factors like pick up position, pick up design, electronics and other elements (not least the strings and the player). But resonance = good in my book. I have one production bass with a mahogany body where it would normally be ash - that bass has a subtly different sound from its more standard siblings. I’m not a great officianado of Fender Precision basses but from personal experience, a bass with a maple fretboard and ash body, to my ears, has a different timbre to its sound than a rosewood fretboard, alder bodied instrument. Dare I say, they may even be more resonant at certain frequencies….. I know some people are only after the ‘thump’ but there are differences in my view (even though we all know wood, construction etc make no difference 😂😀)

@warwickhunt I have similar electronics in my Stingray Tim Commerford long scale. The cut/boost push pull is indeed a large change, volume wise. I have taken that bass to a couple of jam sessions and via both an Ashdown class D set up and a Fender Rumble 100 combo, used the normal setting with the push/pull out (i.e not cut) to get a decent volume at the way the house amp was set up. It’s even more noticeable in series mode on the pick up! I have used it once or twice in a gig through my Mark Bass rig, with the bass and amp set up for normal playing and sound in the ‘cut’, i.e. attenuated mode, and activated the control for a solo. It’s actually quite effective - I found it difficult to remember to change it back after the solo!! Usually, I simply play the bass in the louder variant.

Exactly the approach I’d have taken. How many MM Bongos do you see on the used market, it that’d the bass you’ve set your heart on - it ain’t a common all garden P bass that could be swapped for another without too much hassle. That said, very shoddy of PMT. Give them a bad review if say as well. All that said, how many of us have been to a big box shop, asked to buy an item only for it to be lifted from display on the shop floor? It happened to me once at a well reveered bass shop that used to be in Wapping - the items were taken off display where they were in use, and sold without boxes!! It never dawned on me at the time (I was a bit green to these sales techniques at the time) to insist only paying half price for used items!!! Sorry for thread drift but my experience of many retailers is they have no massive respect for their customers from time to time!!

You’ve just achieved teaching the Basschat massive who don’t live in Walsall how to pronounce Caldmore!! 🤣🤣

I think the comparison being made is that electric musical instruments are one of the only products where (some) people are willing to use something designed and actually built in the 1950s/60s for everyday use, arguing they’re better than stuff produced (and designed) more recently - and indeed they’re reveered. Other stuff like vacuum cleaners, kitchen appliances, really anything you can think of, very few, if anyone would use a vintage one - the world’s moved on in 60+ years!

With the exception a Ford Mondeo is a relatively modern car. A simplistic bass like a Fender Precision is a sort of a workhorse of the 50s (although you won’t see hardly any being used in U.K. groups until the late 60s - much more likely an Epiphone Rivoli or an EB2) - so a Ford Popular would be a far more apt comparison - and a vehicle which no one in their right minds would use as an everyday vehicle, maybe something for enthusiasts of classic cars and for classic car shows.

Fabulous - I think the number quoted as recorded was 133. As you may know from the history of Musicman, many bodies were rejected owing to paint defects and refinished at CLF - sometimes in different colours - there looks like there has been a coat of black on that bass before Inca silver - the silver had gone very green, which many do. I agree - it’s great. People who play slap bass often find their bass pickguards and body wood get scuffed in the area where that wear is - one of my SR5s and several SR4s show wear (in the clear coat and on the pickguard) in that area. I think it’s scuffing from finger nails from ‘popping’ the strings. I would imagine pick players might also create wear like that when playing around the neck joint (for a more mellow sound).

Yep I have - as always very interesting indeed - I seem to remember he stated he was a Louis Johnson fan in the early days of RHCP, and presumably why he went for the sound he did at that time. I’m referring to a period after you mention. I’m pretty sure it was a video of a studio warm up or rehearsal session, around the time of Stadium Arcadium, when he’d started using that shell pink Jazz live and for recording - he went back to the Modulus basses live a while later as the Jazz simply didn’t make an aggressive enough sound, presumably? But he was using a Musicman Sterling in that particular item.

Stingray copy or tribute, incorporating various Fender components - similarly (though not available publicly), Pino’s Thunderbird pick up Precision could hardly be described as a Thunderbird!! 🤣😀

signature Stingray copy 😉😀

I read somewhere that the reality was he (or his advisers) wanted the name of the bass changed to reflect his involvement, presumably affecting all Stingrays sold. Musicman produced 100 basses with through body stringing and Status graphite necks for the 100th NAMM anniversary - very sought after basses. However they haven’t done any other basses with these necks other than the pre EB Cutlass 1 and 2 (Modulus necks). There’s also been some suggestion that Flea wanted a Stingray with this type of neck, which they wouldn’t produce. However Flea has been seen on various videos with Stingrays (may have been US Sterlings) long since the 90s. The change in Policy re signature basses at EBMM seems to have coincided with Bryan and Scott Ball taking over far more day to day control.

Agreed - as with everything, people with money can afford to buy their way around ‘environmentally friendly’. Mind you, are you sure it’s not the remainder of Elton’s entourage 😉🤣 I recall someone discussing a fascinating piece of info years ago - the daily bill for flowers for Elton’s properties - ran to the tens of thousands (when Sterling rates were actually twice those of dollars, in the days before the populace was charmed by lies and idiocy resulting in a B 😀) Now if you arrived this year by shuttle bus from the rail at Bristol, the vehicles have been fully electric.

We’ll have to agree to differ here - I do agree the mix has a great deal to do with it but I’ve been around long enough to recall just how awful many Precision basses sounded live in bands in the 60s/70s, with the exception of simplistic root and fifth stuff - I can think of a number of situations where what I would call a decent bass sound via a Precision was had - as much down to the bass player as well though - Louis Johnson with Billy Preston (but sounded much better and more articulate in the later 70s with Stingray, Sabre and other basses); Alan Spenner with various artists (but sounded a million times better and you could hear the intricacy and articulation of his superb playing more clearly when appearing with a Wal in the late 70s) - I was lucky enough to see him perform at the Roundhouse at the end of the 70s - that Wal bass sound (an original JG series) was amazing. Robert ‘Pops’ Popwell with the Crusaders and Olivia Newton John. As I say, many people will differ with the view, but Matt Bissonette’s bass sounded very supportive - an excellent mix and sound - and for those interested he appeared to be using the front (series) switch setting on the SR5. Background rumble it certainly was not!!!

Agreed re mix for tv - I’ve already got my SR5s so I’m not bothered 😀!! Having seen Matt Bissonette and his predecessor Bob Birch use them, and also Lee Pomeroy with Take That I was converted years ago!!

Yeah fabulous bass sound and mix for tv. Nice Stingray 5 sound - no inaudible background rumbling going on!! Thank the Lord - the bass is crucially important both rhythmically and harmonically in much of EJ’s music.

One of the few acts where the excellent band got introduced one at a time and did short solos - what was more predictable was the ‘sound engineering’ took several bars of it to catch on to the idea they needed to turn the bass up so it could be heard during his excellent slap bass solo - very apt - something which was lacking in quite a lot of the mixes of the acts I watched was reasonably audible bass - I think the pinnacle may be Jacob Collier - inaudible grand piano for whole sections, inaudible acoustic guitar - and these in sections where they were being played largely solo!!!! 🤣

Fabulous - I’m guessing that’s a 2018 bass? They were done when the early Stingray Specials were being done, summer of 2018. Enjoy - looks great. I’ve found recently a new way of EQ ing my Bongo. Cut the low mids a little and boost the high mids and treble a little - with the pick up pan pointed slightly towards the bridge pu, sounds very much like a super Jazz bass.

I think the controls work in a similar way but otherwise it’s a very different bass - large Musicman bridge with adjustable mutes for each string and strings through body; neodymium pick up; adjustable ramp; long scale roasted maple neck; ebony fretboard; stainless steel frets; figured ash body with clear varnish; lightweight tuners; black hardware.

Which is the exact reason I bought a Musicman Stingray Tim Commerford signature bass - still the only ash bodied, long scale passive Stingray produced. Sounds brilliant - you can choose between series, parallel and single coil pick up selections, have a passive tone control and also a push pull volume cut/boost - really useful in some situations.

A lot of people seem to have had them (or SR4s) in blueburst back in the day. It’s really my favourite older Musicman colour as well (however I wouldn’t say no to a peach one, or pre EB Inca silver - my wallet would not agree though!!) I’ve been playing this bass both at home a lot and taking it to jams to play a couple of songs - home practice has included doing bass parts like Take Five or Moondance and then improvising a solo based around the melodies of the songs - my intonation accuracy is improving with practice. However I took it to a jam last night and was asked to play on Moondance (good as I’d been working around that at home) and also some Shadows stuff - the latter posed a few problems as I hadn’t played some of what was asked for at least ten years - culminating in Don’t Cry For Me Argentina which has a nice bass arrangement - which ends up doubling the first couple of bars of the melody in high register at the end…… well I attempted it and I think it was ok!!! I’d say the original bass arrangement was akin to a West End type show song where the bass performs quite an important function. People in the room were complimentary anyway!!! I felt rather self conscious as the lead guitarist was more perfect!! Nothing like a fretless 5 to focus the mind (I’ve got a fretless 4 but never even played a fretless 5 until I acquired this bass a couple of weeks ago) am loving it though - a couple of gratuitous photos!! 😅

It was pretty clean when I bought it but has now had a polish and deep clean (ie under the pickguard, in the routs, and lemon oil of the fretboard) - scrubs up beautifully and looks new - the neck now has Cobalt flatwounds which not only feel great but sound great as well - you can almost hear the fretboard saying ‘Ah thanks’ in a mwah-ish sort of way, having been relieved of the stainless rounds it had (which are going to find their way - well four of them - on to my Tim Commerford long scale passive)!! I’ve had to delete the earlier pics to make space for the new ones (crikey - forum restrictions or what 🤣🤣🥴)

Thanks guys - the colour is called blueburst and was available in the late 80s and early 90s. I agree - it’s a great colour. I’m told Flea’s Stingray 5 (used on Funky Monks) may have been this colour - although not fretless!!

No frets here and what a gorgeous bass. I got this from @jhk at the weekend and I’m very happy. It weighs just under 10 lbs and sounds huge!! It’s a 1992 bass, so over 30 yrs old. The neck has a lot of Birds Eye and the fretboard also has figuring. Altogether a very pretty (imho) and great sounding bass.