drTStingray

The thing with James Brown is its dance music - which generally tends to be repetitive. Some people like it, some don't but for me a band as tight and with as much groove as James Brown's had is one of the most exciting things in music - totally influences my approach to bass playing - always has since I first got turned on to it in the mid 70s - the single Get Up Offa That Thing - (I would accept - probably to the annoyance of some - I know some of my prog mates at the time thought I was bonkers - but they then also gravitated to Tom Scott and Weather Report around the same time!!)

This is correct and to answer the OP the bridge pick up (centre) on a Stingray is 13 1/2" from the 12th fret wire (see the bass plus tape measure posted in post 4 above). I believe this is the MM position the OP was after rather than some other manufacturer's interpretation. The measurement in the spreadsheet is for an SR5 but is still 13 1/2".

People willing to wait seem to get much higher prices - look through The Gallery commission sales and others - and there is such a range of models and specs - some much more desirable than others.

Yeah all good stuff 😊 I think I'd heard that Jack Stratton plays bass but interesting as you say.

I don't think Jaco touched that many pure pop fans - that he influenced people like Norman Watt-Roy to play a fearsome sixteenth note groove on Rythmn Stick and Pino to play awesome Fretless on lots of pop singles may have touched them a lot more.

This is true and there was a reason for that (which emerges in some of her videos). They used three basses simultaneously on many tracks, upright, Fender bass and Dano Bass (the latter as a click bass). Carol Kaye played the 'Dano Bass' role sometimes whilst others played the Fender - all much too esoteric and geeky for a mainstream review!!

Because they were focussing on the role of bass in music (not the role of individual manufacturers and instruments). The latter is entirely debatable anyway - someone once told me the Gibson EB1 (invented 1953) was just as popular as the Precision in the 50s (when bass guitar wasn't on the radar very much anyway - because upright ruled largely). The programme mentioned the P bass and showed at least two players who used them (Jamerson included - the prominence and role they gave him automatically elevated his bass to that role without the need to say so - and it was 40-50 yrs ago 😉)

I wouldn't sell an SR5 (or Stingray for that matter) for £850. More like £1000 or more dependent on type and spec. Agreed one of the notorious flippers of basses (or Stingrays) wouldn't be interested but if someone actually wants to buy one because they want a Stingray...... That said you are right - the dreadful currency exchange value means it's much better buying a bass in the UK from the US than the other way round. Happy Jack is quite right and those who would have us think anything else are indeed delusional!!

Couldn't have put it better myself - I thought it was great and also good to see keyboard bass covered. The footage of Bernard Edwards was great - imagine having that much groove!! And Jamerson also. I think the balance was excellent and particularly as it focussed on iconic music which will be known universally and the changing role of bass in it - was it just me or had the sound been EQd to make the bass more audible in some of the music. The Fender P did get a specific mention as did the Hofner and Rickenbacker (Beatles) but only to show the change created by moving from a focus on thump to sustained notes and potential to play higher up the fretboard. However the iconic lines covered showed a broad range of bass types, which apart from bass geeks, is the reality of how it's generally panned out. As with the drum programme I thought it was done well. Perhaps missed Fretless (Pino probably the most known to a general audience owing to hit singles with various artists) and slap (but this was covered in the double bass section) - and double bass really was ubiquitous until the 60s (with occassional notable exceptions). But generally excellent - I thoroughly enjoyed it 👍😊

This might help for a Stingray (HH version as well). The bridge H is the same regardless of pick up configuration.

Talking of Old Smoothies, I got mine out last night having been inspired by the Phil Mann video from another thread with him playing one - I haven't played any of my other (8) Stingrays since getting the Specials a few months back. However I was reminded how fabulous this bass is - the action is very low and the bass is so playable - so I'm taking it to a jam session tonight 😊

Yes you're right - I was reading the string bit. There did used to be a figure for the E side. Ive just checked my two specials (which have pick up heights as delivered) - all of the pick up cases are parallel to the pg. it's also not far off on level my Old Smoothie (never altered it).

Yes better (for him they changed the slots in the saddles to make them fit the individual strings thus reducing the possibility of highly charged players pulling them out 😂 - maybe he's a little more delicate these days but you wonder how he gets on with an early Jazz bass) but the earlier bridge was still perfectly functional (and better than the early pre EBs which are extremely difficult to intonate). They changed the string angles at the same time. I suspect the mute issue came from the same source!!

There's a measurement for each side (which you didnt say in your post) but as you say, there's nothing said about dropping the pickup cover level with pickguard. I read your post as advocating the measurement on the G side from the FAQ and lowering the E side to the pg which clearly you didn't mean, so apologies. Are you using the E height from the FAQ?

You could argue it's because they have our best interests at heart (don't want us to injure ourselves) but the more likely reality is producing something that needlessly exposes people to injury also exposes them to the risk of litigation - something similar happened, I believe, over the mute arrangement in the mid 90s (which they deleted and replaced with hex bolts). Even now since they've been reissued on the Classic and Old Smoothie basses I think there's some sort warning about injuring yourself on them (the edges of the mounts are relatively sharp but don't pose a problem unless you're in the habit of smashing your hand against the bass as part of your playing style - don't laugh but during the early 90s they modified the bridge because one well known player was in the habit of pulling the strings off the bridge, such was the force they exerted....)

I'm glad that you've got a set up you like and works for you but in the interests of accuracy, that is not the info in the EBMM FAQ on bass set up. There are specific heights for the G and E (or B) sides of the pick up from the strings (whilst noting that set up is an individual choice). This is how they come set up when you buy them new. https://www.music-man.com/faq#category2

What is it people on here say about singers and guitarists? The front man in that band had something of a reputation in the city he came from, having also been a boxer (I used to play in a band with a guitarist who had first hand experience!) I also recall reading that the lead violinist on that particular song was someone he'd met on the bus or something very similar - sounds like a recipe for conflict, with a soul band type horn section!! I can't stand playing the song either!!

Now those guys really do take the p*ss!! What's the betting the Eiffel Tower on the picture behind is a counterfeit and liable to collapse owing to structural issues - or the sofa's a counterfeit and liable to split down the middle - perhaps the chap himself is a counterfeit.... Reminds me very much of dodgy shell suits on sale in market stalls in the 1980s, which young ladies were in the habit of buying only to discover they ripped across the backside the first time they bent over 😧😂

Well I'll join you - we play an interpretation around the John Mayer version and seldom have I come across a root and fifth type of line and feel which is so satisfying to play as part of rhythm section (makes a change from those songs where I'm expected to stretch out and play a bit of Marcus Miller or Jaco style!!). Usually on a Stingray 5 - absolute bliss for me 😀

Indeed but why the build quality being marked down and the sound as well - with no apparent justification. The cost of the Fenders was mentioned negatively and they got a reduction for value as well - 8/10 I think. Presumably the gushy review plus lower cost influenced this (not - it was just a different reviewer and there's clearly not an editorial check for consistency)! As I also said there are recent reviews of ACG and Overwater Jazz style instruments none of which got full marks and a new SR5S got marked down for being too heavy (9.4 lbs for a 5 string). I have always been a loyal supporter of BGM - let's hope they do some decent articles or interviews in the near future otherwise like the lamented taken over BG magazine, I'll be consigning it to the boll**ks pile and ceasing to take it.

Yes, quite. The fact that some of the foibles of the Precision's playability are mentioned in the text but not reflected in the scoring suggests this as well. I think the cause is different individuals reviewing them and giving inconsistent scores rather than specifically toadying to a potential advertiser - and Fender don't seem to place more advertising than say Warwick or others. You'd have thought some editorial process would have caught this. For students of this travesty, a review of an Overwater in a previous issue also got less than perfect scores as did an ACG in this issue. Reading the article on the Fenders it appears the reviewer was scoring them against other Fenders and refers to flawless build quality and QC including the control cavities. Whether the Jazzes are shielded well enough to avoid the usual electrical hum is not mentioned.

Unlike the 'philanthropists' running FMIC, who charge far less (for their factory built mass production) but I'd wager their senior investors do!! However for those who wish to argue your average Ford Fiesta is better than a Ferrari have no fear - you now have semi official supporters..... I received my copy of BGM yesterday and in it the US Original Fender series are reviewed - they got ten/ten for build and sound - fair enough but in the same issue a Fodera got 8/10 for build quality for no stated reason - in fact they couldn't fault it except for the cost - but as they mark value for money anyway it seems a bit odd. In a previous issue they marked down the build quality on the new Stingray 5 on the basis they thought it was too heavy (9.4 lbs). That's lighter than all the Fenders (4 string) they just gave 10/10. My conclusion - their reviews are inconsistent at best, nonsense at worst or worse still, biased. My order for BG magazine is definitely being cancelled - the jury's out on BGM but I've become seriously irritated and have started questioning buying it!! Maybe Silvia Bluejay can talk some sense into the Editor!!

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I understand all these points you've made but I still think it's a generalisation to say a P Bass fits anywhere - well maybe it does but the range will be between fitting brilliantly to being rather meh. And whilst the P Bass may have been popular at various times (including now) as some people have said in this thread there have been times when it's been heavily out of favour. I just recoil at the gross generalisations - whilst respecting the fact that in some quarters, they're the epitome of a bass guitar, and in some studios in the 60s and 70s (and beyond and now) they were/are favoured, there was a lot more going on elsewhere which seems to escape some people's notice. There was a similar thread on Talkbass a year or so back making exactly the same claims for the Jazz Bass. I found the video quite interesting and helpful - although it did restate what I've already heard from some people before. Now down the Dog and Duck and other places and functions I tend to play, the Precision is present but certainly not ubiquitous - in fact it's quite rare sometimes - I think many of the guys involved have probably had one in the past but have changed to other things!

I watched the video and interview. Interesting stuff - Sean Hurley seems a nice enough bloke (as does Scott). What did I take from it - well it appears for some producers and artists the Precision is currently flavour of the month so if you're a pro and encounter them you might be required to use one (possibly theirs, with appalling action, listening to Scott). This idea that only P basses were used in the 60s was put into stark contrast as I watched the TOTP 1964-75 show on BBC4 - I was taken by the array of Gibson EB3s on display no doubt influenced by Jack Bruce and others. Take one band - the Kinks. The bassist was seen in the mid 60s with a sonic blue Precision but for Lola seemed to have graduated to an EB3 - much more rocky sound. There were very few Precisions appearing - and probably a few more Jazzes (especially into the 70s) - now I know this show was sung to a track so the music was mimed but I'm pretty sure those EB3s and Rickenbackers were in use on the recordings. Just like I can tell All Right Now was played on an EB3 (in fact I saw it live played on an EB3 at least 3 times). Im afraid my view of people who think a Precision fits everywhere both recorded and live, well it's probably good in some situations but the number of times I heard them disappear in mixes over the years and anyone who tells me they are perfect on All Right Now is, in my opinion, deluded - they may be described in some situations as adequate. Now I've got that rant out of the way, I was very curious about Sean Hurley playing lines across the strings around fret 12 (clearly with flat-wounds) - an interesting approach and reminded me very much of the sound of my Classic Stingray (TI flats no mutes) played in the same area. Not sure why he was doing it like that - would it be dead spots on the higher strings further down or for the timbre of the bass on the E and A that far up the string?