drTStingray

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1495018571' post='3300452'] One of these I believe... (but with four strings obviously...) [url="https://www.public-peace.de/maruszczyk-instruments/mi-bass/frog"]https://www.public-p...ts/mi-bass/frog[/url] [/quote] Looks great in that trans blue - reminds me of a friend's PRS guitar finish. I hear the comments about tone but this sound puts it on a par with the 80s slap sounds like Mark King (the sort of sound you can get from a Jaydee, Alembic, Overwater, BG).

[quote name='keeponehandloose' timestamp='1495022020' post='3300501'] Me, Im happy stuck in the 50's . You had to play Fender bass with a plectrum or you were considered to be a communist. [/quote] I think you were more likely to be considered a communist in the 50s if you DIDN'T play an upright!! You were certainly unlikely to be considered a bass player anyway if you played a bass guitar, and in jazz circles probably into the 70s (though there were occasional exceptions like the MJQ). And if you're talking UK, the chances of finding anyone playing a Fender bass guitar in the 50s was virtually nil - owing to our war time heritage in terms of finances there was an import embargo until the beginning of the 60s - many of our 60s acts even, didn't play Fenders - Gibsons (especially EB2 type) were more common - and of course our most famous with his Hofner. I guess these guitars simply reproduced the upright thump better at the time (or maybe that was all that was available).

I rather liked it although it does get a bit extreme towards the end. And of course it's bass playing - in the same way as Mark King or Victor Wooton. The vast majority of us can only dream of such mastery of an instrument. Fantastic slap bass groove all through I thought. There may be an issue of flash over taste on this particular example but it is intended to be an instrument demo - it has similarities with some of Mark King in the 80s/90s. For those of you who think people (and particularly women) don't dance to slap bass grooves you've obviously never been to a Level 42 concert. What a lovely looking bass as well. I think I've said it before, the only people I seem to come across who have a downer on slap bass are other bass players, and many I meet/know haven't found the inclination or taken the trouble to learn the technique.

10 cc were superb. Reminded me how good they were back in the 70s and a major touring band. It's quite bizarre how some music like this nearly disappears off the radar in terms of radio airplay - this happened to ELO also until the revival in recent years. For those of us reminiscing with rose tinted spectacles about the OGWT, I recall that rather like Later, it had its ups and downs and sometimes it was a pile of poo whereas others it was great - once again, as with any music programme of that type, it depends on your taste as to how much you like or dislike. The Tube is another - some phenomenal stuff on there - along with some not so good.

[quote name='Jecklin' timestamp='1494588051' post='3297176'] It's not the price per se, just relative values. I wouldn't consider £5k for a fodera expensive for example. These are mass produced factory instruments built down, not up to a specification. I watch with wry amusement at the pricing models used by Fender, Musicman and G&L. They charge what people will pay, so good for them. They are running successful businesses after all [/quote] Musicman instruments are hand finished and particularly the necks - that's how they get consistent high quality - not sure what G and L and Lakland do but to get that on a Fender you would be looking at some form of custom shop instrument I believe. So the comparisons being made may not be like for like. All US instruments have suffered at the hands of the exchange rate debacle following that well known recent political phenomena - it's similar in many industries - so we have probably just got to get real on these new pricing structures for instruments. The price of respective used ones is also going up.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1493569956' post='3289160'] It's next week. [/quote] Tomorrow - still can't get there though 😕

Did anyone from here go to this? I would have loved to - Neil Murray is one of my favourite bass players since I first heard/saw him in National Health in the 70s. Last saw him in the We Will Rock You musical and he was great in that as well.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1493561524' post='3289105'] That is infinitely cooler than a Big Al. [/quote] It's certainly infinitely older..... and more quirky - but don't knock the Big Al unless you've actually tried one - they're pretty damn good basses. There's some very interesting old 60s basses in that listing like Vox and even some lefty versions of wierd 1960s creations - the Burns is interesting as well - presumably he used the Stingray 5 for recording. Mark Griffiths is an excellent bass player - check out his bass solo on Nivram on the Shadows final tour - excellent.

[quote name='acidbass' timestamp='1493296649' post='3287233'] Hi All Does anybody know if there is a company out there who make an aftermarket bridge with mutes (a la the Stingray Classic bridge) Preferably Fender style/dimensions Cheers! D [/quote] The Fender Mustang had a bridge with mute to a similar design to the Stingray - presumably how come they included them. So you might find a Mustang bridge or maybe someone makes them. You won't get a Stingray one without buying a bass - they had them up to around 95 as well as on the Classic model now. These specific designs allow the intensity of muting and even muting individual strings to happen, unlike the JJ method. You've got to remember JJ was originally perfecting his playing before satellites, space rockets, computers, PCBs, the Beatles etc etc - almost Neolithic times in relative terms!!! That's not to say the piece of foam rubber method is not effective - just that the systems spoken about by the OP are far more precise and offer broader benefits.

Bernard Edwards played a 1977 Stingray. It is suggested they were shipped with flats (GHS) from 76-78 and changed to rounds in 1978. Bernard Edwards is one of the main reasons I first bought a Ray back in the late 70s - one element of sound I could never get was the pops in We Are Family - until I fitted flats to a Ray a couple of years back and nailed the exact sound. So for my money, in Chic in the late 70s his Ray (with which most of their material from that time was recorded) had flats. + 1 on Jerry Barnes - does a great job (even seems to have the bass sound fattened but remaining clear and punchy sometimes as per Bernard - not sure if Jerry uses an effect).

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1492764105' post='3282942'] As per the sound clip posted above i.e. Very nice indeed. Must add one of these to the arsenal one day. [/quote] Indeed, sounds great and really nice colour. Although I'm really a die hard Stingray person, I also have one of these - 5 strings, HH and also a piezo, which I bring out every so often. Great basses, these. Great sound, plenty of variation and really really comfortable to play. The looks go down well with many people, so much so people often say it sounds and looks great. Turn up the bass EQ and its seismic!!

[quote name='Clarky72' timestamp='1492689427' post='3282344'] Good plan! It does seem the only way to get a white musicman pickup is to buy a cheapo off ebay and just use the cover. [/quote] Well it's a way of doing it (presuming the cover fits the pick up you're using). However, as was mentioned in another thread, you can buy a real Musicman one for about £10 if you order it from a shop. You should be able to buy a whole pick up the same way.

[quote name='hubrad' timestamp='1492079780' post='3277729'] I remember being told, by a non-band person, that fretless couldn't work in a rock band. Fast forward about 20 years and one band I was playing with told me not to bring a particular fretless (I have a couple!) 'cos it was 'too agressive'! Result! [/quote] The non-band person had clearly overlooked Boz Burrell - playing Fretless on several classic blues rock songs of the early 70s with Bad Company - strange thing is the Fretless vibe is very much a part of some of these tracks, particularly Feel Like Making Love. As with a lot of 'what gets played down the Dog and Duck' the role of the bass (often subtlely essential) is overlooked amidst strident vocals, guitar warbling/thrashing and drum cacophony. Boz's playing was quite an influence on me and probably others http://youtu.be/TeZqjZ_kvLY

It has to be blank plank for me, purely for the look if nothing else. As an avid Pino fan, his Musicman has no lines so I don't buy the neccessity of them as extolled by other worthies of bass mentioned in this thread. My Fretless Stingray has no lines - bought used but I was very pleased it was unlined. I rely a bit on the dots on the top of the fretboard (one very dark gig made this very clear to me - and made me use my ears more). I also struggle with intonation more above fret 12, especially if I haven't played Fretless for a while. As you would guess, I'd suggest unlined. I've used mine live and in the studio - generally no problem with intonation although it did shock me initially that I needed to learn to play accurately. That said it didn't take long to acclimatise and I used the bass on most of a recording a couple of weeks after receiving it without problems.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1492413732' post='3279934'] The list, so far: Jack - American Precision Rich - Yamaha RBX preamp Bartleby - Dimarzio Model One Warwick 3 band MEC Pre-amp. Warwick jazz pickups Longtimefred - 2 standard sandberg splitable humbuckers Gregbass - active EMG Precision , Mex Fender Precision set. Tony_m - 1997 CIJ Fender '60s Reissue jazz, 2008 Squier Classic Vibe '60s jazz pups Fretmeister - Stingray 3 band EQ Cato - stock pickups from a Squier VM70s Jazz. Cotswoldbassguitars - bridge pickup; 1978 Jazz Ead - Squier VM Precision 5-string pup Grangur - Seymour Duncan SPB-3 and p-bass Jess Louriero hand wound "Classic" p-bass pup. Saved - unknown 6 string humbuckers Geoffbyrne - Ibanez MM copy pup Bassasassin - DiMarzio DP123 Model J Osiris - Sandberg own brand, 4 string Stingray style humbucker cheap single coil jazz pickups ( Squier,?) P/J set from a Peavey Zodiac. JJTee - Pickups and pre 1995 Ibanez SR885 PJ set from a Fender Jazz Aerodyne. E Sharp - Aguilar 2 band pre-amp Merton - cheap low output pickups from Vester J and P basses jonnybass - fender n3 noiseless pickups and the active 3 band that goes with it. pete.young - Fender P; Japanese not-for-export and SGC Nanyo 5-string Jazz set DarkHeart - Entwistle JBXN SH73 - Seymour Duncans Spb1 and Spb4 Steve Harris sig Lownote12 - Fender N3 [/quote] Wot - no Warwick, Hofner, Rickenbacker or Musicman 2 or 4 band? The F word appears with great (some might say monotonous, heaven forbid) regularity.......

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1492358432' post='3279655'] And an awful lot to look at and think "that's absolute bollocks mate" [/quote] Quite - we must all have wildly varying tastes. For once I liked most of what was on this episode although I too found the Goldfrapp dancers mildly worrying. I can't imagine why anyone would want to rewrite Bootsy-like bass parts either but there you go! As for Jules himself, I think he's ok and a good muso - I've mellowed over the years to the orchestra, helped by being bought a ticket to one of their gigs as a prezzie, thinking I wouldn't like it, and then finding they were highly impressive and truly excellent live - only marred by not giving Mr Swift a little cameo feature, as he's excellent as well. For true fans he has a radio show as well late on Monday nights on radio 2 which features some cool artists. Now if the show had included the likes of Morrisey and Weller I'd most likely have reached for the remote control, as I regularly do with Later!! Different tastes eh....

I had that uneasy feeling because it's exactly what it sounds like to me - let's see if they offer it through the Custom Shop. There's a lot of presumption in your post. It is a decision Fender seem to have taken to deal with the issue (of course they haven't caused the issue but the response to the issue is entirely theirs) but it's not necessarily what Gibson and others might do? A cursory glance at major retailers stocks will show that as far as bass is concerned, Fender's business model involves parking large quantities of product (compared with other manufacturers) with retailers. A lower volume producer may have less of a problem. As I understand it some companies are shipping fully certified rosewood boarded instruments. I wasn't aware of anyone saying they wouldn't until this from Fender. We will have to wait and see what happens. Imagine what it could do to the vintage market.....

Having thought about this further, the thing I find alarming about this, if it is a correct interpretation of Fender's position, is the message it is actually giving to their customers - something like this - 'we can't be asked to provide what the market wants so we'll just give it what we're prepared to'. I'm afraid this sounds reminiscent of quite a number of companies in several industries over the years, most of whom have eventually been consigned to history as a result, even those trading on a 'glorious heritage'. There are, of course, many other alternative bass manufacturers, many of whom provide a far superior product anyway (and some of whom are persevering with rosewood). Perhaps Fender are in such a parlous financial state they actually can't afford to?

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1491859484' post='3276015'] But it will give Fender an opportunity to increase the cost for "custom shop" instruments for those looking to still be able to buy a rosewood fingerboard neck. Or is that too cynical? [/quote] Almost certainly not too cynical. This issue was discussed on the Musicman forum a while back and it emerged that one of the issues this has created is a shortage of the biologists required to certify - creating logistic issues and hold ups shipping product. Sounds like Fender have taken an alternative route with their regular production - of course they make far more instruments than anyone else so it must have created a huge problem for them.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1491866524' post='3276059'] Unless your playing jazz, why would anyone need or want a fretless bass guitar. Blue [/quote] It has a place in other types of music and the fact is, it can sound like a fretted bass when you want it to but with the ability to step out in some tasteful phrases. Blue, you clearly haven't heard Pino from the 80s. I occasionally take mine to gigs in the bluesy funky band I play in and the other band members are quite supportive - audience members have made positive comments as well. I think it can be a very musical and tasteful addition to some songs so no reason why it couldn't become more popular again. One of my favourite Fretless parts.....from the days when bass guitar played an important part in pop music. http://youtu.be/Tg-Q-Acv4qs

Hmmm metal cover - one row of six holes..... I'd hazard a guess not

[quote name='Clarky72' timestamp='1491570954' post='3274048'] I tried Ernie Ball, and no joy. They refuse to sell spares without me supplying the original serial from the bass. I gave them the serial for my Stingray and they wont sell me two white covers as my bass is a 4H, not a 4HH. (I wasn't planning on putting them on my Ray, but didn't tell them that). [/quote] Really?? The 4HH has different pick up covers which aren't available in white anyway!! They used to be an available part (for a 4H bass).

Best of luck finding one - they look great on Musicman basses. However correction time for some replies:- 1) the regular SR5H (not Classic version) has the pick up cover stuck on. Some are black, some are white dependent on colour of pickguard (usually dictated by the body colour). White pick up cover= chrome knobs and white switch head, black pick up cover = black knobs and switch head. The bits are available but you'd have to buy a complete pick up to change the cover. 2) SR4H models have removable pick up covers - when the Classic basses were introduced in 09/10, certain colour/pick guard combinations came with white pick up covers. Black and also white covers were available as a part from EBMM (via distributor Strings and Things ordered through a dealer). Most parts can be ordered but large items like necks and bodies can only be obtained by swapping in the faulty one. If a problem occurs just email EBMM customer services (email address shown on their forum website) and they'll point you to a supplier (e.g. Chandler for pick guards). Just as an aside, white pick up covers were available as an option between 1976 and 1977. Hence you might see some from this era. All pretty simple - if you want to go aftermarket or secondhand beware - I have a cheapo perloid white SR4 pick guard - it's started delaminating - never seen this on any real Musicman one.....

Strangely I thought it sounded very MM - I quite like the range of sounds - it's like a version of an MM Sterling and the selector switch does more or less the same and the pick up's in exactly the right position from what I can see - really surprised the reviewer didn't pick up on that. The properly rooted G and L bridge also contributes to the sound - Musicman also use deeply rooted bridges. Interesting that Musicman's Caprice and Cutlass passive basses have bridges which exclude the deeply rooted bolts - probably part of how they get the more vintagey PJ and P vibe. That said its still higher mass than that original Fender bridge.

[quote name='Treb' timestamp='1490735476' post='3267590'] Ernie Ball will not sell you pickups. Big Poppa himself says so. Want a new MM pickup? Hand over the faulty MM one. [/quote] I think this is many, many years out of date.