Hellzero

Bert, aren't you mistaking frequency and pitch? Brits have high pitch voices lacking low mids frequencies and Scandinavians have loads of low mids in their voices, but can go as high if not higher than Brits, so they certainly win when it comes yo frequency range...

Better buy an original one or a reissue model as there's nothing close to this bass, except the Aria SB-800, which is not that common at all Also remember that the strings spacing at the bridge is very narrow on the original model: 15.5 mm, but most of the time, you'll read 16 mm, hélas, it's really 15.5 mm!?! The reissue called SB-1000B and made a few years ago was at 19 mm, which is way more playable. There are some originals in France at quite decent prices: https://www.leboncoin.fr/ad/instruments_de_musique/2866075440 https://www.leboncoin.fr/ad/instruments_de_musique/2219274676 And here's where @Prostheta sells his preamps and parts: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265814794036 Good quest.

Everywhere I go, if there's a music shop (new or second hand), I go in just to see what they have in stock, but most of the time I simply take a look as it's too often "misery at delirious prices" exposed. I bought my Ibanez Jazz Guitar while on holiday in France (Lille, near the Belgian border) some 20 years ago, because it was the kind of guitar I was after and the team was very sympathetic (the vintage D'Angelico they had in stock was amazing, but a tad bit out of budget 🤪 ). I also came back from Italy (Sienna, Tuscany) with a rare EBS active box in the trunk of the car and had some nice talking with the team. If there's something interesting, I'll buy it, if there's nothing, I'll simply get out ... and my wife always gets in with me.

I like the tone and the look of the bass in the video, Marco. 👍👌

I had the same experience with loads of pre CBS, and even worst, CBS Fender's : planks badly made and poorly when not totally dull sounding, that's certainly why I'm playing luthier's basses since so many many many years. That said I owned a terrific sounding defretted 1964 Fender Precision Bass and also a fretted 1966 Fender Precision Bass as reliced as Rory Gallagher's Stratocaster. A 1968 Fender Jazz Bass I owned was excellent too, but it was also defretted one, but that's all. And I owned loads of them...

Hoping I didn't waste a few hours for nothing...

And in the rest of the world, replace the point by a comma and do the opposite for the thousands.

Lowering the feet of your bridge isn't that complicated: Simply "stick" a piece of sandpaper on the top of your instrument (this will follow the shape) and then sand slowly and neatly following the strings length. If you work as explained, you'll have a full contact bridge.

I play both... 😉

Funny, 2 GR Bass AeroTech Full Carbon combos and 2 extension cabinets of the same brand and make later, I went back to the black and yellow brand too... And these brand new iterations again made in Italy sound really really good.

Moan on. First finger = thumb Second finger = index Third finger = major Fourth finger = annular Fifth finger = auricular Instead of using the same stupid terminology as electric bass player naming their pickups front or rear 🤦, simply use the correct names for your fingers, everybody will instantly and clearly understand what you mean. Moan off.

Looms lime the k and m are close on your meyboard @uk_lefty...

I would add that fourth pickup like @tauzero mentioned, and, instead of blends, simply use a stacked volume/tone per pickup and put a Stratocaster type output at the same place. This way it would be very easy to use, but the sum of the parts would cost more than the body itself. I did something similar with a three pickups bass, but in a way better look and I always use a router...

What you say @spongebob about the Nordstrand (MM 4.2 I guess) is very interesting as I had quite the opposite on my SBMM Radio Knobs. In fact, the D and A strings were too powerful and the G string was lacking some brightness, but not weaker. I changed the Ernie Ball Slinky 2833 roundwounds for Fender 9050L flatwounds: all became totally even and way better sounding... Here they are:

Check Nate Navarro testing a Sterling by Music Man Ray4, there's not much more to add, to me way better than the American Sub series on all aspects and I had a few. Quality wise there's a huge difference between a 1976 Stingray and a 2024 Stingray, the original simply being a plank with a neck very roughly made, but the pickup and preamp are pure genius and that's what makes the sound of the Stingray.

Everything screams AliExpress here...

🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮 : It's a fiver.

With lead free solder you need to use way higher temperatures. 300 to 350° Celsius is for old solder with lead. 450 to 500° Celsius is for new lead free solder, which, by the way, is deep shìt.

Isn't the thumb the first finger?

The Pre and Post you mention @Frank Blank is the the Pre Ernie Ball era, so the Leo Fender era starting in 1975, because of the non compete clause after the sale of Fender to CBS in the first days of January 1965. The first instrument, the Stingray, was made in June 1976 with the Radio Knobs, a white pickguard alongside long pole magnets pickup and the last in early in March 1984 when the company was sold to Ernie Ball. The preamp was first black epoxied, so unfixable. Check this website for all the explanations needed: http://www.musicmanbass.global/ Having a 1978 2 EQ and a 1987 rosewood fretboard 3 EQ at home alongside 2 Sterling by Music Man Ray4's (a Sunburst turned into a Radio Knobs with a Nordstrand MM 4.2 pickup coupled to a Nordstrand 2B-MM preamp and a Pueblo Pink fully stock except for the pickup wired in parallel for more tone accuracy), all I can say is that the real tone of the Stingray comes from the pickup wired in parallel coupled to the 2 EQ preamp. The 3 EQ preamp is interesting, but the added midrange changes the overall tone. If you are short money wise, buy a Sterling by Music Man Ray4 and simply wire the pickup in parallel, you'll be amazed by the tone. The maple fingerboard works terrific with flatwounds and the rosewood fingerboard works very well with roundwounds. If you have the money, buy a Pre Ernie Ball, but prefer a model from 1978 on as all the original flaws have been corrected: the mutes won't cut your hands anymore, the saddles are aligned with the strings, the pickup has lost its too strong long pole magnets and the preamp is not black epoxied anymore (so fixable), but still lacks an anti reverse polarity diode and a battery switching output jack (yes the battery is always on even when it's not plugged, but the consumption of the LM4250 chipset is deliriously low and won't empty your battery before years, no kidding), but it takes 2 minutes to solve this.

You have become powerless @colleya : https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/230706409508025--music-man-stingray-special-5-pueblo-pink-rosewood-fingerboard

You know, I've seen a lot of these bands live, and if there's no melody or a huge sense of fun and entertaining, it simply won't work. Freak Kitchen were masters at it, just like the Mörglbl Trio. Steve Vai had a broom in his derrière. Joe Satriani was totally non communicative and 3 hours of me, myself and I is a bit too much. Terry Bozzio was impossible to see behind his 15 meters long drum set. Alex Skolnick was great, but the band was a bit dated. And don't get me started with fusion bands... So I guess Charles knows all this to give a great show and maybe I'll be there if they show up quite locally. PS: The worst concert I've ever seen in this genre, apart from the Luxemburg's jazz conservatory teachers gig, was Stanley Clarke with Al di Meola and Jean-Luc Ponty, which was just a showoffs showcase.