EmmettC Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 I bought this Stingray off Hazbeen here recently. I bought it because it already had a John East preamp and a nordstrand pickup, I really wanted a HH (twin humbucker) version of a stingray, but used ones don't seem to come up that often (or at all). So I decided to get this and fit another Nordstrand pickup. There will be a pup selector and coil tap switch, so I can have quite a few variations of pickups, mostly I think I'll use 2 humbuckers, or two single coil so it should do a good Jazz impression. I wasn't happy with the finish, it had been refinished by a previous owner, and it had started to fade and discolour in parts, so I'm also having it refinished in translucent blue. All the work will be done by Chris McIntyre. [url="http://www.mcintyreguitars.com/"]http://www.mcintyreguitars.com/[/url] Here's an update of the work from today. No routing done yet, but the refinish has started. This is the best pic of the finish so far, I'll update next week and expect it to be finished the week after. I'm loving it so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumple Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 That's going to be a fab looking and sounding bass when it's finished, look forward to seeing the end result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubis Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 "oh yes" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumple Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I have always fancied an HH or HS Stingray 5 so this project is great, shame you can't get hold of Musicman S pick-ups as that woould probably be my preferred route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmettC Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 [quote name='Rumple' timestamp='1327602841' post='1514147'] I have always fancied an HH or HS Stingray 5 so this project is great, shame you can't get hold of Musicman S pick-ups as that woould probably be my preferred route. [/quote] I did consider a generic Jazz pup, but with the coil tap I can run either or both as single coils anyway, I'm hoping with the different pickup possibilities and the East preamp this should have a really massive range of sounds. It should be as versatile as a Bongo, but less ugly, sorry to any Bongo lovers out there, they are great basses, but they have faces only a mother could love. The Stingray 5 isn't the best looking bass either, the SR4 and the Stirling are lovely, after that the designs have been terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumple Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I think you will have a vast array of quality sounds, I had a Stingray 5 for a year or two, it was my first 5er but I missed the neck pick-up of a two pup bass, saying that I now have an OLP that I'm using to practice on and it sounds fine, it's passive and less aggressive then the MM was. A generic J pup would look a little odd I think but a Delano (type) would probably work with the big single pole pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmettC Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 What are the controls on a Bongo HH? Anyone have any info, I might try and replicate it, or at least get close enough. The John East pre has vol, bass, treble and sweepable mid, and I'm thinking of a 3 way pup selector. Not sure what to do about the pups though, either a 2 pr 3 way switch on each pup, so either single coil/humbucker, or series/parallel/single coil. Any opinions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 My Bongo has knobs for master volume, pickup blend, then stack-knobbed control for mid/sweep, bass/treble cut/gain. P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicman20 Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 The Bongo is volume, blend, then a 4 band active EQ (bass/low mids/high mids/treble). The thing is, the main sound of the Bongo is the very powerful 18V pre combined with neodymium magnet pups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 You know, the one thing that niggles me about my Bongo (and I'm not sure whether this the same for everyone, but there has to be a reasonable degree of parity) is the sensitivity of the controls. I'm so used to playing my other basses flat out (OK, granted they're all passive), with everything ramped up to 100%. The output of the Bongo, even with everything flat and the volume at 100%, makes everything else I own seem like a whimper...add tone and I'm constantly rolling back the volume. P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumple Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 So no coil tapping on a Bongo? I never found it that useful on either my SR5 or Sterling but it's nice to have the option, in fact it's more useful on my cheap and chearful passive OLP then either of the MM's I owned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilmour Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I don't think you'll need the coil taps those East preamps with the mid sweep have a huge range of sounds That said its your bass and you know what you like so go for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumple Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Any updates? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmettC Posted February 1, 2012 Author Share Posted February 1, 2012 No updates yet, I'll go and see it later. I hope the paint will be finished this week , and the pickups should be done next week. I'll hopefully have a few new pics later today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 If you love the SR4 look then you could put a SR4 scratchate and control plate on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmettC Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 I did think about it, but the cavity for the preamp is huge, so the chrome control plate would have to be too big. I still might try something like a Jazz control plate fitting into the scratchplate, like the sabre (I think). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmettC Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 I went to see it again today, still getting clear coats, but the finish should be finished this week. I've settled on the switching combinations finally, it will be 2 nordstrand pups, with John East pre, a 3 way pup selector, and a single coil/humbucker switch for each pup. Chris is going to remove a small dent in the neck using a soldering iron, apparently?! It's a small dent at the bottom of the fingerboard at the dusty end, and I've never noticed it it while playing, but if it can be fixed it may as well be. I'm going to stick with the black scratch plate for now, but may go for a sabre/jazz style control plate and scratchplate combination in the future, or maybe just a different colour scratchplate. I'll leave it as is for now and decide about that later. In the mean time, I have the original pickup, scratchplate (with hole for coil tap switch) and preamp to sell, anyone have any idea what they're worth? I would keep them, but there's no going back now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubis Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 I'd be interested in the pre-amp if its the original Musicman one that you're talking about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmettC Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 yea, it's the original MMSR5 one, PM me if you want it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubis Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 PM sent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumple Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 PM'd re the old pup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmettC Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 PMs replied to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumple Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Any updates Emmett? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmettC Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) I'm going in tomorrow, hoping the finish is errr, finished. Then the new pup can go in, hopefully I'll have a few pics tomorrow and a finished bass early next week. Edited February 15, 2012 by EmmettC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmettC Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 It's here..... It's got 2 Nordstrand pickups, a John East Preamp with bass, sweepable mid and treble controls, a (3 way) pickup selector switch and a coil tap switch. All the work, including the translucent blue finish was done by Chris Mcintyre at http://www.mcintyreguitars.com/ It's set up really nicely, and I love the finish, but more importantly it sounds amazing, the East pre is great it's almost too much control and with the bridge pup on it sounds like a Stingray, the neck pup is a bit boomier and together they sound exactly as I hoped it's mellower than a stingray but still agressive and ballsy. Running either pup as a sigle coil sounds a little thin, but it might work in certain band situations, but the 2 together as single coils sound lovely not quite a jazz but maybe a stingray/jazz hybrid. I still haven't spent alot of time playing with the tone controls, so I'm sure I'll fine tune all the combinations to sound even better. I have an audition tonight and a rehearsal tomorrow, so I'll report back later but so far I love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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