Stingray Ball Family Reserve

[Dingus]

A big thing in favour of vintage Stingrays is that , as well as being increasingly rare instruments with a great heritage and history due tio their association with Leo Fender , they are also superb basses and easily competative with the best basses made today . It might be stating the obvious , but the fact that pre - EBMM 'Rays sound fantastic and are usually so much fun to play is what really maintains their desirability and ultimately their market price . It's exactly the same reason vintage Fenders command the prices they do - because they are still good basses that do a job , regardless of any "improvements " that have come along in the meantime .

[stingrayPete1977]

I'm not conviced about the nostalgia idea you know, the most expensive old cars are from an era where no one alive can be blury eyed about them, I was born in 77 but would kill for a nice pre cbs Jazz for example so as long as new Rays are in production people will have an interest in old ones, I knew nothing about pre eb rays until after I had purchased my 2002 teal Ray new.

Edited March 26, 2013 by stingrayPete1977

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1364298600' post='2024454']This is what they said about lotus Cortinas a few years ago when they hit £15000, now they are £40k at least![/quote]

Yeah but cars do get rarer - if they aren't looked after they stop running, parts wear and need replacing and they can be difficult to source for vintage cars. It's not the same for vintage instruments which need relatively little maintenance and rarely need replacement parts.

[stingrayPete1977]

There is a famous quote that goes something like "of the 2000 lotus cortinas built only 3000 are still around" almost every part for the cooper s dr t mentioned are available even whole body shells. I get your point but once they get to collectable status people look after them more rather than do things like resprays or putting extra pickup routes in etc as far a basses would be concerned, with things like limited editions the companies are trying to create something that starts off as special, the results vary.

[swanbrook]

I bit the bullet and bought a brand new ebmm ltd once. It was a very nice bass but when you look at other basses you can buy for the same money it pales.

They are a production line bass, well made in fairness but The difference you get with a hand made bass is outstanding. I have said it 100 times I still own and love all my stingrays but I would find it hard to pay €3600 for a production bass again.

The 30th is an amazing bass they got some magic going on there,if it had one more string and diddnt weigh a baby elephant I would be after one.

My advice is take a day trip to one of the uk shops and play one, compare it to others and if you love it then buy it.