Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Musicman stingray/sterling fatigue


wally8
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi

Ive always found it incredibly tiring to play my usa sterling due to the pickup being close to the bridge as with all musicman's. My fav position to anchor is the neck pickup on a Jazz. Ive tried the floating hand technique or anchoring on the e string on my MM but i struggle with those.

Just wondering if i was being weak or have others noticed it? Toyed with the idea of gluing a finger rest on the stratchplate but it looks odd on a MM.

Cheers

Edited by wally8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You clearly haven't played a five string as it's almost essential to lean your thumb against the B string to avoid it resonating when you don't want it to and causing a low drone (bagpipe style) to accompany your playing.

If you can't get used to playing the bass then the best idea is to sell it and play something you like.

Fwiw I transferred my playing style back from 5 string to 4 string which has given me a lot more flexibility in plucking finger position which has created a lot more flexibility in sound. All that said, resting your thumb on the pick up of a musicman and plucking over the pick up creates one of the best bass sounds known to man so I dong see the problem, particularly as you're used to plucking at a bridge pick up position.

I certainly don't notice this as an issue at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1425660257' post='2709535']
Problem solved.

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zero-Mod-Thumb-Rest-Tug-Bar-for-Stingray-Bass-in-Black-No-Mods-No-Holes-/261647606658?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ceb69a382"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item3ceb69a382[/url]

More models are on the way for different basses. I'm waiting for the Ray5 version.
[/quote]

I have one of these, it's great, very solid, well cut and fits perfectly. I bought the clear one and it's pretty stealth!

Works fine on my USA Sub 5 so should be fine on a regular Stingray as the pickguards are identical. Not sure if the Sterling different... and yeah, the 5s without the normal egg-shaped guard aren't covered yet.

Edited by hairychris
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use all areas of the bass to anchor, edge of the fingerboard, edges of the pickguard, dangle my hand over in line with the area between the neck and pickup while my wrist is supported by the body, pickup cover or E string. Some people use a blob of blu tac, if you are anchoring so tightly that you need anything more than just an anti slip area you will be hampering yourself both physically and with your playing styles IMO? The stingray gets this one trick pony tag but that only happens if you only play fingers over the pickup, all basses would suffer the same tag, well the Jazz might have two tones but you get the drift :)

Edited by stingrayPete1977
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1425660257' post='2709535']
Problem solved.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zero-Mod-Thumb-Rest-Tug-Bar-for-Stingray-Bass-in-Black-No-Mods-No-Holes-/261647606658?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ceb69a382

More models are on the way for different basses. I'm waiting for the Ray5 version.
[/quote]

Oh clever!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1425651118' post='2709399']
You clearly haven't played a five string as it's almost essential to lean your thumb against the B string to avoid it resonating when you don't want it to and causing a low drone (bagpipe style) to accompany your playing.
[/quote]

Let your floating thumb mute the lower strings.

[media]http://youtu.be/PPVMBPmrblU[/media]

Edited by JapanAxe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1425678796' post='2709764']
A genuine Sterling or stingray pick guard is about £18 from strings and things, get a spare and fit/make a cheap thumb rest to the spare guard and keep the stock one safe. $40 for that Ebay gadget?!
[/quote]
+1
I read a thread on the EBMM forum where someone was finding the same problem with a Bongo 4H, he bought a cheap spare pickguard and a thumb rest, used blu-tack to experiment with positioning of the thumb and then fixed it on once he'd decided on the best position for it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1425714333' post='2709920']
Maybe your thumb is GASing for the wider range of sound and thumb-friendly twin pickup bass? :lol:
[/quote]

As daft as this sounds you could actually buy a genuine HS guard and modify a single coil pickup housing to fit in the gap as a fake S pickup thumbrest?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1425743764' post='2710284']
As daft as this sounds you could actually buy a genuine HS guard and modify a single coil pickup housing to fit in the gap as a fake S pickup thumbrest?
[/quote]

That doesn't sound daft at all - it's a great idea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An easy solution would be to try a set of round core strings such as DR Fatbeams or Status Hotwires for example which will give you the pliability over the ray's pickup that you want.
TI flats would also work fantastically well if old school's your bag.
Just a thought.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...