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Can I have your opinions on the Fender 'Sting' precision please.


6stringbassist
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These look kind of cool.

Let me explain.....

I have regular gigs in a number of various bands, all play original music except for the jazz standards one.
I play in a 70's style funk band, a jazzy/soulful trio with a fantastic female singer, a singer/songwriters band heavily influenced by Mark Hollis/Talk talk and the aforementioned jazz trio.

I've always been of the opinion that my one main bass can cover all situations, which is sort of right. But so many people nowadays 'hear with their eyes', and me turning up for a 70's style funk band, or an indie type rock band with a single cut 6 string bass, doesn't really cut it.

But other peoples short sightedness, gives me an excuse to increase the number of guitars in my ownership.

I've just bought a Fender Marcus Miller jazz bass, I'd also like a Musicman Stingray fretless, but I really fancy a precision type bass, and these, like I said in the opening statement look really cool.

I'm not too keen on the Sting signature inlay though.

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I had the '51 Reissue which I think is like the Sting but without the body contouring (and the Sting inlay).

I was really, really pleased with the bass. I put a Seymour Duncan pickup in it, fully shielded it and it sounded great. Unfortunately, it had to be sacrificed for the greater good (the ACG 9). It wasn't the 1 trick pony that I thought it might be either.

Definately worth finding one to try out.

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It's a nice bass. However, I'd personally go for the '51 re-issue over the Sting signature:

[url="http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0271902503"]http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0271902503[/url]

It's pretty much the same bass, albeit with a slab body and without the (ghastly) 12th fret inlay, and is about £120 cheaper going by DV's prices. You also get the choice of butterscotch blonde as well as the sunburst finish – though I'd personally go for the sunburst.

Oh... and I'd recommend you upgrade the rubbish two saddle bridge they ship on them to a four saddle one to improve the intonation. Either that, or go the whole hog and stick a Badass III on it :)

Double oh... there's also a Squire version that runs at half the price again and gets really good reviews. Would be worth serious consideration since it's just for a backup bass. It only comes in blue – so isn't quite so "vintage" looking – but also comes with a much better bridge as standard.

[url="http://www.squierguitars.com/products/search.php?partno=0303080502"]http://www.squierguitars.com/products/sear...rtno=0303080502[/url]

Edited by ~tl
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[quote name='~tl' post='368198' date='Jan 2 2009, 02:06 AM']It's a nice bass. However, I'd personally go for the '51 re-issue over the Sting signature:

[url="http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0271902503"]http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0271902503[/url]

It's pretty much the same bass, albeit with a slab body and without the (ghastly) 12th fret inlay, and is about £120 cheaper going by DV's prices. You also get the choice of butterscotch blonde as well as the sunburst finish – though I'd personally go for the sunburst.

Oh... and I'd recommend you upgrade the rubbish two saddle bridge they ship on them to a four saddle one to improve the intonation. Either that, or go the whole hog and stick a Badass III on it :)

Double oh... there's also a Squire version that runs at half the price again and gets really good reviews. Would be worth serious consideration since it's just for a backup bass. It only comes in blue – so isn't quite so "vintage" looking – but also comes with a much better bridge as standard.

[url="http://www.squierguitars.com/products/search.php?partno=0303080502"]http://www.squierguitars.com/products/sear...rtno=0303080502[/url][/quote]

+1 to all of that. But personally I would go for the Mike Dirnt signature. 50s style body, headstock and pickguard, but with a split Precision pickup which, to my ears, sounds much nicer than the vintage 50s single coils. They also come with a Badass as standard (at least the Fender version does - I'm not sure about the Squier version). Link here: [url="http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0138400306"]http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0138400306[/url]

Only downside is that they only come with a rosewood board

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i've recently got a '51 reissue P bass in butterscotch & i love it to bits.
the sound from the stock pickup is monsterous-really powerful & really deep-my band love it's tone too.
as for the stock bridge ok it's very simple & not very adjustable but hey it's a '51 reissue & it does the job,i've got my intonation set up pretty damn close so mine's staying stock.
it sounds different to my other P basses but in a good way & the tone control makes a fair difference to the sound.
the Sting sig' bass should be just the same except for the body contouring.
get it bought,you'll love it.

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I have a Sting P Bass reissue complete with the rather tacky inlay. I believe that it is a copy of the '54 model.

I do really like the sound of it, and it's quite an attractive looking bass as well. I have left mine stock with no modifications.
I should warn you that it has all the flaws the original had. These include the goofy original bridge that cannot be intonated correctly, but you can get close. The fifth fret on the G strung has quite a dead spot, and when you take your hand off of the bass it sure does hum. But oh the tone....nothing quite like it. I am not quite sure of it being a slapper bass, however. I have heard horror stories on the websites here in the U.S. of people slapping it and getting the string underneath the pickup lip and tearing it out. I am not so sure about that, but I do not think it would be a slapper with those little bitty vintage frets. But then again it might ( I am a fingerstyle player only, so I wouldn't really know).

Mine is currently wearing a set of TI Jazz Flats on it, and it really brings out the character of the bass. If you play roots music (folk, country, rockabilly, early rock and roll and blues) I believe it would work excellently in those areas. One other oddity: the tuning keys work in the opposite direction the ones now work, just like the originals. :)

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Like you , I don't care for the signature inlay on the Sting.

Older style P's do look the dogs though - here's mine and my warblings about it if they're any help to you. It's maybe not the finish you'd choose but the rest of it's relevant.
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=24037&hl=finally+fettled+fender"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...+fettled+fender[/url]

Edited by Dr.Dave
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Delberthot's Warmoth pre-57 P?

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=33803&hl=warmoth"]Delberthot's bass[/url]

It's got the contoured body, looks the dog-danglies and doesn't have the tree-hugging marathon-shagging one's sig at the 12th fret.

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beat me to it. Its been modelled after the pre facelift '57 single coil Precision with a jazz neck instead of the P. the reason being that the Warmoth neck's can be a bit chunkier than a regular neck with the extra reinforcement






No Stinglay on the neck and you have the option to put your own logo on the headstock

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Me too. I've always loved the look of them.

I've never got a good sound out of a split coil P bass but these ones are just fantastic.

Most people think that they just do old school deep bass but they can be very aggressive when you dig in. I love mine but I have 2 and only need one. this was the last one in so it will have to be the first out.

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Well I won this on ebay

It's slightly more than I'd like to have paid, but it's 'as new', and he's upgraded the pickup to a Seymour Duncan, and he includes original pickup in the sale.

I collect it on Thursday or Friday evening.

I'll put some flats on it I think.

Edited by 6stringbassist
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