USA Musicman Sterling

[hartgeh28e30]

I'm on the hunt for one of these basses but have come to the conclusion they are quite scarce. Have they stopped production? I can't seem to find any for sale at the moment 🤷‍♂️

[Delberthot]

They still make them as far as I know but most people buy Stingrays rather than Sterlings so there are never many around for sale. They do come up from time to time on the forum and on rare occasions you might even see a 5 string

Edited May 29, 2022 by Delberthot

[TheRev]

They're still part of the MM catalogue.  You'll probably have to order one from a dealer if you don't want to wait for a used one to turn up.

 

Edit.

There's a used natural 4 string for sale at The Gallery in London.

 

Edited May 29, 2022 by TheRev

[Guest]

They’re listed on the Music Man site but both colours are discontinued and they’re not currently being manufactured. I bought a 5 new, one of the last ones for sale, with a build date of Jan 2020. They never sold in the quantities of the StingRay (but IMHO they’re a better looking and sounding bass). I’m still hoping they’ll do a Sterling Special with the lighter weight hardware etc. but I doubt they’ll be offered again in the near future. 

[dub_junkie]

I guess there’s hope MusicMan will re-start the Sterling in its original or maybe a revised Special version, in that it’s still showing on their instruments pages. 
The Classic StingRays have disappeared from the EBMM online site completely. 

[lee650]

13 hours ago, hartgeh28e30 said:

I'm on the hunt for one of these basses but have come to the conclusion they are quite scarce. Have they stopped production? I can't seem to find any for sale at the moment 🤷‍♂️

Speak to @warwickhunt I believe he's got a couple for sale.

I was selling a gorgeous one not too long ago, not many were interested. I happen to prefer them to the Ray, smaller body,slimmer neck and more variation in tone. 

 

[warwickhunt]

9 hours ago, lee650 said:

Speak to @warwickhunt I believe he's got a couple for sale.

I was selling a gorgeous one not too long ago, not many were interested. I happen to prefer them to the Ray, smaller body,slimmer neck and more variation in tone. 

 

 

Sadly don't presently have one and foolishly sold mine when prices were quite depressed, the few that are for sale presently seem to command high prices in comparison to just a couple of years ago.    

[Clarky]

one came up FS last night

 

 

[Quatschmacher]

One here too:

https://thebassgallery.com/products/ernie-ball-musicman-sterling-usa

[Delberthot]

They didn't do a 25th anniversary model in 2018 but they have the opportunity for a 30th next year.  I'm not holding my breath

[andyaber]

On 29/05/2022 at 09:20, hartgeh28e30 said:

I'm on the hunt for one of these basses but have come to the conclusion they are quite scarce. Have they stopped production? I can't seem to find any for sale at the moment 🤷‍♂️

So what are you after exactly?  New, second hand?

Edited June 2, 2022 by andyaber

[Guest]

There’s a nice black black maple one on Reverb. Even at a “shop” price it’s a decent deal.

[wrinkleygit]

You need to track down “Rita” also known back in the day as “the basschat bike”, have fond memories of that bass !!!!

[warwickhunt]

1 minute ago, wrinkleygit said:

You need to track down “Rita” also known back in the day as “the basschat bike”, have fond memories of that bass !!!!

 

Not hard to track down @lee650 owns it! 

[Quatschmacher]

5 hours ago, warwickhunt said:

 

Not hard to track down @lee650 owns it! 

Nope, he sold it again a while back. 

[lee650]

13 hours ago, Quatschmacher said:

Nope, he sold it again a while back. 

Unfortunately I did in a fit of "I don't need that musicman sound" I then bought a ray 5HH🙄

Rita now lives with an older gentlemen in Poland, judging by his face when he tried it, I suspect, she's now found a forever home. He even agreed to keep the name 😊

[von Braun]

I do have a Blue Pearl/original matt black plate/maple neck mid 90s USA Sterling (with the inlaid neck plate but not the Flea bridge) that I'm thinking of moving on.  I'm only really backing up acoustic stuff as the moment and with the Sterling, versatile as it is, I can't really dial it back enough to not get a bo*locking for being too noisy, so I'm using less hard core options. Consequently, the Sterling is just laid up in it's (original MM) case at the moment.  I'll dig it out, date it properly on the EBMM site, get some pictures done and see what is a good price.  It's pretty much ding free, so rough finger in the air would be £1000-1100 I guess, looking at previous listings on Basschat, Bass Gallery, Reverb etc.