FLEA and MUSIC MAN - 1983-1996

[Bart Funk Bass]

If you love Flea or Music Man basses I did a little montage.

 

FLEA and MUSIC MAN - 1983-1996

 

 

 

[Bart Funk Bass]

A quote from Sterling Ball found on an official Ernie Ball forum:

 

"Flea was using the basses and really didnt have any direct connection with us. I invited him to slo to play in a The Mike Krukow Charity Golf Tournament ( former Cal Poly Alumni and Major League pitcher now broadcaster for the San Francisco Giants...has an orange axis) and he accepted. He showed up late barefoot and without a shirt golf clubs or balls. we got on pretty good. From there we supplied him with alot of basses and I hated ihis bass smashing phase. He left over money. He wanted a Flea signature Stingray and I said that wouldnt be right by Leo, Tony, Louis and all of the other stingray players. He said that his drummer was going to make a 100k from snare drum royalties and he wanted to make a cut on stingrays. I thought I had him calmed down but then I got wind of the Modulous deal and the last conversation was his atorney trying to tell me what I had to do and I said the only thing I really get to do is hang up on you....last contact. I wish that Flea and us could have split under better circumstances. I was right though

 

The funny story about Flea is that I asked him to do an ad for Slinky Bass strings that had just come out. he had the strings claimed to like them and I had a wacky shot of him and it said "Flea's Gone Slinky" The ad came out and Flea said GHS called and was bummed and he didnt know he was doing a string ad....."

[Kev]

5 minutes ago, Bart Funk Bass said:

 I got wind of the Modulous deal and the last conversation was his atorney trying to tell me what I had to do and I said the only thing I really get to do is hang up on you....last contact. I wish that Flea and us could have split under better circumstances. I was right though

 

Interesting, what does he think he got right/Flea got wrong?  Sounds like he gave him the opportunity to give him an artist bass before signing with Modulus, and then Ball went ahead and did artist basses in the future with others bassists anyway, trashing his original arguement.  Seems without doubt a missed opportunity for them?

[Lfalex v1.1]

1 hour ago, Bart Funk Bass said:

...He left over money. He wanted a Flea signature Stingray and I said that wouldnt be right by Leo, Tony, Louis and all of the other stingray players....

 

Presumably Tony Levin and Louis Johnson that Sterling's referencing there. 

Who's Leo, though?

[obi 2 kenobi]

Leo Fender

[Bart Funk Bass]

8 hours ago, Kev said:

 

Interesting, what does he think he got right/Flea got wrong?  Sounds like he gave him the opportunity to give him an artist bass before signing with Modulus, and then Ball went ahead and did artist basses in the future with others bassists anyway, trashing his original arguement.  Seems without doubt a missed opportunity for them?

 

His post is more than 10 years old. Sterling Ball also believed that there was no market for signature instruments. 

 

Although I believe that he could have proposed to Flea that they would not give up the StingRay name in the rest of the models, but all black would be Flea's signature. I think it would make sense at the time.

[Lfalex v1.1]

5 hours ago, obi 2 kenobi said:

Leo Fender

 

Thought that was TOO obvious,  so was looking for something that wasn't there! 😭

[Doctor J]

12 hours ago, Kev said:

 

Interesting, what does he think he got right/Flea got wrong?  Sounds like he gave him the opportunity to give him an artist bass before signing with Modulus, and then Ball went ahead and did artist basses in the future with others bassists anyway, trashing his original arguement.  Seems without doubt a missed opportunity for them?

Probably that the Stingray has sold just fine without needing to give a cut of the cash to Flea whereas Modulus went bust.

[Kev]

5 hours ago, Doctor J said:

Probably that the Stingray has sold just fine without needing to give a cut of the cash to Flea whereas Modulus went bust.

I'm sure the Stingray would have sold just fine without the Tim Commorford and Joe Dart models too, but it still doesn't really explain what he thinks he was "right" about, or how those artist models didn't do wrong by Leo, Tony, Louis and all of the other stingray players?

[Woodinblack]

Maybe it was the way it was demanded, or the time? I would be impressed if a signature deal ever really affected any bottom line in any way.

[drTStingray]

I read somewhere that the reality was he (or his advisers) wanted the name of the bass changed to reflect his involvement, presumably affecting all Stingrays sold.

 

Musicman produced 100 basses with through body stringing and Status graphite necks for the 100th NAMM anniversary - very sought after basses. However they haven’t done any other basses with these necks other than the pre EB Cutlass 1 and 2 (Modulus necks).

 

There’s also been some suggestion that Flea wanted a Stingray with this type of neck, which they wouldn’t produce. 
 

However Flea has been seen on various videos with Stingrays (may have been US Sterlings) long since the 90s. 
 

The change in Policy re signature basses at EBMM seems to have coincided with Bryan and Scott Ball taking over far more day to day control. 
 

[Doctor J]

4 hours ago, Kev said:

I'm sure the Stingray would have sold just fine without the Tim Commorford and Joe Dart models too, but it still doesn't really explain what he thinks he was "right" about, or how those artist models didn't do wrong by Leo, Tony, Louis and all of the other stingray players?

Yep, as said, the way I heard it was that he wanted the Stingray to be the Flea. Not a mere signature bass, but a rebranding.

[Woodinblack]

32 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

Yep, as said, the way I heard it was that he wanted the Stingray to be the Flea. Not a mere signature bass, but a rebranding.

 

When I think of a stingray, I think of Bernard Edwards long before I think of flea. And I have a lot more of fleas music than Beranrd Edwards. I guess some images just stick.

[Misdee]

Nice work putting this montage together, Bart. Flea is an iconic Stingray player, no doubt about that. He is also one of the very few bass players people who don't play the bass and know nothing about bass players have heard of and are impressed by.

 

I remember during the era Flea was using Stingray basses him complaining about the necks being unstable and incessantly needing adjustment. I also remember other Stingray players making the same complaint at the time. Still, 30 years later EBMM necks are still flatsawn without any reinforcement, but mine seem to behave okay. Having said that, I would have to point out that nowadays I am only touring between my bedroom and living room with my basses, so climatic changes are fairly minimal.

 

More importantly though, I remember what a monumentally influential bass player Flea was in the early 1990s. No bass player in history has inspired so many bad wannabes. It was  seemingly impossible to go to a see an amature band anywhere in the world without having to endure a usually painfully bad channelling of Flea's bass aesthetic. It was an epidemic. Even some established band's bass players  in came under Flea's spell. From those he inspired,the slapping I could live with, the bombastic punk funk attitude less so. Flea pulls it off because it's authentically him, but no one else does. I will always be a fan of his playing, though.

 

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by Misdee

[Kev]

3 hours ago, Doctor J said:

Yep, as said, the way I heard it was that he wanted the Stingray to be the Flea. Not a mere signature bass, but a rebranding.

Oh right, I haven't heard that story, I just knew he wanted a flea signature model.  If he was demanding that all Stingrays be Flea Stingrays, that's insane.  Is there anywhere I can read about that??

[Misdee]

3 hours ago, Doctor J said:

Yep, as said, the way I heard it was that he wanted the Stingray to be the Flea. Not a mere signature bass, but a rebranding.

 Sounds unreasonable, I agree.

 

But then again,Fender are partial to a signature rebranding of their basses. Look at the Sean Hurley Precision Bass. I suppose that does have a mute, but it's pretty tenuous isn't it? Remember the Phil Lynott P Bass? Essentially a P Bass with a mirror (and an eye-watering price tag) on it.  

 

 I can see where Flea was coming from. There's no doubt EBMM were selling basses on the back of Flea's popularity,but I don't think he was ever going to get a cut. Maybe his revenge was to get Fender to make him a signature Stingray.

[drTStingray]

2 hours ago, Misdee said:

 I can see where Flea was coming from. There's no doubt EBMM were selling basses on the back of Flea's popularity,but I don't think he was ever going to get a cut. Maybe his revenge was to get Fender to make him a signature Stingray.

signature Stingray copy 😉😀

[Misdee]

Thinking about it, Flea's patronage didn't manage to keep Modulus afloat, so on reflection maybe Sterling Ball is a very shrewd CEO.

[Doctor J]

13 hours ago, Misdee said:

 But then again,Fender are partial to a signature rebranding of their basses. Look at the Sean Hurley Precision Bass. I suppose that does have a mute, but it's pretty tenuous isn't it? Remember the Phil Lynott P Bass? Essentially a P Bass with a mirror (and an eye-watering price tag) on it. 

 

Fender's business model is built on regurgitation. It saves them having to think of another meaningless series name if they can tag some celebrity's name onto what is essentially the same thing they've churned out since the 50's.

[Misdee]

2 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

 

Fender's business model is built on regurgitation. It saves them having to think of another meaningless series name if they can tag some celebrity's name onto what is essentially the same thing they've churned out since the 50's.

True, but the rest of the industry has largely surrendered nowadays and decided to follow Fenders model. To the extent that even EBMM have started to copy Fender's models, eg the Caprice, Cutlass, Joe Dart 2.

[horrorshowbass]

Now he is basically playing a stingray with a P neck and jazz type body 😆 

Agreed would have loved a Ray sig.

Would have sold like hot cakes.

I loved his modulus tone and the bass overall but think it was more his skills than anything else. 

 

[lemmywinks]

5 hours ago, Misdee said:

Thinking about it, Flea's patronage didn't manage to keep Modulus afloat, so on reflection maybe Sterling Ball is a very shrewd CEO.

 

A lot of people still associated Flea with Musicman though even though he was only really pictured with his Modulus live basses during their heyday, if they had done a Stingray sig and later produced cheaper OLP and USA SUB versions in the mid to late 2000s they'd have sold a ton, especially the OLP. Modulus being an small operation won't have helped them either.

 

A pal of mine bought one of the USA SUBs when they came out purely based being a Flea/RHCP even though he only listened to them from BSSM onwards.

Edited June 28, 2023 by lemmywinks

[Bart Funk Bass]

On 27/06/2023 at 15:12, drTStingray said:

However Flea has been seen on various videos with Stingrays (may have been US Sterlings) long since the 90s. 
 

 

 

Well, you haven't seen the video 

[Kev]

5 hours ago, Misdee said:

Thinking about it, Flea's patronage didn't manage to keep Modulus afloat, so on reflection maybe Sterling Ball is a very shrewd CEO.

Hardly comparable companies, and Flea left Modulus a good amount of time before they folded, his Flea bass was rebranded as the Funk Unlimited.

 

Also, I think Musicman have made MANY sales from Flea, as he's associated with the instrument, even if he never had an artist model with them.  Put it this way, a hell of a lot more people bought a stingray than a modulus because of him.

[horrorshowbass]

Funny that a lot of the iconic album tones weren't stingray. Wal, Alembic, Spector, Modulus and jazz.