FLEA and MUSIC MAN - 1983-1996

[Misdee]

46 minutes ago, Kev said:

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.

But even after Flea withdrew his endorsement to all intents and purposes it was still his signature model.

 

EBMM did indeed sell a whole lot of basses because of the Flea association, and probably still do to some extent. So in retrospect Sterling Ball got plenty of gain for very little pain. Modulus Flea/FU basses had a higher price and far more limited distribution than EBMM, for sure, but they must also have had a radically different business model that took that into account. Or at least they should have.

[Misdee]

1 hour ago, lemmywinks said:

 

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.

I remember when black Stingrays were in short supply both sides of the Atlantic ( and probably elsewhere) because of the Flea association. Seemingly everybody (except me) wanted to be Flea. A Flea signature model would have definitely been a big seller, but the trick is to make it profitable. That is not as easy as you might think.

 

Also, I remember that back in the early 1990s EBMM were chronically back-ordered. If you wanted a specific bass you might have to wait a year or so. The factory at that time might not have been able to keep up with demand for a Flea bass. That said, they managed OK with the EVH signature guitar, so who knows?

[oldslapper]

The trick EB possibly missed was not making a “Flea” bass that was an affordable alternative to a Ray. Maybe a Flea SUB or the like.
Most of the Flea fanboys I knew were teenagers who couldn’t afford an actual Stingray. 

 

[Bart Funk Bass]

Even though I've had an all natural 2000 StingRay since 2005, it wasn't until 2 years ago that I found the Excalibur.

 

 

It's a 1995 StingRay that had trans-red finish.

 

I started my adventure with bass thanks to the song "Aeroplane" (or rather the music video, which in my opinion is the best StingRay advertisement in history).

 

Actually, when I bought this bass, I wasn't interested in red color, so from the very beginning the plan was to repaint it black. The luthier did a great job and replaced the frets at the same time.

 

For some time I thought that it would be nice to have an all-original black one. However, I couldn't find it in great condition for years. Of course, the bruises resulting from normal use are something I'm ready for when buying an old instrument. All the ones I came across were pretty beat up. I guess people really wanted to be Flea and they were jumping around the stage with these basses and throwing them left and right. It may be easier to find a Pre-EB in better condition  

 

Now it looks and plays like butter!

 

[ped]

Didn’t they change the bridge saddle alignment due to flea’s feedback? Hence some bridges with a straighter string run being called the ‘flea bridge’ - so it sounds like EB listened to player feedback even if it didn’t result in an sig bass. 

[Bart Funk Bass]

19 minutes ago, ped said:

Didn’t they change the bridge saddle alignment due to flea’s feedback? Hence some bridges with a straighter string run being called the ‘flea bridge’ - so it sounds like EB listened to player feedback even if it didn’t result in an sig bass. 

 

The answer is in the video I made 

[ped]

37 minutes ago, Bart Funk Bass said:

 

The answer is in the video I made 

Nice I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, will do later. Always enjoy your vids 👍🏼

[drTStingray]

11 hours ago, horrorshowbass said:

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. 

 

Stingray copy or tribute, incorporating various Fender components - similarly (though not available publicly), Pino’s Thunderbird pick up Precision could hardly be described as a Thunderbird!! 🤣😀

Edited June 29, 2023 by drTStingray

[drTStingray]

10 hours ago, Bart Funk Bass said:

 

 

Well, you haven't seen the video 

Yep I have - as always very interesting indeed - I seem to remember he stated he was a Louis Johnson fan in the early days of RHCP, and presumably why he went for the sound he did at that time.
 

I’m referring to a period after you mention. I’m pretty sure it was a video of a studio warm up or rehearsal session, around the time of Stadium Arcadium, when he’d started using that shell pink Jazz live and for recording - he went back to the Modulus basses live a while later as the Jazz simply didn’t make an aggressive enough sound, presumably? But he was using a Musicman Sterling in that particular item. 

Edited June 29, 2023 by drTStingray

[Bart Funk Bass]

6 hours ago, drTStingray said:

Yep I have - as always very interesting indeed - I seem to remember he stated he was a Louis Johnson fan in the early days of RHCP, and presumably why he went for the sound he did at that time.

 

Actually, RHCP's first major influence was Defunkt. The bassist Kim Clarke played all natural StingRay.

 

[horrorshowbass]

11 hours ago, Bart Funk Bass said:

Even though I've had an all natural 2000 StingRay since 2005, it wasn't until 2 years ago that I found the Excalibur.

 

 

It's a 1995 StingRay that had trans-red finish.

 

I started my adventure with bass thanks to the song "Aeroplane" (or rather the music video, which in my opinion is the best StingRay advertisement in history).

 

Actually, when I bought this bass, I wasn't interested in red color, so from the very beginning the plan was to repaint it black. The luthier did a great job and replaced the frets at the same time.

 

For some time I thought that it would be nice to have an all-original black one. However, I couldn't find it in great condition for years. Of course, the bruises resulting from normal use are something I'm ready for when buying an old instrument. All the ones I came across were pretty beat up. I guess people really wanted to be Flea and they were jumping around the stage with these basses and throwing them left and right. It may be easier to find a Pre-EB in better condition  

 

Now it looks and plays like butter!

 

Agreed on the aeroplane video being best advertising ever. That's the ray tone in a bottle.

[Doctor J]

12 hours ago, ped said:

Didn’t they change the bridge saddle alignment due to flea’s feedback? Hence some bridges with a straighter string run being called the ‘flea bridge’ - so it sounds like EB listened to player feedback even if it didn’t result in an sig bass. 

If you want to deep dive, and I mean really deep dive, into that topic...

 

http://www.musicmanbass.global/bridges-pre-eb-eb/

[ped]

Just now, Doctor J said:

If you want to deep dive, and I mean really deep dive, into that topic...

 

http://www.musicmanbass.global/bridges-pre-eb-eb/

Oh yes great site that!

[40hz]

3 hours ago, horrorshowbass said:

Agreed on the aeroplane video being best advertising ever. That's the ray tone in a bottle.

Rather weirdly, the Ray is only used for the slapping parts/verses. All the fingerstyle sections of that song are an Alembic Epic (including the solo). He used both basses to record that track!

[horrorshowbass]

Yes!! Thought that.

[Bart Funk Bass]

4 hours ago, 40hz said:

Rather weirdly, the Ray is only used for the slapping parts/verses. All the fingerstyle sections of that song are an Alembic Epic (including the solo). He used both basses to record that track!

 

 

I kinda respect his choice due to smoothness of two Alembic's humbuckers. However, you cannot duplicate a StingRay slap tone.

I like Wal sound on Blood Sugar Sex Magik. But the slap tone in "Naked In The Rain"? He should also use a StingRay!

[horrorshowbass]

I love  the naked in the rain tone!

So grunty and powerful.

[paul_5]

4 hours ago, Bart Funk Bass said:

 

 

I kinda respect his choice due to smoothness of two Alembic's humbuckers. However, you cannot duplicate a StingRay slap tone.

I like Wal sound on Blood Sugar Sex Magik. But the slap tone in "Naked In The Rain"? He should also use a StingRay!

I think the only track on BSSM that was a stingray was the 5 String on ‘The righteous and the wicked’, everything else was the Wal.

[Kev]

1 hour ago, paul_5 said:

I think the only track on BSSM that was a stingray was the 5 String on ‘The righteous and the wicked’, everything else was the Wal.

Didn't he use it on Under the Bridge too, or was that just for the video?

[horrorshowbass]

Yeah wondered about that. He was dancing around enough with it

 

[40hz]

9 hours ago, Kev said:

Didn't he use it on Under the Bridge too, or was that just for the video?

Just the video. Wal on record.

[paul_5]

1 hour ago, horrorshowbass said:

Yeah wondered about that. He was dancing around enough with it

 

Nobody can dance with a Wal slung around their neck! 

[horrorshowbass]

Lol dancing at the centre of the earth

[bloke_zero]

On 29/06/2023 at 08:00, Bart Funk Bass said:

Actually, RHCP's first major influence was Defunkt. The bassist Kim Clarke played all natural StingRay.

Thanks - didn't know them - enjoying the listen - great bass work!

[Misdee]

I went to see DeFunkt back in the mid-80's. Kim Clarke and her Stingray were indeed awesome. She gave it a proper spanking.