Can anyone explain the Musicman Stingray series to me?

[Minininjarob]

Ok so maybe one day I will want to buy a Stingray but despite a lot of googling I can’t get my head around the offerings. 
I understand Fender PB ranges - Squire/Player/USA made etc and their price ranges but I can’t seem to figure out the Musicman range. 
I would be after a 4 string for sure. 

[Bolo]

Ernie Ball Musicman instruments are made in San Luis Obispo, California.

Sterling By Musicman instruments are made in Indonesia I think. Maybe they get a QC and setup in the USA.

 

Musicman makes an instrument called Sterling, this complicates things a bit, but that is to a Stingray like a fender jazz is to a precision.

[neepheid]

Further dividing the Sterling by Musicman range, is the number after the "Ray"

 

Ray4/5 - cheapest

Ray24/25 - middle

Ray34/35 - most expensive

 

Then there are oddbods like the Shortscale Ray which comes in at 24 prices and the Darkray which comes in at its own eyewatering price.

[Beedster]

And then there's the various SUB configs....... 🤔

[la bam]

I tried to figure it out once....... 

 

I'm still non the wiser! 

[lemmywinks]

2 minutes ago, Beedster said:

And then there's the various SUB configs....... 🤔

 

I don't get why they recycled the old USA made SUB name for the new (presumably Chinese) cheaper basses, also why did they reuse the Sterling name for their entire cheaper line when they have a specific USA made model of bass already using it?

 

So you can have a Sterling by Musicman SUB bass (the Ray4/5) which has nothing to do with the original SUB line and isn't the Sterling body/neck shape.

 

Makes no sense.

[Beedster]

6 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

 

I don't get why they recycled the old USA made SUB name for the new (presumably Chinese) cheaper basses, also why did they reuse the Sterling name for their entire cheaper line when they have a specific USA made model of bass already using it?

 

So you can have a Sterling by Musicman SUB bass (the Ray4/5) which has nothing to do with the original SUB line and isn't the Sterling body/neck shape.

 

Makes no sense.

 

Completely, it's either branding genius or the opposite, I suspect the latter

[dub_junkie]

The USA made Sterling basses haven't been in production the last few years.  Still showing on the EBMM pages though so guessing they will be back at some point.

 

The USA StingRays are now either (apart from limited runs and a Mike Herrera signature model)...

 

the Retro 70s which replaced the classic series (slab body, 3 bolt neck, 2EQ preamp, vintage bridge with mutes) 

 

'Special' series (neodymium pickup, 18v 3EQ preamp, 5 bolt neck) 

 

short scale Stingray (30" scale length, passive with 3 way rotary + boost)

 

DarkRay (Special series with 2EQ Darkglass preamp with onboard distortion and fuzz)

 

5 string wise  - Specials and DarkRays plus a 35th Anniversary model. 

[Daz39]

Only slightly more opaque than the Lakland model range!!

[warwickhunt]

I'd be hard pushed to decide if Warwick or Musicman had the most baffling range of basses but it just goes to demonstrate you can be a huge multi-million Euro/$ company and still fail to employ someone in marketing with 1 iota of common/musical sense.   

[Minininjarob]

3 hours ago, neepheid said:

Further dividing the Sterling by Musicman range, is the number after the "Ray"

 

Ray4/5 - cheapest

Ray24/25 - middle

Ray34/35 - most expensive

 

Then there are oddbods like the Shortscale Ray which comes in at 24 prices and the Darkray which comes in at its own eyewatering price.

As far as I can tell the first is passive, the next two have 2 and 3 way EQ, is that right?

 

Also what’s the benefit of having the double pickup HH variant? Just more options or do they sound different like jazz/precision different? I’d be interested in the HH if it was a more powerful output. 

[dub_junkie]

Ray 4/5 = 2 EQ/ceramic humbucker

Ray 24/25 are 2 band EQ/ceramic

Ray34/35 are 3 band EQ/Alnico

 

I had a couple of HH Sterling models(Ray34 and Ray35) The switching on positions 2 and 4 gives both inside and both outside coils) 

You've still got the bridge humbucker on its own so yes, just extra options (edit: which do all sound different)

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by dub_junkie

[la bam]

18 minutes ago, dub_junkie said:

Ray 4/5 = 2 EQ/ceramic humbucker

Ray 24/25 are 2 band EQ/ceramic

Ray34/35 are 3 band EQ/Alnico

 

I had a couple of HH Sterling models(Ray34 and Ray35) The switching on positions 2 and 4 gives both inside and both outside coils) 

You've still got the bridge humbucker on its own so yes, just extra options (edit: which do all sound different)

 

 

Weirdly, just to show how mad it is, there's different version of the ray 34s as well

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by la bam

[dub_junkie]

Ye but it's all StingRays. I guess they know their business model best and what keeps the lights on at the factory but would liked to have seen some of the discontinued bass models re-appear as Sterlings...the Cutlass,Caprice, Big AL, Reflex and Sabre. 

[Bolo]

In conclusion it turns out that yes, anyone can explain the Musicman Stingray series!

[snorkie635]

Thank the Lord, the Bongo wasn't mentioned. Shhhh! 🫨

[la bam]

And the SUB that was made in America, with American parts and was almost an American stingray but not quite and definitely not a SUB that was made as a completely different cheap model elsewhere with completely different parts and body... . Honestly, they're baffling! 

[Minininjarob]

2 hours ago, Bolo said:

In conclusion it turns out that yes, anyone can explain the Musicman Stingray series!

I’m clearer in some respects and more confused in others. 😂😂

[Little Dragon]

Stick with my OLP then.....

[Eldon Tyrell]

1 hour ago, la bam said:

And the SUB that was made in America, with American parts and was almost an American stingray but not quite and definitely not a SUB that was made as a completely different cheap model elsewhere with completely different parts and body... . Honestly, they're baffling! 

Not to mention that there was also a US made Music Man SUB and a Music Man S.U.B.

[Adee]

They sit in the mix very well, buy a used one …

Edited December 21, 2023 by Adee

[Ramsay777]

17 hours ago, Minininjarob said:

As far as I can tell the first is passive, the next two have 2 and 3 way EQ, is that right?

 

Also what’s the benefit of having the double pickup HH variant? Just more options or do they sound different like jazz/precision different? I’d be interested in the HH if it was a more powerful output. 

I've never played a H model Musicman but I can highly recommend going for a HH. My main bass is a Sterling USA 4HH and every position on the 5 way switch is very usable - add in the 3 band EQ and it's fit for pretty much any sound. Can get very close to a J or a P imo (purists may disagree)

 

The 4HH is rare as hen's teeth nowadays, I've been hoping to pick up another and haven't found anything in many months.

 

Calling their budget range "Sterling" is a crazy shout.

[velvetkevorkian]

My most trivial pet hate: calling it the Ray 35 and making it a 34" scale.

[Eldon Tyrell]

I also think Sterling by Music Man should reach out to Sting and offer him a Ray 34 as a signature bass. Would then be the Sting Ray 34. 😜

Ok, ok, I better go 😉 

[Jack]

Big Poppa' seems to want to put his name on everything, even if it does confuse people. EBMM stuff can be impossible to fathom.

 

There was a Stingray 4, that led to five string Stingray, which had different electronics to the 4. So they made a 4 string version of the 5 string Stingray, which they called the Sterling. Then, when the time came to start building instruments to overseas they called them all Sterlings. So you can have a USA Stingray, or a Sterling Stingray. And you can have a USA Sterling, but there is as of yet no Sterling Sterling.

 

Pretty much their first overseas instrument was essentially a passive Stringray, they called it the SUB. They now use the SUB name for the whole line of cheapest basses they make. They are not passive.