Reissue stingrays - wonky control plate

[NJE]

I don’t know if I am losing the plot and my eyes playing tricks on me, but has anyone else noticed that the control plates on the 76 Ltd edition and 70s Stingrays seem to be weirdly positioned?

 

Most of the current and pre-EB basses I have seen have the control plate following the lower contour quite evenly/equally, I presume the plate was designed to follow the shape. However the new ones seem to tilt up to almost touch the pickguard and seem wonky.

 

I love the spec of both but this just messes with my brain, I can’t un-see it. I know there are a billion more important things to concern myself with but I can’t see why it was done? Black one is a new 70s reissue and the Natural is a pre-EB.

 

 

 

 

[LeftyJ]

The one in natural looks slightly better, but that black one is just wrong! Yes, that would bug me too.

[ebenezer]

Bit sloppy me thinks

[Pea Turgh]

Absolutely does my head in when a scratchplate or control plate doesn’t follow the body line! 

[neepheid]

8 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

Absolutely does my head in when a scratchplate or control plate doesn’t follow the body line! 

 

 

Tee hee 

Edited Thursday at 14:24 by neepheid

[tauzero]

It seems to have been pivoted about the centre point so the bridge end is lower and the neck end higher. Seems a strange thing to do.

[NJE]

35 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

 

Tee hee 

I was really interested in these until I saw the pickguard…shocking

[NJE]

11 minutes ago, tauzero said:

It seems to have been pivoted about the centre point so the bridge end is lower and the neck end higher. Seems a strange thing to do.

Yes that’s exactly what I thought, it just seems too close to the pickguard, not seen any original 70s ones that close.

[Bass Direct]

7 hours ago, NJE said:

I don’t know if I am losing the plot and my eyes playing tricks on me, but has anyone else noticed that the control plates on the 76 Ltd edition and 70s Stingrays seem to be weirdly positioned?

 

Most of the current and pre-EB basses I have seen have the control plate following the lower contour quite evenly/equally, I presume the plate was designed to follow the shape. However the new ones seem to tilt up to almost touch the pickguard and seem wonky.

 

I love the spec of both but this just messes with my brain, I can’t un-see it. I know there are a billion more important things to concern myself with but I can’t see why it was done? Black one is a new 70s reissue and the Natural is a pre-EB.

 

 

 

 

Just play the thing ;), seriously though, they are just different, both feel great though IMO...

[Piers_Williamson]

The black one is just wrong!

 

This is the wrong way up (for most people), but a detail from my 1980 Stingray

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I don't think the control plate on the black Ray is wonky as such - it seems to be a different shape to the natural one. Chunkier. Still, looks a big ungainly as result.

[Mrbigstuff]

4 hours ago, Bass Direct said:

Just play the thing ;), seriously though, they are just different, both feel great though IMO...

You mean to say you guys don’t just spend your days drooling at all the pretty basses? I would in your shoes 😂

[Sean]

If you apply a QA auditor's "iceberg logic" and critical thinking to this (it's a manufacturing quality control methodology), if you see something like that, that isn't in spec, out of spec or just "wrong-looking", it triggers a methodical, drill-down into root cause but it also triggers an investigation into what else might be out of spec and why. 

 

Those that have a nose for this and those that can't unsee it have what it takes to become top level QA people. 

 

Me? It's an MM. I'm in shiney Jim Royle territory but I must say I was surprised.

 

I dare someone to go and raise this on the Ernie Ball Bass forum 🤔

[Kev]

Is it because the new ones have the different contouring that's causing it to shift?  I would have thought it was vintage spec, but the body shape looks different all round in that pic if you start comparing other things like the bridge position too.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

The black one needs a whack on the neck to bring the strings in line as well.

[drTStingray]

I don’t know if you guys have read the spec for these reissue 70s Stingrays but they are designed based on the 1976 version geometry and spec - which is different from the later pre EB version, even - the EB versions have ongoing improvements from the 1985 version to the current day. 
 

If you look at the two pics, you’ll see there is no Musicman stamped on the bridge of the 70s reissue, in line with the earlier pre EB basses. 
 

The website musicmanbass global has lots of information on the variations over the years - you’ll find the pick up pole pieces are longer as well on the reissues - as per 76/77 Stingrays along with the 3 bolt neck plate and tilt mechanism. They’re intended to be a faithful repro - I’ve never actually seen one but they are good from what I’ve heard and read. 
 

Im not sure about the control plate orientation - this did change over the initial years in terms of its proximity to the scratch plate, as did the headstock logo and there certainly used to be photos of the variants on the aforementioned website. 

Edited Thursday at 22:56 by drTStingray

[Bevan7]

Yep I noticed this when they were first released. Looks really off.

[Kev]

17 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

I don’t know if you guys have read the spec for these reissue 70s Stingrays but they are designed based on the 1976 version geometry and spec - which is different from the later pre EB version, even - the EB versions have ongoing improvements from the 1985 version to the current day. 
 

If you look at the two pics, you’ll see there is no Musicman stamped on the bridge of the 70s reissue, in line with the earlier pre EB basses. 
 

The website musicmanbass global has lots of information on the variations over the years - you’ll find the pick up pole pieces are longer as well on the reissues - as per 76/77 Stingrays along with the 3 bolt neck plate and tilt mechanism. They’re intended to be a faithful repro - I’ve never actually seen one but they are good from what I’ve heard and read. 
 

Im not sure about the control plate orientation - this did change over the initial years in terms of its proximity to the scratch plate, as did the headstock logo and there certainly used to be photos of the variants on the aforementioned website. 

Do you have a link to any 76 era Stingray's that have the same control plate not following the body curve?  Struggling to see one!

[drTStingray]

47 minutes ago, Kev said:

Do you have a link to any 76 era Stingray's that have the same control plate not following the body curve?  Struggling to see one!

There are lots of pictures of 1976/7 Stingrays on line - they all appear to have control plates which touch (or almost touch) the scratch plate, unlike the later ones. They also angle up to the scratch plate and thus there isn’t a consistent distance between the control plate and the edge of the body at the pick up end. 

 

Ive just looked at the pictures of the natural classic retro 70s bass EBMM have in their on line shop, The Vault, and the scratch plate is like the black one in the picture at the beginning of this thread - it doesn’t look quite so apparent as the black one. I must admit I’d never noticed this in the pictures I’ve looked at many times and it’s only when it’s seen alongside the later version it’s really noticeable. My guess is they’ve tried to replicate the original ones but it curves up to the scratch plate at a slightly different angle. It also possibly shows up more obviously on the black version. Beware also camera angles - the number of supposedly vertical shots (which aren’t quite) and seem to display offset strings that are shown on web sites seems to be quite common. 
 

As @Bass Direct says, best to play your bass and not stare at it 😀😉

Edited Friday at 00:05 by drTStingray

[Kev]

2 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

There are lots of pictures of 1976/7 Stingrays on line - they all appear to have control plates which touch (or almost touch) the scratch plate, unlike the later ones. They also angle up to the scratch plate and thus there isn’t a consistent distance between the control plate and the edge of the body at the pick up end. 

 

Ive just looked at the pictures of the natural classic retro 70s bass EBMM have in their on line shop, The Vault, and the scratch plate is like the black one in the picture at the beginning of this thread - it doesn’t look quite so apparent as the black one. I must admit I’d never noticed this is the pictures I’ve looked at many times and it’s only when it’s seen alongside the later version it’s really noticeable. My guess is they’ve tried to replicate the original ones but it curves up to the scratch plate at a slightly different angle. 
 

As @Bass Direct says, best to play your bass and not stare at it 😀😉

Sorry no not the scratch plate alignment, i'm talking about the alignment with the edge of the body.  Every control plate i've seen follows the body lines, whereas these don't seem to?

[drTStingray]

The 1976 one in this link doesn’t 

 

http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/90434.html?1290992257

 

Also I’ve just noticed the one on my 2016 40th Anniversary Old Smoothie bass is the same as the black one in the pic at the start of this thread. I’d never even noticed until tonight despite owning it for over 8 years 😀 I shall not be losing any sleep over it - it may well be as per the original bass it was modelled on (an early model from 1976). 

[Stub Mandrel]

Is it like Telecaster guitars? On the wonk by design? Look carefully... control plate not quite parallel to the bridge plate.

 

 

[Kev]

9 hours ago, drTStingray said:

The 1976 one in this link doesn’t 

 

http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/90434.html?1290992257

 

Also I’ve just noticed the one on my 2016 40th Anniversary Old Smoothie bass is the same as the black one in the pic at the start of this thread. I’d never even noticed until tonight despite owning it for over 8 years 😀 I shall not be losing any sleep over it - it may well be as per the original bass it was modelled on (an early model from 1976). 

The only one I can see in that link does?

 

Looking at other pictures of other Retro's, I do feel like it has the new body edge contours?  Which may be causing it, or causing the illusion.  Either way, its odd that they wouldn't just copy the bass its a reissue of when they did everything else.

 

BUT who cares, they're lovely basses otherwise.

[MichaelDean]

35 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Is it like Telecaster guitars? On the wonk by design? Look carefully... control plate not quite parallel to the bridge plate.

 

 

I thought that was just my cheap Harley Benton Tele that was like that! I didn't realise it was a feature and not a bug!

[drTStingray]

16 minutes ago, Kev said:

The only one I can see in that link does?

 

Looking at other pictures of other Retro's, I do feel like it has the new body edge contours?  Which may be causing it, or causing the illusion.  Either way, its odd that they wouldn't just copy the bass its a reissue of when they did everything else.

 

BUT who cares, they're lovely basses otherwise.

Absolutely!! As I say, it appears to be a deliberate design on all the reissue basses based on the 1976 model. That photo of the black one seems to highlight it somehow - possibly because of the highlighted edges by the lighting in the photograph - as I said I didn’t notice it on my Old Smoothie until I checked after seeing this thread (and after looking at some pictures on line). As someone with a number of Stingray basses, I was surprised (and that I hadn’t noticed it!!)

 

The white bass at the top of that link has a control plate that is not a continuous distance from the edge of the body, which was the point I was making. This is unlike many of the later pre EB and EB Stingrays.