Stingray advice

[BassYerbouti]

Hi guys,

I am an old bass player who has returned to his roots and is looking to buy a new bass. When I was a kid, all I ever wanted was a Precision but could only afford a copy. Now I am playing in a band and fancy something with a little more presence than my Yamaha RBX I started to look around. I quickly fell in love with a 4 string Stingray 3-EQ and thought I would compare it against an American Precision only to find the Precision just didn't feel 'right' for me.

I would love to buy an older cherished model but will probably end up biting the bullet and buying new cos I'm scared to buy a dud. Does anyone have any advice on models, pickup configuration or just anything to 'look out for' when buying a Stingray please?

regards,

BY

[cd_david]

Hi BY

I would check the forum, there is always a few Rays for sale, mostly 3 eqs. To be honest there is little to be wary of on a musicman bass, the build quality is absolutely faultless, the finishes are really well applied and durable, I prefer a lacquer on the neck but if you buy one with an oil finish it would only cost you about 60-80 o have a luthier apply a satin clear coat.

The only problem i have heard people complaining about is a quiet G string, I own 6 and this is not a problem on any of mine and i presume if you raise the pickup at the bottom it would sort it?

Colour doesn't really alter tone but does affect resale, fingerboards options are mainly rosewood and maple, prefer the look of maple and the sound of rosewood, maple exaggerates the already clear top end.

Last things to consider is the pickup configuration, I love a standard 4 string single humbucker, its THE stingray sound and I dont need to vary it other than tweaks of the EQ.

Good luck

Dave

[yorick]

My knowledge of Stingrays is minimal, but..... Design wise they haven't changed at all. Materials have changed a bit, for example, up until the early nineties they used birdseye maple for the necks,and the body woods may have changed(?). Neck profiles have changed since the pre Ernie days. My '79 neck was quite wide, but shallow depth wise. My present '98 has a slightly chunkier neck which feels like a 70's precision to me.
Electronics wise, some people prefer the 2 band eq over the three band. There are some threads mentioning it on here. There is also the "weak G string" which some people have brought up. Not noticed it myself.
Can't think of anything else.

If you're looking for a slimmer neck/more versatile sounds, have a look at the Sterlings. Also there's a new range of far east models such as the Ray 34, which are getting good reviews, and come in considerably cheaper than the US built ones.

Hope it helps a bit, Nige

Edited March 10, 2010 by yorick

[witterth]

Forum member "linus27" is your man....I think he is (considering) of selling one. PM him, its a really lovley bass if he IS letting it go. plus you can hear it being played via his own you tube links.
like others a have said, highly recommended these guitars, Ive got 2 at the moment and owned 4 in totall over the years.So good luck,cant see you regretting it really.
ATB
W
p.s. proper gent to deal with too!!

Edited March 10, 2010 by witterth

[martthebass]

I've had a few Rays in my time and have yet to play a bad one.

Build quality is pretty consistent and excellent, choice of 2 or 3 band EQ is something of personal preference, try both and see what suits. I'm personally in the 3EQ camp because I find control of the mid useful in a live gig situation.

PuP wise, single H is great, if you can find a double H or an HS this adds versatility to the sound, again personally I'm a single H man because the 'core' sound suits me and I don't like having too many knobs to play with (oooeer missis).

Neck finish, I like both, the oil finish is silky smooth and very playable but can get a bit grimy if you don't wipe it down every few gigs. Mine is currently of the gloss variety which I like but some find a little stickier.

On standard models the neck woods are now generally less figured than they were in the 80/90's - it makes no difference to the sound whatsoever, purely an aesthetic thing, having said that my last standard 2005 Ray had a nice flame to it so i guess there is still some variation.

Pre EB, or EB, lot's of controversy on this. Again I've played both and personally prefer EB because the pre-EB's I've played have generally been a bit on the heavy side (even compared to my Mahogany bodied 30th) and the neck profiles on the 'thick side. The neck profile on 1990 - present day Rays that I've played have all been a sort of modern Precision type - nice and slim front to back and not too wide. If you want less width (i.e. Jazz type) the Sterling is the one to go for.

[casapete]

I'd go for a decent used Stingray - usually a few for sale on here.
Expect to pay around £700,maybe less if you're lucky.
(There's a thread regarding the price of new Rays just started on here too.)
Plenty of colour options to choose from - and don't let anyone put you off the 3 EQ ones, they're great too!

Good luck.

[witterth]

[quote name='casapete' post='770717' date='Mar 10 2010, 06:11 PM']I'd go for a decent used Stingray - usually a few for sale on here.
Expect to pay around £700,maybe less if you're lucky.
(There's a thread regarding the price of new Rays just started on here too.)
Plenty of colour options to choose from - and don't let anyone put you off the 3 EQ ones, they're great too!

Good luck.[/quote]
I think you'd have to be VERY lucky to get a stingray for less than £700, Pete....dont you think? (unless it was one that went "oink" then plugged in!!

mind you the stingray detractors think they all go oink/squwark tone wise.......whadda they know, probably all got Fender precisions (J for joke)

(BTW by"oink" I meant a "pig" or; "rubbish" one)

eerr Ive not helped much again have I?

[martthebass]

[quote name='witterth' post='770745' date='Mar 10 2010, 06:28 PM']I think you'd have to be VERY lucky to get a stingray for less than £700, Pete....dont you think? (unless it was one that went "oink" then plugged in!!

mind you the stingray detractors think they all go oink/squwark tone wise.......whadda they know, probably all got Fender precisions (J for joke)

(BTW by"oink" I meant a "pig" or; "rubbish" one)

eerr Ive not helped much again have I?[/quote]

They do seem to have crept up in price recently, maybe it's a £/$ thing but it doesn't seem to be affecting US Fenders as much (seen 2008/9 P's and J's going for £600 or less recently). I generally thought of a good 2000+ era Ray being around £600 up, that seems to have gone to £700-750 up.

[ezbass]

You could always go for one of the new offshore made Ray34s, Soundslive currently have the black one for £569 [url="http://www.soundsliveshop.com/p/Music_Man_Ray_34_Black/MM-RAY34BK"]http://www.soundsliveshop.com/p/Music_Man_...lack/MM-RAY34BK[/url] I have one of these and there are very, very good.

[witterth]

[quote name='martthebass' post='770762' date='Mar 10 2010, 06:41 PM']They do seem to have crept up in price recently, maybe it's a £/$ thing but it doesn't seem to be affecting US Fenders as much (seen 2008/9 P's and J's going for £600 or less recently). I generally thought of a good 2000+ era Ray being around £600 up, that seems to have gone to £700-750 up.[/quote]
so.. do you think older,EBMM's, late 80s early 90s hold more value? 2 eq models that is ?
(just asking)

[thepurpleblob]

I've had one for quite some years and it's always been my fall-back bass. You simply aren't going to go wrong buying a 'Ray. You've possibly just missed the bottom of the trough with prices - I saw a couple on here for £650 at one point but it's still a good saving over new. A good colour would be a wise investment. Extras like additional pickups (HH and HS), matching headstocks and piezo are rare used and command a suitable premium.

The sound is quite distinctive but (like the Precision and the Jazz) sounds like a bass ought to sound and is almost universally usable.

The only thing I would say (and would think about if buying today) is see if you can have a try of a G&L. This was Leo Fender's last go at making a bass and is rather like a StingRay on steroids.

[martthebass]

[quote name='witterth' post='770797' date='Mar 10 2010, 07:04 PM']so.. do you think older,EBMM's, late 80s early 90s hold more value? 2 eq models that is ?
(just asking) [/quote]

Never noticed much difference in value between 2 and 3 EQ - other than the initial new price. I sold a 1990 2EQ (with birdseye neck) for about £600 back in 2006 - which would probably make maybe £800 now. In terms of holding value, if you bought a 1990 for £800 and didn't abuse the hell out of it then you could expect back at least what you paid in a years time. However if you bought a 2005 for £650 now I'd expect a similar result

Late 80's early 90's are considered to be a good period (woods, bigger 'mute' bridge, satin lacquer neck) but from a sound/playability IMHO not really different to a new model. Again it comes down to whether you would like some of the features of the earlier basses. As said above MM's to me seem to have been made to very consistent quality levels since the mid 80's, certainly my current 2006 Ray is quite possibly the nicest put together bass I think I've ever played.

Edited March 10, 2010 by martthebass

[dave_bass5]

I was in the same boat as the OP over Christmas and started a thread asking all about the MM basses. I didnt have a clue as to what was what.
I go a lot of really good and useful info.

Here it is.
[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=67679"]MM knowledge thread[/url]

[Delberthot]

The thing I much prefer about the newer ones in the last 10 or so years (possibly more) is that the pickup poles don't have the sharp edges of the older ones. That's what made me sell my 20th anniversary 4 string (and it was ugly)

Newer ones have 6 bolt neck joints onstead of 4 (or 3 for the oldest ones) , clip open battery compartments instead of screw on chrome plates.

The 2 absolute best ultimate stingrays for me were my 30th anniversary that had a monumental tone and my 5 string Lava Pearl one.

That's another point, if you're buying a 5 string, until the 5 string sterlings came out the 5 string stingray was really a sterling due to the pickup and electronics which differ from the stingray. Once the new sterlings came out, they changed the 5 string stingray to be more like the 4 string stingray if that makes sense. Oh, and that's not to be confused with the sterling by musicman range which are the budget range.

[Linus27]

[quote name='witterth' post='770602' date='Mar 10 2010, 04:34 PM']Forum member "linus27" is your man....I think he is (considering) of selling one. PM him, its a really lovley bass if he IS letting it go. plus you can hear it being played via his own you tube links.
like others a have said, highly recommended these guitars, Ive got 2 at the moment and owned 4 in totall over the years.So good luck,cant see you regretting it really.
ATB
W
p.s. proper gent to deal with too!![/quote]

HEHEHE you are far to kind to me sir. However, you are correct in saying that yes, I will be selling my 3EQ Stingray in Natural once my teal green one arrives which should be anyday now.

To the thread starter, my experience of Stingrays is very similar to what others have said. They are built to the highest quality and I have never had a dud one either. Personally I prefer the maple neck as to me, this is the Stingray look along with the single humbucker. However, nothing wrong at all with the rosewood neck. With regards to the weak G string, I also have never experienced this. However, what I have noticed is if you dial the mids out, it really does affect the volume of the D and G string. What I tend to do is leave the mids alone and boost the bass. Out To Play Jazz helped me with this and my Stingray tone has really improved. Something else I have noticed which ties in with what Alex Claber told me is a Stingray really benifits from a cab that can reproduce the low frequencies. The mids are very prominent on a Stingray and can swamp the tone if the lows are not coming through the cab. My Genz Benz cab was not so hot and kicking out the lows despite being a very clean tight cab. My new Aggy cabs have much better lows and my Stingray sounds awsome though it.

Anyway, I don't want to influence you to much on buying my one which is for sale. However, please be aware that prices for Stingrays new have shot up. One shop was quoting me £1400 for a new one. Darren at Bass Merchant seems to have the best price so its worth talking to him if looking to buy new. Second hand prices have unfortunately risen also. I am not sure what I will put mine up for sale yet but if interested then drop me a PM. Here is a picture of the her. Good luck with what you decide to do. They are amazing instruments.

[KERMITNT]

buy an HH model dual humbacker. With this you have many option in the tone you get the classic tone stingray [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE[/url]


if you want to sound like pressision you can as well with the switch selector

[BluRay]

[quote name='KERMITNT' post='771010' date='Mar 10 2010, 10:20 PM']buy an HH model dual humbacker. With this you have many option in the tone you get the classic tone stingray [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE[/url]


if you want to sound like pressision you can as well with the switch selector[/quote]


+1

As far as I can tell, the HH bridge pup is identical to the single H version. I was aiming for a hybrid tone (slightly more more p-bass like) and the other HH selections/combinations achieve that really well. In any event its certainly very versitile.

[KERMITNT]

[quote name='BluRay' post='771242' date='Mar 11 2010, 10:35 AM']+1

As far as I can tell, the HH bridge pup is identical to the single H version. I was aiming for a hybrid tone (slightly more more p-bass like) and the other HH selections/combinations achieve that really well. In any event its certainly very versitile.[/quote]

yes i bealive that HH models are the best out there also you can play in the front humbacker and the sound change without needing a rump. awsome sound. Best ever is the classic ray series in 2bnd eq but i bealive that if there was a sabre 2 humbackers as well then i will be all over that..

bottom line best sounding rays are

1 HH all version sabre rays
2 H 2bnd eq
3 H 3bnd eq

[BassYerbouti]

Thank you all very much for taking the time to reply in such detail. I can't digest it all at the moment cos I'm meant to be working and only sneaked on here to see if anyone replied. Thanks once again. BY

[bassmachine2112]

hiho,you also have the sub models as well,lot cheaper-same build quality,generally 2 eq,some passive-perfect giggin bass due to the bullet proof finish.Some people don,t like the look of them but I do.Built in USA usually go for £450 ish or less with a case-bargain.