How close is a Sterling Ray to a real Stingray

[DirkThrust]

[quote name='iconic' post='931180' date='Aug 20 2010, 06:00 PM']ohh dear I thought I had these Sterlings sorted, thinking Sterlings were lower cost Musicmans?

Sub, SR14 then Ray34....but these ones on Fleabay says its a US one?

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Musicman-Sterling-Bass-USA-Black-Case-Candy-/170528998105?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Musicman-Sterling-Ba...ents_Guitars_CV[/url]


[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MUSICMAN-STERLING-BASS-/320578363472?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MUSICMAN-STERLING-BA...ents_Guitars_CV[/url][/quote]

That's a Musicman Sterling. The Ray34 ia Sterling [u]by[/u] Musicman. Not at all confusing hehehe. Sounds like the brainchild of the Big Plonker

[stingrayfan]

as a PS, I recently gigged the Ray 34 for the first time at a noisy pub gig. Sounded great, cut right through. A keeper.

[mikeh]

Well coming back into playing I had to get the best I could for what I had to spend. I just bought a lovely candy red Sterling SB14 from ebay, and Im VERY impressed. Fantastic finish, the bass was pretty much mint. Playing wise I really cant fault it, its got a really great feeling neck with a nice action.
Ive only played it through headphones so far, as Im waiting to get my hands on an amp, but it sounds great.

Im very happy with it. Dont care if its not a 'real' MM.

[mcnach]

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='931601' date='Aug 21 2010, 02:30 AM']Some, not all, are fetching more than 3 times what I paid new. But even just a tiny bit over new is keeping all the value. It's funny that they kept going down in price until they were discontinued and then the price went up and now they are the rare hard to find OLP's in the sales.[/quote]

eh?
new were about £200 if I'm not mistaken... I have seen people *asking* for more than that s/h, but I haven't seen anybody paying that much, unless tehre were some substantial extras, like a case and expensive pickup/preamp.

I have no difficulty finding OLPs...

[Vibrating G String]

I paid $115 new, no tax or shipping and I've seen them sell for over $300 used. The "rare" part was a comment on what people put in their sales pitch.

If you look on eBay in the US you'll see a few OLP's but dozens upon dozens of new Ernie Ball "high end" stuff. They may have been more common on your side of the planet.

[Chris2112]

At first I was on the fence about the Sterling model. Having played one, I think I'd still go for a proper 'Ray or Sterling if that was what I was after. But they're not bad basses. The Euro Spector I played next to it was considerably better though.

[mcnach]

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='954287' date='Sep 13 2010, 05:01 AM']I paid $115 new, no tax or shipping[/quote]


I think that you were lucky to buy during a sale, they were usually around twice that in the US.

[Vibrating G String]

[quote name='mcnach' post='954390' date='Sep 13 2010, 01:26 AM']I think that you were lucky to buy during a sale, they were usually around twice that in the US.[/quote]
Musiciansfriend had that price for quite a while. They had a hard time clearing them out as before they went off the market the "online consensus" was they were junk. It was a closeout price but the price was often below $200 and that included shipping and for many no taxes.

Actually mine was pretty much junk too I've changed most everything but the wood, pickup and paint. Now I love it.