pineweasel

Also available as audio only from the usual places. An interesting listen.

If you've not played a bass guitar at all, the simplest first step would be to try a regular 34" scale model for a while to see how you get one with it. You'd discover if you really need an extra long scale, an upright position or a very thick neck.

Assuming it's not something obvious like the disk being almost full, you can run the built in diagnostics https://support.apple.com/en-gb/102550 The internal clean suggestion is worthwhile. We had a couple of slow MacBook Pros in the office that turned out to have badly clogged fans.

They were in the Mod Shop for a while, then removed, but now reintroduced.

Music Man’s NAMM announcements include the Custom Design Experience, coming in the spring: ”The all-new Ernie Ball Music Man Custom Design Experience will allow customers to design and build unique StingRay Bass guitars in both right and left-handed and 4-string and 5-string configurations.” https://blog.music-man.com/instruments/ernie-ball-music-man-new-at-namm-2024/ Sounds like the Fender Mod Shop for EBMM instruments. Deep pockets required, I expect!

I think it’s the bridge. You can draw a straight line down through the fingerboard dots and the pickup centres which doesn’t end up in the centre of the bridge. Still inexcusable but it’s more easily explained than both the pickups being misaligned.

Certainly worth thinking about. Here’s an impressive job from a few years ago: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/256290-nbd-fender-precision-american-special-fretless-conversion/

I’ve had two new Sandbergs, a TM5 and VM5, and both played superbly straight out of the box, with actions of about 2mm at the 12th fret. Have you checked the neck relief? They are easy basses to adjust.

Was about to post the same thing. I have these on several basses and they always work well.

Murphy’s Oil Soap is the stuff Music Man recommend. See their FAQ https://www.music-man.com/faq

These look great and make me wish I was in the market for a Jazz. I especially like the lollipop tuners. It’s a good time to be a lefty Fender fan.

The current owners of the Hoyer brand have a history of the marque https://www.hoyerguitars.com/about/#h

Although the design of the Stingray 5 was based on the Silhouette guitar, so it looks nothing like the Stingray 4. Years later they made a 5 string based on the Stingray 4, which they called the Classic Stingray 5.

It’s the crossover frequency, so the lower the setting, the more HF signal goes to the tweeter

What about finding a used Sterling Ray34 and having it defretted?

I had the standalone Way Huge Pork Loin which did a great job of this. Quite tweakable too with additional internal trim pots.

I’ve still got my Big Head, which I ended up using plugged in due to the battery degrading. It still sounds fantastic, but for practise I now use an NU-X Mighty Plug for its sheer convenience.

Robert Plant, mentioned above, on bass during the Concert for Bert Jansch last weekend at the Barbican

Doh. I’ll try to read the entire post in future.

I’ve bought spares for my Stingray from Strings and Things, the UK distributor, in the past. Worth a quick email? https://www.stringsandthings.co.uk

Another vote for the Nux Mighty Plug, but be aware it’s a fundamentally different setup to the AmpKit. You won’t be using the GK app on the iPad, the Mighty Plug handles all the bass audio, and your iPad is only necessary for streaming any audio that you want to play along with. It’s more convenient; you only have the headphone cable so you can wander around while playing, and you can stream from any Bluetooth device. The only downside is that the Bluetooth lag means you can’t really watch videos and play along.

I played fours for 30 years, but I’ve played a five for the last 3 years and I can’t see myself going back. I love not having to move positions so much, and having the lower range without needing a drop tuner. I also find it easier to visualize patterns across 5 strings. For me there is no downside, and I use my five string for everything.

Duracell PP3 batteries are fairly cheap and last at least 12 months in my active basses, so I simply replace them once a year and recycle the old ones responsibly. I wouldn’t want to require an external box to power my instrument.

Husker Du - Flip Your Wig and Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche ‘85

Agreed, ten years ago you could order loads of their stuff as left-handed, now there are just some Stingray Special 4s in the Vault. I really wanted to buy a Special when they were launched. By the time they did make some lefties I'd taken up 5-string, so now I'm waiting to see if they will ever make a LH Stingray Special 5.