drTStingray

Thanks - it does draw admiring comments when I take it to a gig (which is very very rare!!) And absolutely - I remember standard daleks, red ones and the black Dalek but don’t recall those - they’re excellent!! I somewhat got away with it Saturday night - the neck plus headstock is quite long and I bashed it a couple of times - thankfully no headstock chip!! (Talk about a long bass, I can barely reach the D string to tune it when on a strap 🥴 no problem playing it though!)

All this talk of Bongos must have influenced me - I used my BFR Bongo on Saturday night for one set - sounded great and especially good with a octaver. However even without the scratch plate, someone on Talkbass thought the combination of white with gold hardware really conjured up that image. I tend to feel there must be a few bass players around with unnaturally vivid toilet fetishes 😂😂🙄 Glad you’re enjoying yours @AndyTravis - both of mine have 5 strings (one is the obligatory orange - though not as striking as the tangerine pearl - which incidentally, you could get on a Stingray and other basses) - I have thought about getting a Bongo 4 in the past but am sort of stuck in the stingray or Stingrayish groove with 4 strings - for the other 45 on Saturday I used my Musicman Sabre.

What happened to the pink keyboard featured in profile pic, @ped

Is that colour tangerine pearl? Excellent colour!!

This looks as though it was inspired by the Musicman Big Al HH. Is it fitted with Dimension pick ups/electronics etc? The demos sound good but I also predict it won’t last too long in the range!!

I can empathise with that - for anyone living in the Midlands in the 60s/70s, and with the hordes of US visitors to the area around Stratford, there were many irregular pronunciations to be sniggered at, including War Wick - and why not, hordes of our country folk have long taken the mickey out of some Midlands pronunciations (both East and West Midlands). However it seems the Americans have, at times taken this to a new level - a couple of examples:- Wal bass (Wall bass) Rickenbacker (variously Rickenbarker; Rickenbocker) There was a long running thread on Talkbass arguing how Rickenbacker should be pronounced. However having seen the Friends episode when they exclaimed ‘Happy Honikah Monica’ I could see where the problem lay 😀

Yeah she’s an excellent player. Love this bass cover.

No problems whatsoever - couldn’t be easier - they give you a fixed price inclusive of shipping and customs - I ordered a Tim Commerford Stingray prior to this as well - they both arrived via UPS - the Bongo has a build date of about 10 days before I took delivery of it. I think the TC was already in stock and arrived within a week of purchase.

I suppose it depends what you’re looking for - I bought a new one last year, via EBMM direct internet sales (The Vault) - it was less than £3k. Theres always the argument that used is better value but I have to say I wouldn’t have been able to get quite a number of my basses if I hadn’t bought them new. Bongos are great btw - this is my second (and I did buy the other - also 5 string but with a piezo, used). Just picking up on the earlier conversation about the distance from the bridge of the bridge pick up on an HH Bongo compared to an HH Stingray, the bridge coils of a Ray bridge pick up are about 3” and the Bongo 2” from the nearest saddle. However the single H Bongo has its pick up more in the region of the pick up on a Stingray (it also has a 3 band EQ compared with the 4 band of the multi pick up Bongo).

I ordered both of mine when they were first announced (April 2018) - the 4HH arrived in August 2018 and the SR5HH in November - they were both a shade under £2300 (3+ yrs ago) and thus pre Covid and other worldwide lunacy - they aren’t going anywhere but you’ll understand, if they were, I wouldn’t be willing to let them go for much under £1800 each!! Also note the SBMM Neptune blue, although nice, is not the same as the 2014 Musicman PDN offering

Fabulous - Bongos are the secret weapon 😀👍 great colour as well - enjoy

Great comparison video - all sounds great. However, I must say the Stingray sound appears far more refined than the Yamaha sound, and particularly with the Yamaha in P pick up only mode - that’s probably more a general comment on a P pick up sound than the way the Yamaha achieves it - which it does very well IMO.

Though it pains me to say it, I’ve been involved in quite a number of these, one way or another…… 🥴 An interesting one which springs to mind was a gig in the Home Counties - I think Farnborough/ Aldershot way - we were booked for a NAAFI gig along with a deejay who worked for the same agent - on driving into the location, we were met by the spectacle of the deejay, who had been involved in quite a serious collision in his van, and was sporting a somewhat bloodied face and hands and a barely drivable van. Anyway he performed his role after being patched up a bit. However, the place was packed with young men, and another act on the bill was meant to be a stripper - who failed to show up. We went on stage with our rather attractive young lady singer to do our disco/soul set - you can imagine the atmosphere in this place - the slightly intoxicated and rowdy audience expecting our singer to be doing the exotic dancing as well 🥴 We got through the set without a riot occurring though it was one of the most nerve wracking gigs I’ve ever done.

Lovely 😎 - interesting you’ve strung the maple board Stingray Special with flats. How does it compare with the rosewood(or is it ebony??)/natural/ roundwound combination?

Looks more like a Fender Dimension IMHO. It sounds good. However the sound is only one aspect of the Stingray - there are a series of other factors, not least the exquisitely playable necks on the Stingray Specials.

Very very nice - lovely Classic 5 there. (Love the fretless as well)

The 2 band scoops if you put both tone controls on full - bring them back towards the centre of their travel and you’ll get more mid range if you want to cut through more. You may also improve matters by not having the volume on full (up the amp a little to compensate). It has to be remembered that the original Stingray was designed to be an upgrade of the Precision and to combine some of the characteristics of a Thunderbird and a Jazz, sound wise. Effectively a bass for the mid 70s onwards but equally at home on ‘vintage’ (I.e 60s) material. Those using P and J basses in studios were often using them through Alembic pre amps at that time (even Jamerson was using a bespoke ‘interface’ in the studio in the 60s) - the Stingray placed the pre amp on the instrument, in the hands of the musician. However you need the mutes to get the best level of thump out of a Stingray. The ceramic pick ups, in my experience, can add warmth or bite, dependent on how you play (my favourite Stingray 5 has a ceramic pick up).

Having found out recently Leon Silvers 111 played a Rickenbacker with flats on all those famous Shalamar/Whispers songs, I’m inclined to think they’re great for that post disco, Boogie type of R and B. Im often sceptical about comparison videos as a lot depends on the interface used, the way the basses are set up in terms of EQ etc and of course the player. In terms of the OP, I think the Stingray can be made to sound incredibly aggressive - a Wal also. The Thumb is generally a more woody sound - however I haven’t spent enough time with either a Wal or a Thumb to get the most out of them. Also, the correct comparison should involve an HH Stingray and an HH Wal.

I had heard he played a played a Wal when with Roxymusic, as did Alan Spenner.

You should re-inflate it!! If you hear the isolated bass tracks (a number shown in threads last year on Basschat), you can hear exactly which ones are on a Stingray (which is most of the 1978-80 tracks). The sound is unmistakable (whilst noting that Bernard’s strings were probably the GHS flatwounds it came with). I’ve heard Nile say various things on this when interviewed over the years - including that Bernard ALWAYS played a Jazz bass (which is clearly incorrect).

You have to go back to my post about three strands of people being turned on to jazz/funk. Not only did he heavily influence me, I was in a cover band in the late 70s, mostly doing prog (Camel and the like) but we also did Birdland and some Tom Scott stuff - probably 77/78 right after Heavy Weather was available. I quite sure the underground dance and DJ scene was not interested in this. I do accord with @Bean9seventy ‘s issue with colleges and the like and the distorted view sometimes projected - I actually discovered Jaco’s first solo album in around 2000 following an article on him in a bass magazine - and I was heavily into jazz/funk and a bass player when it came out. The idea it was universally heralded by bass players in the U.K. is ridiculous - I would also say I was far more influenced by Pino’s fretless work with Paul Young than Jaco back then - it was far more accessible - in fact on every juke box in a way Jaco never was. However possession of a couple of Weather Report albums in the late 70s/early 80s did result in ‘lifting’ some of his licks, though it would be about 2006, and in possession of a Hal Leonard book, that I learned some of his be bop stuff - and particularly Teen Town (always one of my favourite bass parts), and Portrait of Tracy. However I still have his second solo album on vinyl, which I’ve had since new - and I learned The Chicken from. IIRC I had it off our drummer, who was the source of many obscure jazz funk, disco and R and B albums - he didn’t like the Jaco album much and I would confess that much of it didn’t appeal to me until about 15 yrs ago, discovering some of his more obscure stuff!! Im sure my experience is not the same as everyone else but similarly I don’t think it was by any means unique or unusual at the time. You were more likely to be exchanging Louis Johnson or Larry Graham licks with other players than Jaco or Stanley Clarke’s. I would emphasise that this was the U.K. - in the US there were even some people using Precisions with flatwound strings at the end of the 70s - however not all - even Jaco used Rotosound roundwounds on his fretless by the mid 70s!!! Flatwounds (as with guitar) we’re very much a 60s throw back 😏

He’s using an Ibanez Musician I think (could be an Aria) 1981.

I was really referring to contemporary (then) pop and dance/R and B. It was not necessary for reggae, ska, rock etc etc

Interesting - I have 14 of them including Let It Be, Instant Karma, Black Knight, Sweet Dream, Love Like a Man, Let’s Work Together, both Chicago. The accent is very much towards the ‘progressive’ music as it was called then. I’m afraid the reggae and soul was very much the preserve (for white youths) of the skinheads and their nearer relatives (latter day mods). There was some total dross in the list, as you can see. 1970 was my first rock concert - Canned Heat supported by The Groundhogs - Birmingham Town Hall - the Groundhogs were excruciatingly loud - I don’t think I’ve encountered a louder gig since!!

If this was your budget for singles at age 13 in 1970, I’m starting to wonder whether you had ‘independent’ means @Happy Jack 😂😂 You've reminded of several long forgotten singles here - I probably have about 5% of these still in 45 rpm form. I reckon my vinyl album collection also is heavily skewed to 1969-71 or so.