drTStingray

You’ve just achieved teaching the Basschat massive who don’t live in Walsall how to pronounce Caldmore!! 🤣🤣

I think the comparison being made is that electric musical instruments are one of the only products where (some) people are willing to use something designed and actually built in the 1950s/60s for everyday use, arguing they’re better than stuff produced (and designed) more recently - and indeed they’re reveered. Other stuff like vacuum cleaners, kitchen appliances, really anything you can think of, very few, if anyone would use a vintage one - the world’s moved on in 60+ years!

With the exception a Ford Mondeo is a relatively modern car. A simplistic bass like a Fender Precision is a sort of a workhorse of the 50s (although you won’t see hardly any being used in U.K. groups until the late 60s - much more likely an Epiphone Rivoli or an EB2) - so a Ford Popular would be a far more apt comparison - and a vehicle which no one in their right minds would use as an everyday vehicle, maybe something for enthusiasts of classic cars and for classic car shows.

Fabulous - I think the number quoted as recorded was 133. As you may know from the history of Musicman, many bodies were rejected owing to paint defects and refinished at CLF - sometimes in different colours - there looks like there has been a coat of black on that bass before Inca silver - the silver had gone very green, which many do. I agree - it’s great. People who play slap bass often find their bass pickguards and body wood get scuffed in the area where that wear is - one of my SR5s and several SR4s show wear (in the clear coat and on the pickguard) in that area. I think it’s scuffing from finger nails from ‘popping’ the strings. I would imagine pick players might also create wear like that when playing around the neck joint (for a more mellow sound).

Yep I have - as always very interesting indeed - I seem to remember he stated he was a Louis Johnson fan in the early days of RHCP, and presumably why he went for the sound he did at that time. I’m referring to a period after you mention. I’m pretty sure it was a video of a studio warm up or rehearsal session, around the time of Stadium Arcadium, when he’d started using that shell pink Jazz live and for recording - he went back to the Modulus basses live a while later as the Jazz simply didn’t make an aggressive enough sound, presumably? But he was using a Musicman Sterling in that particular item.

Stingray copy or tribute, incorporating various Fender components - similarly (though not available publicly), Pino’s Thunderbird pick up Precision could hardly be described as a Thunderbird!! 🤣😀

signature Stingray copy 😉😀

I read somewhere that the reality was he (or his advisers) wanted the name of the bass changed to reflect his involvement, presumably affecting all Stingrays sold. Musicman produced 100 basses with through body stringing and Status graphite necks for the 100th NAMM anniversary - very sought after basses. However they haven’t done any other basses with these necks other than the pre EB Cutlass 1 and 2 (Modulus necks). There’s also been some suggestion that Flea wanted a Stingray with this type of neck, which they wouldn’t produce. However Flea has been seen on various videos with Stingrays (may have been US Sterlings) long since the 90s. The change in Policy re signature basses at EBMM seems to have coincided with Bryan and Scott Ball taking over far more day to day control.

Agreed - as with everything, people with money can afford to buy their way around ‘environmentally friendly’. Mind you, are you sure it’s not the remainder of Elton’s entourage 😉🤣 I recall someone discussing a fascinating piece of info years ago - the daily bill for flowers for Elton’s properties - ran to the tens of thousands (when Sterling rates were actually twice those of dollars, in the days before the populace was charmed by lies and idiocy resulting in a B 😀) Now if you arrived this year by shuttle bus from the rail at Bristol, the vehicles have been fully electric.

We’ll have to agree to differ here - I do agree the mix has a great deal to do with it but I’ve been around long enough to recall just how awful many Precision basses sounded live in bands in the 60s/70s, with the exception of simplistic root and fifth stuff - I can think of a number of situations where what I would call a decent bass sound via a Precision was had - as much down to the bass player as well though - Louis Johnson with Billy Preston (but sounded much better and more articulate in the later 70s with Stingray, Sabre and other basses); Alan Spenner with various artists (but sounded a million times better and you could hear the intricacy and articulation of his superb playing more clearly when appearing with a Wal in the late 70s) - I was lucky enough to see him perform at the Roundhouse at the end of the 70s - that Wal bass sound (an original JG series) was amazing. Robert ‘Pops’ Popwell with the Crusaders and Olivia Newton John. As I say, many people will differ with the view, but Matt Bissonette’s bass sounded very supportive - an excellent mix and sound - and for those interested he appeared to be using the front (series) switch setting on the SR5. Background rumble it certainly was not!!!

Agreed re mix for tv - I’ve already got my SR5s so I’m not bothered 😀!! Having seen Matt Bissonette and his predecessor Bob Birch use them, and also Lee Pomeroy with Take That I was converted years ago!!

Yeah fabulous bass sound and mix for tv. Nice Stingray 5 sound - no inaudible background rumbling going on!! Thank the Lord - the bass is crucially important both rhythmically and harmonically in much of EJ’s music.

One of the few acts where the excellent band got introduced one at a time and did short solos - what was more predictable was the ‘sound engineering’ took several bars of it to catch on to the idea they needed to turn the bass up so it could be heard during his excellent slap bass solo - very apt - something which was lacking in quite a lot of the mixes of the acts I watched was reasonably audible bass - I think the pinnacle may be Jacob Collier - inaudible grand piano for whole sections, inaudible acoustic guitar - and these in sections where they were being played largely solo!!!! 🤣

Fabulous - I’m guessing that’s a 2018 bass? They were done when the early Stingray Specials were being done, summer of 2018. Enjoy - looks great. I’ve found recently a new way of EQ ing my Bongo. Cut the low mids a little and boost the high mids and treble a little - with the pick up pan pointed slightly towards the bridge pu, sounds very much like a super Jazz bass.

I think the controls work in a similar way but otherwise it’s a very different bass - large Musicman bridge with adjustable mutes for each string and strings through body; neodymium pick up; adjustable ramp; long scale roasted maple neck; ebony fretboard; stainless steel frets; figured ash body with clear varnish; lightweight tuners; black hardware.

Which is the exact reason I bought a Musicman Stingray Tim Commerford signature bass - still the only ash bodied, long scale passive Stingray produced. Sounds brilliant - you can choose between series, parallel and single coil pick up selections, have a passive tone control and also a push pull volume cut/boost - really useful in some situations.

A lot of people seem to have had them (or SR4s) in blueburst back in the day. It’s really my favourite older Musicman colour as well (however I wouldn’t say no to a peach one, or pre EB Inca silver - my wallet would not agree though!!) I’ve been playing this bass both at home a lot and taking it to jams to play a couple of songs - home practice has included doing bass parts like Take Five or Moondance and then improvising a solo based around the melodies of the songs - my intonation accuracy is improving with practice. However I took it to a jam last night and was asked to play on Moondance (good as I’d been working around that at home) and also some Shadows stuff - the latter posed a few problems as I hadn’t played some of what was asked for at least ten years - culminating in Don’t Cry For Me Argentina which has a nice bass arrangement - which ends up doubling the first couple of bars of the melody in high register at the end…… well I attempted it and I think it was ok!!! I’d say the original bass arrangement was akin to a West End type show song where the bass performs quite an important function. People in the room were complimentary anyway!!! I felt rather self conscious as the lead guitarist was more perfect!! Nothing like a fretless 5 to focus the mind (I’ve got a fretless 4 but never even played a fretless 5 until I acquired this bass a couple of weeks ago) am loving it though - a couple of gratuitous photos!! 😅

It was pretty clean when I bought it but has now had a polish and deep clean (ie under the pickguard, in the routs, and lemon oil of the fretboard) - scrubs up beautifully and looks new - the neck now has Cobalt flatwounds which not only feel great but sound great as well - you can almost hear the fretboard saying ‘Ah thanks’ in a mwah-ish sort of way, having been relieved of the stainless rounds it had (which are going to find their way - well four of them - on to my Tim Commerford long scale passive)!! I’ve had to delete the earlier pics to make space for the new ones (crikey - forum restrictions or what 🤣🤣🥴)

Thanks guys - the colour is called blueburst and was available in the late 80s and early 90s. I agree - it’s a great colour. I’m told Flea’s Stingray 5 (used on Funky Monks) may have been this colour - although not fretless!!

No frets here and what a gorgeous bass. I got this from @jhk at the weekend and I’m very happy. It weighs just under 10 lbs and sounds huge!! It’s a 1992 bass, so over 30 yrs old. The neck has a lot of Birds Eye and the fretboard also has figuring. Altogether a very pretty (imho) and great sounding bass.

Oh yeah - hadn’t thought of that!!

Does their lack of presence reek of complacency or is it just my feeling? I guess if you’re only showing 60+ yr old designs there’s nothing much new anyway - however Rickenbacker seems to be able to enthuse people! No Warwick + Sadowsky either? Or Spector?

New Stingray Special colours (from their NAMM blog) - as well as a number of new guitars - haven’t seen any photos of these new pastel Stingray Special colours with matching head stocks in Wintermule’s thread - I presume there may be some there - interesting no 1976 Ray reissue either?

But which one? There are three of four iterations. For a 1976 bass, it’s probably the first version. Im pretty sure the manufacturer has access to the correct information. They’ve also used period correct tantalum capacitors and the longer pick up pole pieces. So as stated by @Misdee they appear to have gone to some lengths to make these 100 basses absolutely period correct. In the US, these basses cost significantly less than an original 76 Stingray - in this country it’s a slightly different story as we have to pay shipping and tax, the exchange rate is dreadful (one of our famous B**xit dividends) and possibly a pre EB Stingray is not as expensive as in the US on the used vintage market here. In any case we’re very unlikely to get our hands on one of these basses as they all seem to be sold! Im hopeful they’ll do some more reissues in due course - I might be tempted dependent on what appears (77 in silver with white pick up cover and black pick guard would be v nice, or a natural)