drTStingray

Absolutely my experience as well. And it's the same in a non-music situation.

One of the gigs I did (both have been outdoors) had reasonable social distancing - the audience were far enough away, sat in groups at spaced out tables and there was space to separate the singers, brass and remaining band members sufficiently. We were under an awning - which was just as well as it poured with rain!! The second was not properly socially distanced as far as the audience was concerned - and the audience members didn't seem to care (rather like the non socially distanced mele of a queue outside our local Wetherspoons every weekend). There was only one singer who was far enough from me to not concern me and although there wasn't much space for the band, the nearest other person was the drummer - who was also far enough from me - however the front tables were probably less than 3m away, so an issue for the audience rather than us. It was, however a very good gig with excellent feedback. I have one tomorrow and will be interested to see how the organisers deal with it.

I guess as a player in a big band, you and colleagues are users of the 'illegal' music stands!! 😬 Back on topic, surely any barrier will just redirect the droplet-laden air back at the people behind, namely the band!! And dependent on the air flow, over the screen and into the audience? Perhaps they need to sing in a 'booth'!!! 😂

Ive got a gig tomorrow pm - outdoor do in the sticks, near Canterbury - I'm actually depping but really looking forward to it. That'll be the third gig since February/ March 😯👍 Looking at taking a bass with new strings for once!! Amazing the things that come to mind with gigs so few and far between.

People (be they drummers, other bassists or other musicians, or anyone else actually) thinking they know what instrument I should play better than me. Instruments are quite personal things, an extension of you, through which you express yourself - to have some random drummer or someone else say 'you should play an xyz bass' is a bit much. If a band says oh you need to buy an xyz bass, I would most certainly say - fine but:- 1) it might sound worse than the one I use 2) Hand the money over then!!! Why should I pay for it. As for producers wanting an authentic 1960 sound, well let's hope they're going to use a 2 track and spend ages bouncing tracks 'to get it authentic' 😂😂 Back in the 70s most bass players (even famous ones) generally had one (maybe two if you were famous). The idea of having an array of them only happened in the highest of musical circles (eg major US studios). Now, it seems, every Tom, Richard and Harry seems to feel empowered to have a view even at the most inappropriate moments and based on something they read some famous personage said in a magazine in 1997 etc etc - and an expectation that people have limitless pockets to buy whatever instruments to fuel other people's desire to get them 'looking right (in their view)'. I don't recall ever suggesting a 'make and type' of instrument to anyone - and can't imagine anyone other than a major producer etc would. Ive spent a lot of time and effort learning to play and sound the way I do - if I collaborate with people id generally want to be doing so because they want my sound and musicianship - that's generally going to come out of one of the basses I already own. There you go - rant over - is it a product of the Internet age or the ludicrous level of consumerism we're encouraged to have these days (translated to GAS). For instance - It seems if every member of the population isn't buying at least three takeaway coffees a week and one takeaway meal, we're guilt tripped into thinking we're screwing the economy up - incredible!! 😩

Apart from her accuracy in this cover - I'm astonished how good that U bass sounds in terms of copping the correct sound 👍😊

Remember to keep the old stuff - as good as the East circuit may be (based on his 76 Stingray - there were two or three EQ upgrades in pre EB days after that) most people buying Stingrays used would want it stock - in other words the resale would likely be reduced. As I said previously, you can buy a replacement circuit on an exchange basis (so a new owner could if you sold the bass with the replaced parts). For those who don't know, the EBMM 3 band EQ mid is largely as the 2 band when cut by around 50% and the bass and treble boosted a bit.

Bernard's Stingray is a 1977 (about 2300 into the production run) and they did indeed ship with GHS flats until sometime in 1978, when they changed to roundwounds. On a Stingray it's possible to cop his exact tone for finger style even with roundwounds, and appropriate playing technique. Those short, fat poppy sounding finger style upper octave notes are a key Stingray characteristic sound (and are difficult to achieve on most other types of bass). However, the popped notes in the chorus of We Are Family need flatwounds (on a Stingray). A Fender Jazz has too much of that Jazz boing in the sound. Roundwounds on a Stingray give more of the Louis Johnson popped sound.

I'm not sure re the change in value - it certainly wasn't priced or referred to with that history - but would it increase value that much unless played by someone extremely famous - it struck me as an odd coloured bass for a reggae band!! The drummer on that was Sly Dunbar (one of his first appearances). I also noticed the Precision being played by Aston Barratt - interesting one of the guitarists had got pink spot stickers all round the outside edge of his apparently pristine Les Paul!! In fact most of the reggae band musicians appeared to have odd things attached to the instruments (eg a large pink hair scrunchy fixed on a headstock, stickers on guitars being very popular). I wonder if the Precision was a loan instrument? Family Man is also shown playing through an Acoustic 370/301 set up - seemingly the rig of choice for some R and B or a reggae players of the period (I had one of these but not till the late 70s - mine originated with the band Mud)! On the reggae programme I watched, the guy in Steel Pulse is shown playing a very smart natural finish Stingray - but Jazzes seem to have been the popular choice for reggae bands 👍

Not sure what horrendous is but last time I ordered one (a Stingray Special HH) it took 8 months. I suspect it may now be longer. Has anyone been seeing the You Tube videos about Guitar Centre stores running very low on guitars and manufacturers not being able to meet demand? This is presumably all resulting from the pandemic (and the business models of various organisations collapsing owing to the recession ensuing).

I noticed this the other night on one of those BBC compilation programmes - this one was on reggae at the BBC - it's Dave and Ansell Collins with their no 1 hit on TOTP in 1971, Double Barrel, when their fan base would have ranged from West Indian, to first generation skinheads, to townies (previously mods) and teeny boppers. Of great interest is the bass guitar - a fiesta red pre CBS Jazz with matching headstock, mint scratch plate and a very dark rosewood board - at one point in the video you can see the battered bottom edge of the lower horn showing what appears to be white paint - interestingly a very similar indeed Jazz with similar damaged paintwork with the same colour under was at Andy Baxters for some while a couple of years back - I wonder if it was the same one? https://youtu.be/UQNPiUuU58Y

@Chopthebass you should have asked to try a John Myung signature Bongo - six strings on the same neck profile 😬 he seems to have no problem with the design even with 6 strings. Seriously, which shop did you try the new 'Classic 5HH' in? I might be interested!!!

The easiest drop in replacement is the correct EBMM 3 band EQ unit - which they would normally sell you on receipt of the broken one - suggest you email their customer services for details.

Accepted 👍😏

He also mentioned in his view, using flatwounds also assists. As we all know using flatwounds is now a legal requirement for bass 😂😬 I wonder if any of those experiencing this have found that assists? Interestingly the 3 band Stingray EQ originated from the same period as the development of the SR5 - the only difference really is the series/ parallel/single coil switching ability of the SR5. And yes the series version is fatter sounding (more mids) which would help the G string sound. Some early MM Sabres with 3 band EQ have SR5 printed on the board.

The science says this (for a 2 band) - which confirms what Sterling Ball said, but only when you fully boost the bass and treble on 2 band Stingrays. I know we've got used to septuagenarian world leaders with bleached and nicotine stained hair poo pooing science in favour of rumour and rhetoric but you can't deny these frequency charts. Next thing, some of you'll be telling us the world's flat because Mr Farage and a few businessman cronies say so often enough that people start to believe it!!!

You're misunderstanding - I'm not saying they don't have this issue - my contention is whether it's the bass or some other issue.

Interestingly, his G and L basses have adjustable pole pieces.

Thanks for this. Did the replacement electronics improve things for you? Another potential point of interest is whether you had 2 or 3 band versions and maple or rosewood boards? I have noticed the rosewood board versions sound darker. I also have Stingray 5s and a Bongo and agree with you - they don't have this characteristic (and the Stingray Special doesn't). Btw the hearing point was meant to be a little tongue in cheek - I did mince play in a band with a guitarist with serious hearing issues who used to complain about the bass being too loud - until he got a wireless device and listened from the back of the room at sound check - he never complained again and said he was astonished. His guitar sound was probably the most shrill I've ever heard - presumably because he couldn't hear treble.

A possibility - but why would so many people not think it is. Nobody has ever produced any scientific evidence to suggest these basses generally have that characteristic - I had a Stingray in around 1980 and this was never considered an issue - the popped G string sound was as good as anything around and far and away better than the woolier sounding Fenders of the time. I think the issue here is how some people are managing, through a combination of things, to achieve this.

Definitely - they're my favourite basses and in my view, one of the best designs ever - helped (with a few other makes) drag people out of the sloppy 60s thinking, when recording was on 2 track and 4 track and major concerts were performed (either completely or partially inaudibly) using 30 watt back line amps and vocals through the building's PA system!! And the bass really was just boom (if heard at all). You'll have to enlighten me - who is this person or character you're talking of?

I'm sure yours was real as far as you're concerned (interested to know the model and year of bass you are describing and when you had it). Along with a large number of other people, I don't have a problem with G strings not sounding prominent enough on a Stingray. I have or have had probably as many Stingray basses as people who complain on the internet about this, and have not encountered this or indeed any great variability in them in any respect - indeed the quality of EBMM instruments is high. My conclusion is their perception of a G string on any bass not sounding prominent enough may be fundamentally different from mine for a big range of reasons, largely not to do with the bass itself - there are so many variables in this:- 1) Hearing issues (tends to affect the higher frequencies and accentuate the lower - mine are fine - had them tested very recently as what we subject them to regularly damages hearing). 2) Look at the science of the EQ of a 2 band Stingray - it's posted earlier in this thread - and clearly shows if you boost fully the treble and bass it scoops frequencies in the G string range. The 3 band EQ gives you more control over this. I hear people say 'but I set mine flat' - how do you know what's flat on a 2 band Stingray? It's not necessarily the centre even if you can work out where the centre is. 3) Take care with your set up and your pick up height - follow the factory settings for optimum performance of the bass. 4) EQ - this is a mine field, especially when you add in EQ on the amp (and then the FOH). Do you engage amp filters that cut out some frequencies? There've been plenty of posts in this thread explaining how problems can occur and how to overcome them (even though some of us don't agree with some of the suggested solutions) - if you follow those then you shouldn't have a problem (presuming you don't have damaged hearing, don't engage certain amp filters that auto scoop everything etc etc etc) - but ultimately, if you don't like the bass's characteristics, then sell it and move on. That's what I did with the Precision with (to my perception and other band member perceptions) bad dead spots. Not an issue if you're constantly playing in E and A but major in C etc.

Yes - I had a pre CBS Precision - horrendous dead spots on the G string at C (fret 5), C# (fret 6) and D (fret 7). It meant I had to play lines involving those notes on the D string higher up (which seems to be how some of the 60s players got over the same problem on similar basses). This was not an EQing problem (as issues a handful of people with Stingrays have do seem to be). However rather than periodically whining about their problem, why they don't just alter their playing style/position to avoid the issue, or simply buy a different bass - it really is reminiscent of young children moaning about something periodically (or constantly)....... 😬 and really just as irritating. I have to say that my Musicman Stingray Classic is one of the best bass guitars I've ever played - the quality of the whole thing is just superb. A pity you don't seem to be able to buy new ones any longer - but great for existing owners as the values will increase 😏👍

Madonna did a whole song referencing it (or vice versa) IIRC - sort of big bandesque type of thing!! I find the discus limbering up jobby just a little distracting as well! Ditching resulting from 'Higher Authority' instruction, perchance lol 😬

I'm pretty sure the 55/01s I tried out in the early 2000s had the name across them but maybe my memory is playing tricks - pretty sure I've seen it on some Warwicks as well.