drTStingray

For checking the date of birth, use either the EBMM serial number database available on their website or email EBMM customer services. They were built between 2003 and 2006. The painted necks are similar to those on MM Bongos, also made from 2003. I paid around £500 for mine (5 string) about 5 yrs ago. That is a very good price indeed even if it is mildly modified and not stock. They seem to command £450-£550 in decent shape. They do sound great as well - standard EBMM 2 band EQ and pick up - poplar body/rosewood board seems to make them very resonant. Mine is extremely light, to the extent it has a bit of neck dive. im afraid I've ceased to buy this lightest is bestest fashion - I used my very heavy SR5 natural/maple for two gigs in one weekend a couple of weeks ago - it balances beautifully on a strap and I had no ill effects, even to my late middle aged frame....and the sound is fantastic. id say if you like the bass, buy it. The range on four string Stingrays up to 2018 is around 8 lbs to just over 10. Unless you've got a bad back problem the balance of these basses on a decent strap will result in no problems.

The new date of a bass is the date the manufacturer records the serial number as its birth date. Anything much older than say 9 months, in a shop, I'd be asking for a discount on. There are manufacturers who mass produce and saturate the market - they usually insist on retailers holding a large amount of their wares in stock. It's little wonder that examples of relatively old new items floating around.

Sad news. And what a great bass player - I learned a lot from him and other rock/jazz/blues bass players of that era. Played some wicked bass solos - such as on this track from 1970 - on a Precision bass - and some nice walking bass parts. http://youtu.be/zRzZgNlyQ7U He also confounded the Fender experts by announcing he bought a new black slab bodied Precision in the 60s from a music store in the US, thinking it was just a normal Precision - it is visible on the Monterey Pop film!

Here's my favourite 5 string of all time. It's by far the heaviest bass I have but sounds great - I used it for two gigs at the weekend and even my late middle aged frame didn't have a problem with the weight - mind you it balances perfectly on a strap anyway. Using the treble and mid controls as tone controls and to get/dial out the Musicman treble shimmer, this bass is simply thunderous - growls for England - simply full of tone, sustain and resonance. Makes you smile all night. And if I decide to buy into the lightest is best theory, I use this one - also thunderous but not quite so growly as the ceramic SR5 - but also excellent. The Musicman Stingray 5 is definitely the grand daddy of all 5 string bass guitars!

My Stingray bought new in 1980 had an alder body and the sunburst also wore on the top edge (arm rest) and on the edge by the strap button with a white/light undercoat (possibly white finish underneath). Would this have been Jackson era assembly and finishing? Sunbursts do seem to be on alder as the Old Smoothies also are (based on the 1976 Bass)

Wow those are fabulous 😻 My pre EB Stingray was bought new and didn't even have a case sold with it - apparently fairly standard in the UK in both the pre and EB eras up to the mid/late 90s - even in the mid 2000s new ones came for a time in gig bags (likely reduced cost owing to exchange rate fluctuation). The price just goes up these days since the exchange rate has got to 60% of what it was in the mid 2000s (since the economy was chucked away 😏 Perhaps there'll be a fire sale on 5th Nov this year (along with firework pissing on 😬)!!!!

Isn't it just!! 😬 I once made a suggestion on Talkbass (they had a thread inviting suggestions for improvements) that rather than everyone who wasn't interested in Fender threads having to wade through loads to find, say a Gibson thread, they create a sticky thread called Fender threads, so those who wanted them could easily find them and everyone else could ignore them. There was a very odd reaction from lots of people who appeared to be, possibly Fender employees, seemingly worried about the lack of advertising exposure if this entirely sensible suggestion was adopted (it's actually blatant plagiarism on my part because many specialist subject forums do group their subject areas in this way for that exact reason!!) However I generally find TB a useful resource and the people are generally pretty friendly - so I'm afraid I don't agree with the OP.

I haven't noticed this - have them on a Stingray fretless.

I have flats on two basses - both Stingrays - one is fretless and has EB Cobalt flats - largely to avoid wrecking the blank board, the other is a Classic Stingray with TIs. That one I use occasionally when I'm looking to get 60s or 70s R and B or Bernard Edwards type sound. It works well, as well - however I often feel that compared with a Stingray with rounds (all my others have them), it's like playing with some sort of dynamic controller in place - especially if you want to play slap or anything with zing - a bit like driving a sports car with a speed limiter engaged (say at 50 mph)...... As for why people want to play P basses with flats - and through modern, clean amps? Who knows, but it's a little bit anathema to me as I was in my formative years when people were rejecting low fi sound systems to hear music, low fi basses and definitely low fi amps - everyone was striving for hi fi bass guitar sounds and better sounding amps, and decent stereo systems to listen to it through. Arguably, some of the best sounding bass came from the 70s and 80s. Why would people want to emulate 60s style stuff which was pretty inaudible at the time. I guess fashion generally, and maybe nostalgia - in my view some of it is based on a very rose tinted spectacles retrospective. But if people like it, why not. Of course, with skill and technique you can achieve a thumpy sound with rounds on a more hi fi bass anyway - but try playing Level 42 on a Peavey T40 😯 I guess the modern clean amp thing is also fashion, but also bear in mind many people doing this are a bit old to be carrying old fashioned, weighty equipment around, and anyway, the new stuff probably doesn't colour the 'pure' sound of the bass and flats (unlike Jamerson and the 'Motown interface' he plugged into 😏😀)

Yep - my fault entirely - well not actually - a combination of Virgin Trains' appallingly variable signal and the forum app losing everything every time the signal dropped - but hey no worries - I'll put the post where it was meant to go haha 😁👍

Original post moved. Yeah I agree you can get a good sound with modestly priced equipment.

I think there'll always be bargains - I've seen lots of makes, even Wals, go for lower prices than normal - I guess it depends how desperate people are to sell. I definitely wouldn't sell my Bongo 5HH for less than £1000 - it is actually a discontinued 5HHp - all that said I did pay less than £1000 for it around 10 yrs ago (used). I think we have to accept new prices will continue to go up - used prices will probably track them but at a lower level. Wait and see what happens after 31st Oct....... 🤔

This is a great bass - love the colour and a very nicely flamed maple neck. They did an earlier BFR Bongo like this in a great blue colour. I think it depends a lot on the spec and model. Like Stingrays, you can get bargains but some of the more sought after features will raise the price. Used prices have generally risen over the last few years - as I say, something different like a BFR will command a higher price used.

Nice yacht! I must confess I'd never associated loons with marinas - maybe festivals and urban or rural hippyish hang outs? Nice picture though 🙂

Regulation loons as described in this thread on display in this circa 1973 picture and before anyone wonders, it'd have been a B and H, nothing more 'herbal' as I was about to drive the car - which was almost new!!! 👍😬

Indeed - I would concur - they actually flared from the knee - if you were a Brummie THE place to get them (and afghan coats and all other such period 70s wear) was Oasis. The size of the flare on the loon pants was measured from the front to the back of the bottom of the leg (not around them) and the largest, and one to have was 19" - so about 1.5 or more times the length of your shoe (more likely clog 😏). They came in some wonderful colours - I bought a pair in canary yellow on one occasion - soon dyed bottle green as they were way too much in yellow 😬 owing to their floppiness at the bottom, loon pants were also wonderful, in wet weather, at taking on water from the ground by capilliary action - so when dry they may have a tide mark midway between shoe and knee, and in wet weather a sort of two tone dark/lighter colour transition at some point below the knee, the darker part being soaked 😧 The 70s were great!! I last saw Steve Hillage in 1978 ish in Brum - I was probably wearing loon pants - and his band had a decidedly R and B rythmn section (as seemingly did everyone around that time) - and excellent it was too. Mr Hillage must be getting on in years these days?

I watched the BBC highlights compilation programme and I must say I found the whole thing pretty entertaining and enjoyable. Some great bits in there. I particularly liked Lizzo singing Juice - and ironically thanking the costume designer for putting her out in that outfit!! As for Liam, like many artists his voice has changed so his newer stuff is fine, just had to sing the earlier stuff differently - as I say, it happens to most (and John Lennon wasn't immune - sang with effects mostly later owing to his own dissatisfaction with his voice).

Are you sure - I was led to believe Stingrays shipped with flats originally (GHS) but changed around 1978 - BE's Stingray is a '77 (fairly early '77 judging by the serial number John Taylor quoted in an interview). The other reason for querying, wherever BE popped the strings on 70s recordings (think We Are Family choruses) he got a certain sound - which I've never been able to replicate with a Stingray with rounds - until I tried it with a Classic 2 band with flats - hey presto, the exact sound. The rest of what you said is fine with me - but the electronics package and the rest (including the player and playing style) all contribute. In regards to the original post, McNach has covered it - note also Agullar do a good version of the pick up and 2 band pre amp. If you use a 3 band MM preamp (pre 2018 version) note that the 4 string version of the bass needs the mid range rolled off a lot to get towards the 2 band sound - depending on your playing style you should get in the right ball park.

I agree with most of what's been said here - however the mid range control on the pre 2018 Stingray 4 is not the equivalent of a 2 band when on centre detent - you need to cut it significantly to get towards that - the other advantage with the 3 band is giving you more control in a room with difficult acoustics, or to remain audible in a saturated mix (either live or recorded). Pity you're not down south as you could borrow my USA Sub 5. Sound wise, I think you'd be immediately smitten - it really does sound great. The white textured paint job and checker plate pickguard I absolutely love (probably because they're different from my regular Stingrays) - the neck with its painted finish, feels a little like my Bongo 5 (less a few frets!!)

Musicman have brought out an updated version of it (and the SR5) which have been very successful (whilst still producing the Classic models). I've got a couple of them and they're great. However like most other companies, they are only a fraction of the production of Fender. Youve got to wonder just how saturated the mass market Fender aims at actually is. Guitar shops are incredibly busy at weekends but these places have walls full of their guitars (less so basses). Presumably these mild product refreshes are designed to stimulate the market - I must admit I've bought a new bass in the past based on a new colour becoming available. The name change seems a bit extreme though .......

Good evening - my stage name from the Basschat approved generator is:- Shanklin Pumpkin....

That looks like Donald J Trump in his earlier days, prior to 21st Century anvil shaped hair style. Stage name - Lytham Caffe-Nero Is the chap in the picture a Basschatter, who perhaps enjoys a pint of beer in his avatar?

Louis Johnson Andy Fraser Jack Bruce I would have agreed entirely until yesterday - saw a TOTP performance of You Really Got Me - with brass section and Steinberger headless bass (🤔😬) - sounded a little un-Brunel like, whether he was miming with a studio prop or not!!

I can see how the sad face would help with this - and although the impact of body and fretboard wood on tone is an oft discussed impact with much disagreement - although many luthiers think they do which is good enough for me - yes from personal experience I think a rosewood v maple fretboard does darken the sound (especially a Stingray with ash body - I would imagine it would be similar with other basses).

Yep agreed. According to Joe Dart and Jack Stratton that cheapo Robelli was the inspiration for the signature bass - they got them to make a top quality version of it, basically.