drTStingray

The bass players in Sweet, Mud, The Glitter Band and Suzi Q herself, along with those with Bowie, Elton John etc etc were pretty handy also.

Ha ha!! The forum has history with Ric. Seriously I see a range of age groups playing them from teenagers through to OAPs - some are women!! The point was I suspect there are very few such players on the forum - the fact they're generally 4 string players from what I've seen is neither here nor there 😂😂👍

Musicman staff have stated on Talkbass that one of the reasons the bridges on the modern Cutlass and Caprice basses doesn't have the deep set side bolts is to assist with getting a more vintage sound. Similarly on the new Stingray Special models - so Musicman clearly believe the bridge design influences the sound, as an example.

If you think a balanced view and statistically valid result can be obtained of such things on this type of forum then I think you're expecting too much - for starters there are hardly any Ric players here, seemingly, and yet in real life I see loads of them!!

Al Krow, if you'd asked the same question in say 1999 you would have got a completely different answer - as many pro players played 5 string then and certainly on a lot of pop music of the time. This was largely because of the need for low notes (sometimes written for keyboard) and also because playing two octaves in one and a bit positions, made playing some music relatively easy - however a word of caution - like playing E at 12 th fret on the E string of a 4 string sounds different from E at the 7th fret of A or 2nd fret of D, that fat B sting can also change the timbre if things. Hiram K has pointed out the use of 5 strings in 80s work very clearly - it applies in the 90s extensively and also 2000s and beyond. Some of us may even remember what a spent force the Fender Bass was in the early 80s - indeed bass guitar generally as keyboards and drum machines seemingly took over a great deal. Its entirely possible to use a 4 string and tune down effectively but many people find this a faff - my son does this often but doesn't have a 5 string (though has borrowed one of mine on occasion and loves them). Unfortunately our educators and seemingly many others fixate on 60s and 70s bass history and as a result we get a distorted view of music and instrument history - I'm very doubtful the demographic on this forum represents a balanced view so the fact a lot of people may say - oh just tune down a 4 string, when they possibly don't even have any experience of playing music recorded on or best played on a 5 string, and in any case the common perception (an error) is you should be able to play anything on a 4 string, is probably completely wrong along with many other commonly held myths of Internet bassdom!! 5 strings may be seen as a bit passé (along with Fretless) in these days of sometimes inaudible bass parts played on vintage instruments - 5 strings certainly aren't passé in the real world and anyone playing anything remotely R and B from the 80s and 90s (even 70s) will probably need to use one - the fact they can make 60s R and B sound good as well is a bonus - ask some of the bassists in top West End shows 😏

Yeah - as with many of us - but the thing is if you are in the habit of running very low action and there's a sudden cold snap or heatwave, you can quickly adjust to maintain your super low action. I suspect those who don't like them have never actually used one as they're much easier to adjust than a bullet truss rod or vintage basses which need the neck removed or similar. Come to think of it, the Musicman system looks slightly better as the cut out is in the pickguard and body rather than the neck itself on that version.

It's on all of the ones I own!! I suspect most people will know it's been fitted to all Musicman basses since about 1990 (so for 28 years!!). I don't think they invented it though - but it's such a simple system to use. As for aesthetics, beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I personally don't think it detracts from a bass (I doubt a lot of people looking at a pre 90 Stingray would even notice the bass has a headstock mounted bullet truss rod instead) - Musicman have even made a feature of it on the Classic series (but not Sabres) by making the wheel a chrome version, looking very smart. I suspect as Fender makes most electric basses and they've never been the brightest (or quickest) of innovators, that has influenced the adoption of the system to their basses, which was included on their Elite series (and thus premium) instruments a couple of years back. So it seems Fender see it as a premium feature to be fitted to the most expensive basses. Probably a matter of economics for them - but interesting they see some of their most expensive production basses needing to compete with Musicman. The same could be said of un lacquered neck finishes which improve playability no end!!

Hey come on - only for those who think the evolution of bass guitar was concluded in 1962, so a version invented in the mid 80s clearly has no relevance!! 😂 If you want a screwdriver thread it will surely be in off topic or maybe accessories, or even repairs - then people can argue that using cheap tools based on 60s technology is perfectly adequate and all you need for a 21.18 century application 👍😏

It depends what music style you're talking but clearly 5 stringers haven't played a great part in indie or punk styles (though Alex from Blur and also Beck have been known to use Stingray 5s - probably studio only). There have been comments in this thread about industry standard 5 string basses, or the lack of. This is actually not true but there have been a range of them over the years - these would include:- MM Stingray 5 (great at a modern sound but also great at an authoritative vintage sound) - subsequently US Sub, Bongo, Classic 5 and Sterling 5. Lakland 55/94 or 55/01 - subsequently lots variants Various Warwick but particularly Thumb, Jazzman or Stage 1/2 Yamaha - various models Sadowski MTD - various Ibanez - various G and L various Somewhat late to the party - Fender (various Jazz and Precision variants) Many of these basses have been active type basses as the extended range arguably works better in this format.

Most of my favourite pro players have played 5 string basses from time to time - they would probably have been more commonly seen in the late 80s up to the mid 2000s. As an example, take Nick Fyffe of Jamiroquy - live he usually played Yamaha 5 and 4 string basses, switching dependent on the song. As has been said, people often use what they consider the best tool for the job. I bought a 5 string for the particular reason of learning Stevie Wonder songs, many of which are played on keyboard bass or in keys lower than E - note the Nate Watts plays a 5 string also (though this is not the reason I got into playing one). I basically alternate my basses for gigs dependent on what takes my fancy on the day but I go through periods of playing 5 or 4 strings - I never take two basses with me these days. 5 strings seem to be used in some theatre orchestras also.

I think the charcoal one is great but possibly very similar indeed to the starry night. I went for the aqua sparkle - it's a deeper blue in some of the pictures I've seen compared to the front on view on Talkbass - I guess the colour shifts with the lighting - they're all pretty good colours though. And even the 5 strings are quoted as about 8.5 lbs.

I checked up on progress with my order yesterday and they should be here mid August - so the Stingray Specials should be in stores then as well.

Some people can do both (I mean play lefty normally but play a right handed guitar fluently rotated.) The best thing is to go with what you're comfortable with - the most popular basses are available lefty and the fact you'll have less choice will mean you don't buy loads of basses completely unnecessarily - something no one on this forum would ever dream of doing ...... 😂😂😂 You could also have one custom built to your spec should you get the urge to buy more.

There's nothing like a World Cup penalty shoot out involving England to get the adrenaline going - and what better way to relax after than a bit of practicing (acoustically) - I've been trying to perfect What Is Hip (Scott's Bass Lessons recent video spurred me on to it) so had a good go after the highlights of last night's game (yes I watched it twice)!! I even adjusted the action on my SR5 to assist!!

Yeah - for an SR5 that weight is quite something! If you're going to save up I'd go for an HH - bags of versatility and it wouldn't surprise me if they haven't baked in some of that P bass sound for the middle coil setting as they did on the Classic Sabre.

You'll have to ask a dealer - I decided I wanted a 4 and a 5 after NAMM so chased S and T on it and eventually, once they'd worked out pricing, they hooked me up with Andertons - I had a complete price list and was asked to pick my spec from it. There is a dealer stock type order as far as I know as well but I wouldn't expect some of the more esoteric colours... My two HHs are over £2k each but the 4 is almost the same price as my Neptune blue Sabre was in 2014 - the 5 is a little more. For those who prefer the oval pg on a 5, well you can't have everything - though you can buy a Classic Stingray 5 like that. Basically some people prefer the regular SR5 look (I was someone who actually preferred the oval one originally but my view and taste has changed over the years - I now like both, probably shading towards my regular SR5 rather than my US Sub 5 in that regard!!)

As I understand it, fretted standard neck profiles, roasted, currently. Both of the ones I've ordered will have black hardware, ebony boards and stainless steel frets.

This sounds incredible on headphones. http://youtu.be/qzK6YC2J4cs

I have had a 4HH and a 5HH on order for a while so this has increased my GAS and excitement. The finishes on offer are great as well - the 4 will be Aqua sparkle and the 5 Cruz teal. Can't wait to get my hands on them.

Sorry no pissoire stories!! 😬 However I watched some of it - particularly noticed the bit in the studio recording one of the newer albums with John Taylor filmed using Bernard Edwards' Stingray. As a Stingray nerd, it doesn't get much better than that!!! Some nice bass playing on the Duran songs.

I did read it but wasn't totally clear that was a documented reason or even if it was, was actually the real reason - if it was to save money they'd hardly have said so. Also Musicman ceased to use the 3 bolt system around 1979 - I'm not sure that was for the same reason although there were manufacturing issues of one sort or another at CLF. I'm not sure what the levels of acceptability or adequacy you are judging the performance of a three bolt system but clearly as virtually no manufacturers currently use it either you are overlooking some factors or the whole industry is wasting money on unnecessary neck connections. So I think you're probably wrong dependant on the definition of adequacy. If one of my six bolt Musicman basses happened to be fallen on by some weighty object I would feel more comfortable the neck joint wouldn't be damaged compared to a 3 bolt one. I would also expect even a neck and neck pocket with minor imperfections in the wood surfaces to 'mate' when screwed together. More screws would probably improve this.

The original three bolt necks from the mid/late 70s (Fender and Musicman) were originally provided to allow the neck tilt system to be incorporated - a metal shim fitted in the neck pocket which allowed adjustment of the tilt angle of the neck through a little hole in the neck plate. Whilst many people have no problems with their basses from this era issues are not unheard of - such as the ski ramp effect over the neck pocket (upper end of fretboard). However this system was dropped by both Fender and Musicman after a few years, replaced by a four bolt system. Maybe there were issues maybe it was simply cheaper to manufacture and maybe people didn't use the 3 bolt tilt adjustment facility - I certainly didn't with mine. However consider the forces involved and what the bolts are meant to achieve - presumably a strong mechanical joint to resist damage by accidental means, assist in transferring resonance and to prevent shifting. In this context a 3 bolt joint is probably not the best - it's a bit like cars cornering - is a Reliant Robin as stable as say a Mini - the former will lift a rear wheel much sooner than the latter (similar with rotational forces on a neck). Six bolts is intended to prevent shifting in almost any circumstance. Im guessing any use of three bolt necks in modern basses is largely aesthetic, to match a design of the mid/late 70s rather than anything else - do even the Fenders have the tilt mechanism in re-issues? Interestingly from the back that Jerry Barnes Bass looks very similar to Bernard Edwards' Musicman - the front looks Fender Jazz.

Early 80s was possibly the real trough of popularity of Fender - indeed guitars generally as keyboards began to dominate pop music and guitarists and bass players lost work as a result. Also Fender rather belatedly finally started producing active basses at that time and compared with say an Ibanez Musician or Stingray were really not perceived as very good. All that said I've seen nice Fender basses for sale from that era such as walnut Precision models - as stated previously they did try and sort out quality at that time - however they were not that popular in that era for the reasons mentioned - even the reissues didn't get good reviews at the time though they are now quite sought after and the 80s Fenders you see for sale look nice now. You have to remember many of us grew up with 70s heroes who played - 70s instruments. Even if they were heavy etc, they produced good tone and look like the basses we saw famous musicians using. 60s Fenders such as pastel coloured ones were really associated with an era which was pretty much out of date and quite uncool in that era as well (although even then there was a bit of snobbery around pre CBS Fenders). How times change!!

Hahaha - the latter's the CoC (Commander in Chief)!!

You gents wouldn't be fixating on yet another poor old CEO would you? This seems to be a bass forum speciality - apart from Fender which manages to have a debt the size of a small country's, presided over dreadful QC (admittedly improved in the last few years a lot) but never a peep of vitriol aimed at its management...... or named individuals