drTStingray

Someone who has complained about these has posted on Talkbass copies of the email trails - appears to be a sorry tale of woefully inadequate customer service giving the customer the run around (who would have guessed - FMIC’s woeful customer service, when things go wrong, has cropped up here in the past 🙄🥴). It appears Thomann has removed them from sale - it will be interesting to see if the manufacturer had to answer any consumer/advertising standard issues from a legal viewpoint in due course. As Lobster has said, it’s a bit like buying a car advertised as having a V8 engine and then discovering it’s 4 cylinder.

I thought the first Joe Dart shipped with Cobalt slinky flats - but yeah both those and the Group flats are great. Flats sound on the Joe Dart bass via Markbass and compressor is the core sound on this. It’s a fat sound - love it!! 😎

Did you track the others down? I remember coming to your place to buy that Bongo (brought my then brand new Classic Stingray with me). That particular Bongo has the added dimension of the piezo - gives it a cool additional flavour.

He hasn’t generally for some time - watch the Vulfpeck at Madison Square Gardens concerts on You Tube - he uses the single H Joe Dart bass - sounds much fatter than the Jazz did on older videos. In fact that’s exactly the sound I aim for live now (using various Musicman basses and Markbass) (thinking of getting a compressor as well).

Yeah it does to me as well (but without the hum!!) They cost less than a Fender CS team built Pino signature bass - which are relatively simple mass produced basses with selected materials - these are assembled in a similar way so arguably simply a high quality signature bass, albeit a quirky one (which matches the artist). More photos here showing more detail. One thing you can be sure of, it’ll be top quality. https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/463934-musicman-joe-dart-11-bass/ One other thought, I think 2 people on Talkbass have said they’ve ordered them - if that stays the same, it gives an indication of the level of general representation of all bass players on Talkbass (2% 😀😂). A lot of hot air going on over there as well!!

Well for a bass which several people here (and a lot on Talkbass) have questioned the quality of and claim to be able to knock up in their own private sheds, it looks rather nice to me (but there again I rather like natural ash finished basses) pics by EBMM

I didn’t realise that - Rob Harries is an excellent guitarist. That’s such a catchy song and the groove is excellent.

This is a Sterling by Musicman Ray 34 but doesn’t appear to display dead spots

There’s a typo in the other thread (which appeared after this one). 100 minutes should say 100 instruments. In reality that is the first 100 instruments have a special neck plate and include a Joe Dart signed certificate. Seem to be selling out of the initial ones quickly - but I’m guessing it will become a standard signature instrument.

I like that they “decided to split the pick up on the original Joe Dart bass and move a pair of coils forwards - no-one’s thought of that before” 😂😂😂😂

As if the Joe Dart announcement wasn’t amazing enough - this sounds fabulous as well (this guitarist sure is funky on bass!!)

Another new model (two volume controls - two single coils) (a bit like a Jazz) looks like 12 of the 88 have already sold. https://www.music-man.com/instruments/basses/joe-dart-ii

If you played a Stingray fretless you’d find the bass, and especially the G string are plenty loud enough and although mine has notes which are not as loud as others (C# on G string I think), they are still fully usable - slightly less mwah on them. Did you ever hear Pino’s work on a Stingray - no problem with string to string balance etc there. Stingray Specials are excellent in string to string balance. Having said that, I have 11 Stingrays of which only two were played before buying - none have appreciable dead spots and none suffer from individual strings being quieter than others - they are all properly set up, generally to factory specs - string type/make can have a bearing on how well they play. If you look at the original concept of the Stingray you’ll find the 3 over 1 headstock was designed to avoid the dead spots which occur on traditional 4 in line headstocks - in my experience I’ve never had to avoid certain notes on Stingrays owing to dead spots (that said if you listen to Jamerson isolated bass tracks, you can hear comparative dead spots and differences in string volume - doesn’t stop the lines being revered!!)

You certainly did, yes! 😀👍 great bass it is

From what I could see, Lobster identified an issue which, seemingly few were aware of (the pick ups stated in Gretch literature and on line as humbuckers were in fact single coil). The rest of the thread was taken up with the people complaining they had thought they were humbuckers and thus had been misled (seems a reasonable conclusion to me, although I’m from U.K. where we have laws relating to misleading or plain wrong advertising, and consumer legislation that protects from this sort of thing) - however a bunch of other people jumped in to defend Gretch (and Fender) suggesting variously it didn’t really matter, possibly was an ‘oversight’ on the part of the marketing people - I must say I wasn’t surprised as I’ve seen half baked idiocy before of that sort. It was then shown that the advertising had been changed (although no official comment from Gretch/Fender - says a lot for their public interface - although not really any surprise there…… 🙄 I do wonder whether Gretch/Fender are running worried they may get taken to task legally over it by significant numbers of people. Having said that, if they’re happy with their instruments they possibly will have less of a problem. As for people complaining about Lobster, well all he’s done is brought awareness to an advertising irregularity which is somewhat misleading - why any consumer would want to attach him over that is beyond me (unless the attackers are paid employees of the allegedly miscreant companies 😂😂).

You are right that comedy singles were a thing back then eg Funky Moped (Jasper Carrott). Also the Ying Tong song by the Goons made the charts in the mid 70s (I particularly remember this as an elderly work colleague who was noted for (with unintentional comic effect) misquoting and mis-stating phrases and words (even to the general public!!), referred to it as Piddle Hi Ho!!! (The actual phrase being Iddle I Po)!! This was one of my introductions as a new and very young starter to work in a U.K. local authority!! This wasn’t restricted to the 70s - In the 60s we had the Baron Knights performing compilations of contemporary hits with altered comedy lyrics.

My Special is 1 and 5/8” at the nut - identical to my 2014 Sabre Classic. The neck is quite a flat and comfy profile and the roasted maple/ oil and wax make it a breeze to play. I think the more recent basses have a less chunky profile, certainly compared to a 90s bass, for instance. However as they’re all hand finished I guess there’s minor variation. There were a few SLO Special neck profile versions available through the Vault a while back (rather like small batches of lefties and fretless). But as you say, extremely rare I guess.

Nope!!! Just stating the blexxing obvious 😀😂 and a personal dislike of the P bass with tone full on (allegedly with treble)!! It’s an interesting comparison video though? FWIW the best P bass tone I’ve heard live just through an amp was back in the 70s - it was a natural with maple board, played hard with the tone rolled off - it was a band playing soul music outdoors at a US air base. Now if you move to the Paul Turner tone with JamieRockway, that was through a pre amp - as was Nate Watts on Sir Duke (Reddit and Alembic respectively). I like both if these as well. On Runaway by Jamiretc, Paul Turner stated the verses were with his P (through pre amp) and the choruses on a 2 band Stingray - they sound similar but the Stingray has a fatter low end and sounds slightly more refined. I know it’s all personal preference but these are my thoughts!!

Criminals do indeed clone numberplates but unless it’s a very extensive scam, the details won’t match the correct chassis number/ engine number etc, all of which are in the national database. However, and equally importantly, you would use the reg number to carry out an HPI check to ensure the car doesn’t have outstanding HP and other issues such as previously been declared a write off etc etc.

I don’t really have a number 1 - it tends to be three or four basses on rotation - currently:- Stingray SR4HH or SR5HH specials (aqua sparkle and Cruz teal respectively) Classic Sabre - Neptune Blue Stingray Tim Commerford signature (passive electronics) However other basses join the #1 rotation when the mood takes me - they are all Musicman, and are mostly Stingrays. These basses are versatile enough to play the rock/blues/soul/reggae/rock and roll/jazz/pop material which characterise the bands I play in. I also have my nearly new Bongo 5HH Crescendo (sparkly white) on hand at home for noodling and practicing - it has been used for two gigs but I’m petrified of chipping it (especially the pointy headstock - on low ceilings, not singers or drummers who get too close 😂🥴 ) My Stingray Classic is one of my favourites.

If I’m going to buy a bass I always ask for the serial number - I use this to check with the manufacturer the original spec, and indeed whether the bass has been recorded as being built by them!! I’ve bought used basses from far afield. I’ve never had a seller refuse to give the serial number or even get in the slightest bit defensive about it. Im afraid that if a seller was coy about giving the serial number it would raise suspicions with me and I probably wouldn’t consider buying it. Do Sansbass units have serial numbers? Seems another good way to sort the wheat from the scammers - the latter probably wouldn’t tell you it (if indeed they even have the unit in their possession. Using the motor car analogy, would you buy a car without knowing the registration number (to carry out various history checks)? I really don’t see the need to withhold serial numbers if you’re selling a bass - you find many retailers quote them in the sales blurb, for obvious reasons.

Well that’s one way of dealing with the need for a ‘P’ after a vino session 😂 Nice bass though 👍

Thanks for posting that - the Stingray is clearly much more versatile with that 18 volt 3 band EQ. Whilst the P bass is ok across the various techniques (it does verge on agricultural sound wise on slap but there have been slap tracks such as Forget Me Nots which have used the sound). The Stingray sound is generally more refined and especially on the upper notes of the octaves played. My favourite P bass sound is with the tone rolled off at least 50%. However the Stingray does enable changing the sound significantly using the EQ - and no matter what people say about EQing the P and other effects, changing the tone at the bass and varying playing technique changes things much more than amp EQ, for instance, in my experience. This shouldn’t be surprising really as much of the extensive development work done on bass guitars in the 70s (Alembic, Wal, Musicman and others) was all about providing flexibility and higher fidelity for players. The Stingray used is the 2018 upgrade using the 18 volt 3 band preamp and represents the most recent development of the 1976 design. Both basses no doubt benefit from vastly improved manufacturing techniques and tolerances compared with their 1957 and 1976 origins. It’s a really good comparison video and really nice playing, also,

I nearly bought a Marcus Miller Jazz bass once - partially because I like Marcus Miller but partially because I liked the look of the bass. In the end, if didn’t suit my playing style and the shop owner even said have you ever thought of getting a Stingray 😂 However this is the only signature model bass I have and I really like it a lot (I also like Tim Commerford’s work). Things I like about this bass:- 1) Sounds great and plays very well 2) It sounds like a Stingray in parallel mode. 3) It has two other great sounds (single coil and series) - the latter is massive!! 4) it’s very light 5) it’s the old style pre EB bridge with through stringing and mute assembly. 6) looks v cool - I’m a sucker for a natural ash bodied bass - black hardware and pickguard just add to that. 7) there’s only 50 of this version and as they sold out in a couple of days they’re very rare 😎 The very dark ebony board not only looks great but is great, in combination with the slick roasted maple neck to play

Not one but four!! Roasted highly figured maple neck and fingerboard on this one, and quite a lot cheaper than the single pick up used Wal at Bass Direct. https://shop.music-man.com/ernie-ball-music-man-stingray5-special-fuego.html