Cairobill

Yup - I actually went back to Stingrays via a very nice ivory white Classic 'Ray from 2010 or so. And soon discovered that you can pick up a late 80s Ray for a lot less. And in a number of ways the older bass is a better instrument for me (although I really like the Classics).

I'm with you on that. Mid 80s and earlier are too big a spend for me. But the late 80s are really cheap for what they are and, most importantly, they have a beautiful, narrowish neck profile. Both of mine are from 1989 and this red one is a hair over 9lbs. Plus the 2 bands just sound fantastic.

Indeed - I'm absolutely over the moon with the work they did. Extraordinary job. Looks incredible, feels like a veeery expensive bass and sounds wonderful. They even managed to preserve the tricky little plastic sleeve on the truss and the dot locations at the interface between the board and the neck (now replaced with luminlay...a very nice touch). In addition you can't feel the join. An impressive achievement given that the original gloss finish on the neck is untouched....luthier witchcraft if you ask me!

Yup, it's a beauty. One benefit of going a bit further back with Musicman basses is the quality of the maple on even a standard Stingray. Flamed Birdseye no less!

Yup, fretless Stingrays are rare birds and factory fitted ebony boarded ones even rarer. So I took matters into my own hands so to speak. Fingerboard wood choice is central to the sound a fretless makes of course (unless you cover the wood with epoxy). And indeed, this is one of those alder trans red Rays. Sounds fabulous and, compared to my Ash/maple (that's only 6 months away from it on the production line), it has an audible low-mid bump which is also visible in the frequency spectrum.

A NBD of a sort. After searching high and low for a decent late eighties fretless ray and failing miserably in my quest, I've had the fretboard replaced on one my late eighties Stingrays. A fretless ray (in my head at least) isn't rosewood or pao ferro, it's ebony; so I went for a dark (old stock) ebony with partial lines on the edge. It's been 100% successful; this is easily the perfect fretless for me and a staggeringly good bass. The ebony and the two band gives you that Levin 'ping' with the treble up, and crafty tweaking of the bass vs treble on the 2 band EQ brings out the bark in the ebony to give a passable Karn-esque honk. It also does that languorous mwah like no other fretless I've owned. That singing, Pino style is there on tap. Playability is 10/10 with the late 80s ray neck profile and world class, exquisite work from the Bass Gallery, who are the best. And it weighs 9lbs! Ahhhhh... Quick pics!

Dingwall AB1 six string. Under 8lbs in weight with the best punch, playability and growl I’ve experienced in a bass. Astonishing instrument!

Very nice to see a player and his bass re-united!