dub_junkie

to clarify the £750..it was an ebay auction that dawsons run and no one else bid on.the listing finished at 9.45 on a sunday morning when most bass players (myself included)are still in their bed.that morning I wasnt and saw it 15 minutes before it ended.borrowing the money afterwards was the difficult part lol I can only imagine I got it trade + VAT ^_^ DJ

I bought this bass in January of this year from Dawsons Music in Chester.It was a new old stock job from 2004 which hadn't shifted.So no compensated nut,but as it was £750 new with the MM case I wasn't for passing it up Its finished in candy apple red(not sure whether its alder or poplar under it)and originally came with a black plate,though I bought the white EBMM pearloid one you see here a couple of months ago and it definetely suits it better The neck was very dry when I got it but after a few applications of beeswax that problem disappeared and the action was too high for my liking when I first opened the case - easy job to fix,and something I've pretty much had to do with any guitar or bass I've ever owned. The finish is flawless on my bass and I really love the colour of it. under stage lighting it goes almost magenta. The maple neck has a fair bit of figure lines in the wood but no flame or birdseye.The neck is starting to darken a little and its looking better all the time. Everything is solid on the bass.the bridge,tuners and controls are still tarnish free and everything works perfectly. One slightly strange anomaly is that it feels a tad heavier than any Stngray 4 I've owned,even though its downsized but it's light enough not to ever notice it during a gig. The neck is my favourite bit on a Sterling bass (I used to own a honeyburst with rosewood board).I love the shaping on these things.The're 38mm(1 1/2") at the nut and fairly deep behind the first fret (well compared to a Stingray anyway) from what I remember of Rays and SUB basses,the Sterling's neck stays a bit deeper front to back all the way up. Sorry but I think only mad people and lifelong P-bass guys wouldnt like this neck.... The fretting is first class,no lifting,sharp ends,filler under the tangs,anything else undesirable.a lot of attenton to detail has gone into the fretting of this bass by the looks and feel of it.The rolled over fingerboard edges make it the best I've ever wrapped my left mitt around.I think the plastic nut is the only let down but I guess I can live with that. Soundwise,its a more mid-rangey Stingray to my ears.I never,ever bother with the series or single coil settings so I wont bother commenting on them - they sound fine - but the parallel setting is the classic stingray tone and thats the same sound I use with the Sterling. The EQ has its own voice compared to the Ray,maybe not quite so much bottom end but more growl and punch than its big sister.Treble can get a little noisy all the way up but I never move it more than a little up from the centre notch anyway so no issues there.Its a MusicMan sound but its got its own voice.It sounds better than a 3 band Ray imo which is why I chose it.I play it through a Warwick ProFet III and Warwick 4x10 at home but mostly with my 2 piece though a Line 6 Bass Pod XT Live board,into a Mackie Onyx mixer and Nexo PS15s and Nexo bass bins. It sounds great in every venue. I have pretty much always had a MusicMan bass these last 20 years and this one I'm hoping is a keeper. I sold my Bongo 4HS not long ago but kept the Sterling because its a better gigging bass imo.the smaller size and simplicity of the EQ and the great neck make it a breeze to play. Lately I've been playing my ASAT basses out live but the Sterling gets a look in every now and then but I'm thinking about going back to it more and more because its so easy to play.The G&Ls are more versatile in the range of tones on tap but I've reached a point in my playing where I just want to leave the knobs and switches alone and just play the same sound all night. The Sterling's perfect for doing that.I think its the best bass MusicMan make and I'll be playing them for many years to come hopefully I'd give this bass a 9/10 for everything because 10/10 would mean an end to GAS and I cant have that DJ

been using Rotosound 40-100s (RB40s) for a long time now and I've never felt any compulsion to change. DJ

I just sold one on ebay(along with the AD121 acoustic version as well). I had it for a couple of years,and gigged it a fair bit and in retrospect I shouldnt have sold it but kept it in my kit bag for emergencies I liked it btw DJ

Sterling's got 22 frets - the Stingray 1 less,Sterling headstock is smaller too.the neck is narrower at the nut and I'd say deeper (front to back) than a Stingray.both great necks,for me the sterling wins out though.(but I much prefer J to P necks anyway) worth noting that even though they're smaller all over,Sterlings will often weigh as much as a Stingray and sometimes more. there also were SUB Sterlings too.seen a few but not many edit: 2 pickup Stingrays/Sterlings and SR5's are wired in series single humbucker Rays are wired in parallel single p/up Sterling and SR5s can be switched between parallel,single coil and series SUBs are parallel (I believe) DJ