Colin Greenwood from Radiohead was an early adopter of the Sterling and used them a bit around the time of the first album - the Sterling was launched in 93 and came with the mutes on the bridge
My wife thinks there are so few to be found because i have too many!
2005 blue pearl 4H weighs about 4.5 kilo/ 9.9lb
2012 Classic with mutes, slab body, string through body, 2 eq, no switching, 4.6 kg/ 10.1lb
2019 post box red (recent bday pressie to myself to celebrate LFC triumphs!), roasted maple neck and headstock, 4.0 kg/ 8.81lb
I've been playing these since 2008 - I intended to buy a stingray but tried the Sterling next to it and was instantly converted. The selling points for me are:
the neck profile is the most comfortable of any bass for me - if you prefer jazz to a P bass neck then you will undoubtedly prefer the Sterling to a Stingray
I like the smaller body shape, much more elegant and comfortable
smaller headstock than stingray - I like to smash drummer's cymbals with it!
The three way switching and eq options are extremely versatile
can be a very aggressive sound - I usually prefer to tame it with flatwounds
The Classic is extremely rare and they were only made for about 6 years - I love the mutes, the neck is high gloss and amazing figured maple. The neck feels different and nicer somehow to the standard 4H to me but I can’t work out why, it seems to be the same profile. I've heard people say that gloss makes the neck sticky but I’ve never had a problem under stage lights. Not as versatile without the switching and only 2 band eq but it does what it does very well.
I’ve never encountered a lightweight one.
My new one is the lightest I’ve ever heard of at 8.81lb - can anyone beat that?