andruca

Regarding neck profiles, AFAIK, there's 3 main versions of them: THICK: the classic Stingray profile, sorta' "Precisionish", also used for the Cutlass MED: Bongos (only ever played 2, haven't had the chance to A/B them with anything really) WIDE: Sterlings, Caprice and Stingray5 (and some late special edition Stingray 4 string basses, I just don't recall their name). The thin profile, my fave, is almost Ibanez SR thin (my Stingray5s are 20mm front to back @ fret 1 and under 2mm more @ fret 12), sort of Jazz shaped (a more cramped nut), but even thinner front to back than most Jazzes, except for a few, such as the Geddy Jazz, which is very close (I ignore the exact specs, but I've played old MIJ/CIJ and newer MIA Geddy Jazz basses and the old MIJ/CIJ ones felt thinner -front to back- to me, probably thinner than a 4-string Sterling too).

I think that's endemical on post 2008 Musicman Stingray5s/Sterlings. Back when the 3 coil ceramic PUs in Sterlings/Stingray5s there wasn't such volume or EQ mismatches as there are now with the 2 pickup models. Overall this Sterling5 HS sounded thinner than my old ceramic Stingray 5ers, most notably in the two "classic" Musicman positions (just the humbucker, series or single coil). I think the post 2008 redesigned EQ has something to do with it, modern Stingray5 basses also sound thinner than my old ones. In fact Ernie Ball seems to have played a real crappy marketing move lately, they sell you the 30th Anniversary Stingray5 with a "redesigned preamp", but it's in reality a pre-2008 3-coil ceramic PU Stingray5 with the preamp it had back then, exactly like the SR5s I own, just with the added binding and fancy roasted maple. I've tried 2 and they sound exactly like my old SR5s, the EQ acts the same (in modern Stingray5s, besides the obvious change to alnico, the EQ is more tame somehow, in old ones a little boost or cut goes a longer way). To summarize, you should expect not that much of a volume mismatch but certainly be ready to boost some bass on the onboard preamp when moving the switch from anything neck or neck+bridge to only bridge.

It's from 1997, have had it since 2001. It was originally custom ordered by CA bassist Toby Skaard (Poe, Binge, Contact, an EB endorser back then) who in turn sold it to me. Lightest Musicman instrument I've had, just a little over 4kg. Not bad for ash and definitely not bad for 1997. The other blue one is from 2003 and it's noticeably heavier. Here's a closeup pic of the headstock, the grain is really intense and the figures and bird eyes are nice. The neck gets frequent cleaning & oil, it's well maintained really, no sweat stains at all, but it's still sort of "roasting" thru' the years... This bass has recently lost that Hipshot D-tuner (now on the Frankenray35) and got its original low B tuner back. Too bad all this Musicman refinement goes to waste in playing punk music 😞...

For me the HS is the best of both worlds. It retains 2 out of the 3 single PU tones you get in a regular Sterling H (series and single coil, parallel and single coil on a Stingray5 HS) and still offers 2 flavors of J (sorta') plus the neck pickup soloed. A tad more diverse than the HH model (which has 3 J-like tones, and series for each pickup soloed -parallel on Stingray5 HHs-). Here's a sample of the 5 positions it had (neckside to bridgeside, clean & compressed, then positions 1 -sorta' P- and 2 -sorta' J- picked widh SansAmp crunch). Also, here's a sample of the 9 positions in my current Ray35 "HS" (quite modded). I much prefer this bass. Half the price, similar weight and I added that single coil pickup (AliExpress creature -very decent sounding-) in a position that makes it a little nicer at the P game. The tradeoff of the closer distance between it and the stock humbucker is that J-like tones are a little "Spectoresque", there's a certain "metal friendly" but indeed nasal scoop to it, and also some combinations don't humbuck (there's no phantom coil in this so single coil is real single coil), not a bummer in any way as it's hardly noticeable. I also prefer this bass to the Sterling5 HS because I can mod it without remorse (it's intended in fact to be my "Sagrada Familia", a living creation) something I'd never dare on an EBMM (my Stingray5s, both old 3-coil ceramic, are in fact modded but nothing as invasive as adding a pickup).

Used to have 3... Now I only own 2, lost the Sterling and made my own HS from a Ray35... Can't say enough good things about them. No 5er plays like it, no bass holds its ground in a mix llike it, the low B is better than that of many 35" instruments, fit&finish is like boutique quality but with a tone that's full of personality (a feat many boutique instruments lacking, a sound of their own).

Top notch tribute act. Thanx for sharing.

I've been a "pro" for some years (meaning "made a lousy living playing music") and got 2 string endorsement deals, first one with Spain's Ernie Ball distributor, then with Magma (argentinian string maker, much better than Slinkys). After that I had strings left for some years. When they ran out I was looking for a cheap nickel alternative. I hated the Red Labels (steel) I had tried, but then I became aware of the existance of Red Label NICKEL strings (only available from thomann AFAIK) and they're GREAT, good tone, durable, lasting brightness and sustain, not coarse at all. And 12.50€ per 5 string set last time I checked. Many tend to hate on the sole mention of Red Labels but only 1 in every 1000 bassists knows there's the steel ones (the ones you see in every store, harsh on the fingers, short lasting) and the nickel ones, the good ones 😉

So much fun! I'm about to turn 44 and (you guessed it!) deep into dad band territory by now. To make it worse we're an originals HC dad band (we just like to excel in uninterestingness). Time is scarce for all of us so we don't "hang out" much (much less on weekends). Me & one of the guitars just do the composing, demo the songs and every couple years we pass them along to the other 2 guys so they can learn they parts, we rehearse for a couple months, record the new songs and do a few shows. We have no expectations at all, but still like to stay fresh in regards to our own challenge and pleasure. DAD PUNK IS NOT A CRIME!

Megadeth & Kiss 2 weekends ago. We got approached by some Kiss' tech and my 5 y/o boy (in Catman makeup) got a lightly used drumstick from Eric Singer (with some hand gunk still on it). Fabulous.

So, I've been doing some testing with 2 P pickups (one from a 4 string thomann kit build and the Bill Lawrence P46) and the cheapo big pole J from AliExpress and finally decided on this last one (more on that in my TB thread about this, don't want to hijack too much). Here's a quick pic... Carving was a mix of my Skil rotary tool, chisel, drill, files and sanding (don't have a proper router -nor the plunge adapter for my rotary tool-), still came out very decent. Here are some samples of the 9 different tone settings it now has, in the following order (coil 1 being closest to bridge): - COILS 1 and 2 (STOCK, typical Musicman): parallel, filtered series, series - COILS 1 and 3 (jazzy, sorta'): parallel, filtered series, series - SINGLE COILS: 1, 2, 3 (this last one is the P'ish one, new pickup soloed) EDIT: sounds better explained in vid...

I'm on a sorta' similar project. I own 2 USA SR5s and would never dare such a mod on them, so recently got a nice used SBMM Ray35 to do the P+MM franken-thing, been updating a TB thread about it. I'm waiting for delivery of a Wilde (Bill Lawrence) P-46 pickup to add to this. Also trying other pickups I have at hand with a rather "ratrod" test rig (in this photo with a cheapo -Donlis brand- pickup)... My intention is to integrate it as much as possible into the Musicman scheme, preferrably thru' the stock preamp. In the case of a P pickup I'd route the lower strings part of the P in its "standard" position but move the high strings' part towards the neck, reverse P. I'll update as soon as I do the final install. EDIT: BTW, I've made all sorts of switching mods to Stingray 5ers (both 2 coil as in this case and 3 coil as my USA SR5s). Besides this pickup addition I'm all for full humbucker flexibility. I particularly love how the neckside coil of the stock humbucker sounds when soloed (something not possible when stock either for the 3 coil -single+dummy mode only uses the bridgeside coil- and 2 coil -doesn't even have single coil mode but the "filtered series", which I don't dig at all-). Just ask via a message (not to hijack this thread) and I'll point you to threads and sample videos I've made about it. Being able to solo the neckside coil of a musicman adds a great "P meets Ray" tone in fact, all the punch, authority and cutting ability of a Musicman, plus some of that distinctive P "clonk" we all love. The bass in the photo (a 2-coil humbucker SBMM Ray35) has in fact one of those mods, which simply cut either coil for real single coil tones when in parallel (or none for the stock parallel wiring -and for the other series positions to work-). Can do 2 more tones apart from the stock 3 settings.