carlsim

I was thinking that - I haven't signed anything. Andertons have ordered from EB so will see how it plays out.

So I bit the bullet today and stuck £180 into a new bridge from Ernie Ball. It pained me to do it but after traipsing round metal finishers in the local area to be told, “no”, “I don’t think so” or “that will cost you more than 200 quid”, then trialling vinyl wrapping with black vinyl I gave up and admitted defeat. I’m not sure how the return of the old bridge will happen (maybe they might forget!) but will cross that bridge when I come to it. So it will have black hardware and will look cool when complete. i have no idea how long the bridge will take to come from EB in the US… but I have a couple of weeks wait for the tuners anyway so no hurry no worry as they say in Fiji. will update when items arrive!

That is very, very nice... I think the chrome knobs and plate really work with the bridge to contrast the black... my SR5, because the scratch plate is black, knobs are black, to me it's crying out for some black hardware. Plus i has SR5 special a while back and loved the look of the black hardware on that - especially the headstock... The question is whether a chrome bridge will look weird with black tuners...

I wouldn't mind an exchange, if it was an exchange price! £175 for a bridge is steep at the best of times...

So, I need some advice. Ernie Ball want £175 for a black bridge and they want the chrome one back as well. That's a no for me. I really want to go black with this as much as I can... would it look weird if I went with black tuners, black scratchplate and knobs, black pup but had a chrome bridge? I thought £175 wouldn't be too bad if I could sell the chrome one to recoup some funds but it's too much for a like for like replacement. Is it worth me trying to spray the original bridge? Chrome sprayed - a lot of people say no... if I scuff up the chrome and it looks crap - I'm in the stink. I have had a look at other bridges but from what I have seen so far, all would leave the brass captive screws showing, it would need to be 110mm wide for it to work. Any advice fellow BC'ers??

I like the idea but I just don’t know where… it’s also going to show the screw holes as well - recommendations??

So, a little glimpse into how it’s going to look with a scratch plate… I was considering a clear plate, but I actually really like it with the black. Add a black bridge and black tuners with a maple neck, I think it’s going to look decidedly cool!!

So the Stingray came back from the shop today, all buffed and polished and I'm loving the new look for it. The brown wash really makes the grain pop and rather than a completely flat polished look which is the standard for Rays in a natural finish, I have opted for a more tactile polished finish with no grain fill to allow the nitro to sink into the grain. It really looks good and feels a lot more natural than the standard polished finish. Not the best photo but I have started added copper foil to the cavities ready for the electronics to go back in and will add some pics when I can which shows the finish a bit clearer. I'm just waiting on a price for the black bridge from musicman and then it can all be put back together!

I have a pair of the SE7s in my studio and they are a nicely balanced matched pair, very neutral and to my ears, similar to the Rode NT5s which I also have a matched pair of. I think i prefer the NT5s but these are quite a bit above your budget but the SE7s would be a good compromise if you can get them for £150 ish... Hope that helps...

So the stingray has had 6 coats of clear coat today and it’s being left over the weekend to cure before it’s wet sand and buff to a high gloss finish. im really pleased with the dirty stain, the stark white has gone and the grain really pops out. Its certainly going to be different from the usual natural finish stingrays and definitely worth the effort once it is back together. i have suppliers sourcing me a black bridge direct from musicman so once that is here i can reassemble!

So, the SR body has been with the luthier for a few weeks and he has been some doing some final sanding and experimenting with stains to take away the stark white of the ash. He has used a very pale brown wash to darken the wood a little and it really helps to make the grain pop! Really pleased with the results and he will shortly be starting on the sealer coat and layering on the clear coat. Pictures show the wash on the body and one half with spirits to show the clear coat should look. I can't wait to see it when it's all buffed and ready to reassemble!

That is a very good idea! I need to see how nice I can make the rout (probably going with copper foil tape) and luckily, I can make one at work with the laser cutter... sounds like a plan. It's gone to the local luthier for it's refinish - he is going to do a very subtle darkening of the grain and wood before it's refinish so will see how it comes out.

i will Double check the measurements - nice one!

Thanks @AndyTravis I think you are on the money, a darker tint to it will bring the grain out a bit. Plus all the other natural stingrays out there are just lacquered so this will make it kind of unique! it’s the black hardware issue I’m having trouble with!

To be honest I’m 95% set on a natural finish, slightly toned down and high gloss. I’m not a fan of trans colour finishes to be honest, and I think it’s too nice a grain to cover up.

The guy doing the refinish will be doing further finish sanding so that’s my bit done for now and time to pass it across.

Sanded back to the wood - that sealer coat was a b**** to sand through - I was instructed to do the sides by hand to avoid taking too much wood away. That took hours!

Original paint work - you can certainly see the duff job of the original rattle can job….

So after a successful strip and refinish using Tru-oil of an Xotic a while back, I recently acquired a very reasonably priced Stingray 5 from @wordsetcetera for the pure reason that the finish was in a bit of a sorry state. It would appear that someone had gone over its original trans red finish with a solid red rattle can finish (which wasn’t perfect but not too bad) and then lacquered it. Unfortunately, due to some rigorous polishing the lacquer was peeling off and it had started to look a bit sorry for its self. I took a punt for this reason with an original intention to do another tru-oil refinish and job done. But, I started thinking about colours and asked the BC community about ideas of colours and what they think looks good with a stingray. There were some excellent ideas and some of the colours from The new special series are amazing. However, after stripping the guitar I have decided that a natural finish is going to be the way to go. It was originally a trans red finish so I had an idea that grain would be nice, but now it’s back to the Wood. I think it’s definitely going to be a natural finish. I’m quite lucky that I live quite near a talented luthier and he’s going to do a high gloss nitro finish for me. We did discuss the idea of a dirty stain, which involves staining the wood and then sanding back to make a slightly darker look especially on the grain and I think this could be quite cool. I have been painting stripping and sanding over the last few weeks (fitting this in between other jobs) and it’s now ready to go off to be finished. I wanted to give it a more modern look as well and I think the black hardware on the new special series look really good. A natural finish stingray with a maple neck, looks great with a black scratch plane and I think this would be aided with black tuners, a black bridge and black knobs. My biggest issue is where to source these! Schaller make some black tuners which would fit nicely and a slightly lighter than the originals. But Ernie Ball don’t allow you to buy replacement bridges in different colours. I can get original music man tuners but they don’t supply and send to the UK. I do have family in America who could buy them for me and post them but I reckon it will be close to 200 quid. My question is this - can I have a chrome bridge changed to black? I don’t think powder coating would work as apparently it’s quite a thick coating. I did look into anodising but apparently the biggest problem is getting the chrome off. Anybody tried anything like this? Does anybody have a stingray five Black bridge they’d want to swap for a chrome one? Doubtful, I know but always worth an ask! I do think the black hardware would improve the look no end so I will definitely be doing this. Other than that is a non-original music man bridge but I don’t know which one would fit and I don’t want to drill extra holes. Feel free to weigh in on the colour options as well - I’m not 100% on the natural finish if someone has some other ideas but the grain looks great. I’d rather not cover it! Will post updates when the refinish process starts… Carl.

Will post a few pics a bit later with the progress - have stripped all the horrible rattle can paint and original finish and am now sanding through the sealer coat to get back to the wood. Front and back are back to the wood, I just need to do the sides and a few little nooks and crannies and then I can start doing some finish sanding before it goes to the local luthier for its refinish. Having seen the wood now, I think I am going to be boring and go for a natural finish - it's a lovely 2 piece matched grain and would be a shame to hide it, but I am going to speak to the guy about doing what he called - a dirty stain. Staining the wood darker, sanding it back but allowing some of the stain to remain. It should look a bit a smidge darker and it will hopefully bring the grain out and make it pop a bit more. Am doing a bit of sanding later so will upload some pics.

Will post a few pics a bit later with the progress - have stripped all the horrible rattle can paint and original finish and am now sanding through the sealer coat to get back to the wood. Front and back are back to the wood, I just need to do the sides and a few little nooks and crannies and then I can start doing some finish sanding before it goes to the local luthier for its refinish. Having seen the wood now, I think I am going to be boring and go for a natural finish - it's a lovely 2 piece matched grain and would be a shame to hide it, but I am going to speak to the guy about doing what he called - a dirty stain. Staining the wood darker, sanding it back but allowing some of the stain to remain. It should look a bit a smidge darker and it will hopefully bring the grain out and make it pop a bit more. Am doing a bit of sanding later so will upload some pics.