artisan

yep that's fugly for shure

you've got exactly what i had with mine by the sounds of it,i managed to get the volume even accross all 4 strings but the G just lacked any punch. i tried changing strings & messed with the pickup heights for ages all to no avail,but once the Nordstrand was fitted the problem just dissapeared & my bass is now perfect + it sounds a lot better too. (this shouldn't be a problem on a £1000 + bass of course)

if you can try a Roland D-bass 210,i did & it blew me away - infact it's still doing it. it is easliy the best sounding bass amp i have ever used,in fact i love it so much i sold my Ampeg SVT rig & just use this now. it's got more than enough power for you application too,it is a very loud amp but oh so nice sounding.

just sold Cham my stingray pickup,super fast & totally hassle free payment,very good comm's & a top guy to deal with too, highly recommended.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='770519' date='Mar 10 2010, 05:30 PM']I await the reviews. I hope the pre-amp is improved. I might be in the minority on the Humbucker...they are best left to Rays IMO.[/quote] amen brother

I bought mine from PMT Leeds last november for £1000.00,mind they had it up for £1299.00 but i had a very hard haggling session

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='764580' date='Mar 5 2010, 12:59 AM']Good thread. While im at the budget end and only have a Sub i have noticed the G is weak, more so up to the 5th fret. Im going to try the pole piece adjustment in a min but i do like the idea of putting a Nordy in it. Is it a like for like fit/wiring? Im ok with basic soldering so quite fancy getting my hands dirty so to speak. I had this problem with my last two basses though (both Laklands) and found that the right strings, and the right EQ cured this. Also a change of pup on the DD but that was more for tone than to fix anything. I dont think its the same thing as the MM issues though. EDIT: I couldnt get the pole pieces to move so that didnt work. I didnt want to push too hard. The springs gave me quite a surprise though. Especially when all 4 went flying across the room lol.[/quote] i had my tech fit the Nordy for me but he said it was a straight forward job--only charged me £15.00. you can wire it in parallel (std EBMM seting) or in series,which i went for. it still sounds very much a stingray but with a lot more balls & punch.

if it was me i'd have this purple beastie [url="http://www.nordstrandguitars.com/gallery.html"]http://www.nordstrandguitars.com/gallery.html[/url] obviously you'll be needing an extra string but i'm shure they'd be happy to oblige. this bass is just gorgeous. i'd sell my knackers to have one of these.

if you can find a local stockist its worth checking out the Roland D-bass range. i sold my Ampeg SVT rig to buy one of these & love it.

[quote name='iconic' post='751745' date='Feb 20 2010, 02:11 PM']I have Ernine Ball Group III flatties on RBX-374 and simply adore them...[i]they feel like silk on the fingers[/i] and boy do they make that bass growl...so much that if I just been playing my VMJ and plug the RBX, in I have to turn the bass down on the amp to stop the room singing along too...PC, printer, tables, other guitar strings etc and they all sing better than me "Flat chrome plated steel wire wrapped around a hex shaped tin plated steel wire. Provides a smooth feel and mellow sound."....[b]mellow [/b]really would be the last word to describe them![/quote] +1 i absolutley love EB flats,my stingray is has group II's on it & it really kicks arse. they have a very nice smooth non sticky feel,sound fantastic & are a joy to play,they're very good for slap playing too. i've tried many brands & imho these are by far the best & only string i'll use. i've never strung through body with them though but i have a feeling they may not like it though.

[quote name='danweb22' post='760900' date='Mar 1 2010, 06:34 PM']so is the G string more in the centre of the pole piece now with the Nordy pickup? Thinking of getting one myself![/quote] mine was pretty central on the stock pickup to be fair,i think the main difference is that it's made propperly. i'd reccomend you to buy it mate you won't regret it.

[quote name='green' post='760884' date='Mar 1 2010, 06:20 PM']how much did the nordstrand cost by the way ?[/quote] it was £100.00 & worth every penny of it. i can't get over how much better is is.

[quote name='green' post='760338' date='Mar 1 2010, 02:32 AM']artisan, why not an passive/serial push/pull pot ? i have the switch on my sterling, and it's very helpful. you could have the classic stingray sound everytime you need it (parallel), but also have the even more aggressive serial wiring if you want. and it still would look original. did you think of that ?[/quote] I've already disscused this with my tech & i will probably get this done at some point,but i have to say it sounds way beefier in series.

[quote name='Duarte' post='758560' date='Feb 26 2010, 09:41 PM']If there is fret buzz and a 'noisy string tree' you clearly just need it set up properly. I personally wouldn't dream of selling a Ray HH for a Fender Deluxe. The pre-amps in those things are not good at all.[/quote] this man speeketh the truth. i had an american deluxe precision & whilst it looked & played nice is sounded absolute site. once you've had your ray set up i'm shure you'll love it.

[quote name='dub' post='758966' date='Feb 27 2010, 01:19 PM']Remember you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying the pole piece adjustment first. If it works then you keep the bass in its original condition and retain it's value. You can always return the nordstand or flog it on ebay. If you haven't soldered before I would do a good bit of practice on some spare wires that aren't connected to anything. The thing to watch out for when soldering, is not to hold the soldering iron on to the wires for any length of time. You may have to trim the length of the pickup wires. Use a good wire stripper. Cut off any old solder and strip the ends of the wire. Get a soldering frame with clips to hold the wires. Twist the ends of the new wire and apply a tiny bit of fresh solder to each end before you join them. You just need to touch the soldering iron and solder to them for a moment. If too much heat is transferred to the coil when soldering you could damage the pickup. Put of bit of shrink sleeve (before soldering) to insulate the join once it is soldered. If you're really worried about it, get an experienced tech to do it.[/quote] ok i wimped out & got my tech to do the job for me--coward eh ? Nordstrand now installed & i got him to wire it in series rather then parrallel (as mentioned on the fitting instructions) & now it sounds awesome-even through a 15watt practice amp,i'll have to wait until tuesdays rehersal to hear it in anger though,i can't wait. my g string now has plenty of punch & in fact the volume accross all 4 strings is very even,my tech had never heard of Nordstrand before but he was mighty impressed with this pick up. my bass now rocks accross all 4 strings EBMM pickup anybody ?

just a thought,are the connections in the battery compartment in good clean condition,a bit of corrosion could be the problem.

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='758622' date='Feb 26 2010, 09:54 PM']I've played Higgie's Stingray with the Nordstrand replacement pickup and that sounded immense... My Ray has the original MM pickup (2000 model with piezo bridge as well) but it seems to have variable height polepieces, so I use a lot of curvature between the strings & have the pickup pretty close to the strings - About 4mm off between the D & A polepieces which are the highest. I don't suffer the loss of volume on the G string at all and with the pickup set much higher than usual my Stingray seems to have a lot more punch than most 3eq's. Strangely, there's no distortion either, which I was expecting with the pickup so close to the strings. I don't know if you'll be able to see from the pictures, but the pickup is up pretty high now on mine. Then again, I do play in a very gentle and tactile manner usually. [/quote] that's one sweet bass,very Bernard Edwards sounds like the Nordy may cure my problem then,here's hoping.

damn good idea that funkgod maybee i could have saved £100.00 but let's not worry,just don't tell my missus. the Nordy should be getting fitted tomorrow--as i have never soldered anything before & so am scared sh*t less to do it myself--so i'll give a sit' rep' as soon as i;ve tested it.

[quote name='Chris2112' post='757365' date='Feb 25 2010, 06:56 PM']My Sabre special suffered from this quite badly when I first got it. I adjusted the bass and sorted the string heights, and after a tweak and set up by myself, the G string is back in action! Now it sounds full and punchy, whereas before it sounded as flat as a fart! It also has one of those lovely SD MM pickups in it...sounds absolutely incredible! [/quote] bugger me that bass is gorgeous.

[quote name='green' post='757197' date='Feb 25 2010, 06:00 PM']i guess i found out what's wrong with the g-string: the distance of the pole pieces should follow the curvature of the neck, and then bring the strings closer, the thinner they get, right? now look at the pickup of the stingray . the pole pieces on the g-string are even lower than the pole pieces of the e-string. the opposite should be the case. now, if you bring the one side of the pickup closer to the g-string, it will be ok, but then the d-string would be too loud. i guess, the problem is in the pole pieces of the g-string. is there any way to adjust their height ?[/quote] no unfortunately not mate,it's a sh*te design for shure.