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How Sterling by Musicman should have done it (IMO)


Guest MoJo

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In the past, I’ve owned a Chinese made SBMM SUB4 and more recently a SUB5. With a bit of tweaking, they are very decent instruments. The only thing that I’ve never liked is the big, blocky S.U.B. logo.

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It looks as though it’s been stamped ‘Substandard’ at the factory. So I designed my own headstock logo, based on the SBMM Ray35. I passed my design on to Rob at guitardecals.co.uk and a few days later they arrived in the post. I’ve just finished clear coating the headstock. I know some will think, what’s the point? Who looks at the headstock but personally, I think they look a lot better, more in keeping with the Ray15, Ray25 and Ray35

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Edited by MoJo
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This is bit déjà vu!! They don't have that logo any longer - haven't for at least a year or more. I think all the SBMM models have Stingray in the logo these days. 

Have a look at their website for details. 

The SBMM company is not owned by Musicman so the title of your thread needs changing as well. It's completely separate, making instruments (they do guitars as well as basses) licenced by Musicman. 

Edited by drTStingray
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6 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

The SBMM company is not owned by Musicman so the title of your thread needs changing as well. It's completely separate, making instruments (they do guitars as well as basses) licenced by Musicman. 

Perhaps they shouldn't be selling guitars with "Sterling By MusicMan' on them?

Sorry, Music Man is a company that's a  subsidiary of Ernie Ball.

Edited by Stub Mandrel
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The whole "Sterling by Musicman" thing is ridiculous. It's such a confusing, non-appealing and boring brand name. 

They could've gone the route of Squier/Epiphone for their SUB models (with a decent brand name...) and go the route of Mexican Fender for their mid-priced instruments.

Honestly the reason why Fender MIM sells so much is so obvious and few people get it - people these days pay A LOT of attention to the brand name. 

In a world of consumerism where looks matter the most and everyone wants to feel "special", very few people are going to drop almost £1000 on an instrument that says "Sterling by Musicman" - especially since used Musicman Stingrays also go around for that price.

I know Basschat's community is mostly older (no offense!) but I'm talking about a youngling's perspective...

If Musicman re-branded their Ray34 as "Musicman Stingray" but still kept the "Made in Indonesia" underneath the logo or whatever (like Fender does) and sold it for like £800 you'd see a lot more of them being bought new.

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2 hours ago, M@23 said:

Looks great. What's the verdict on the SUB 5's? I hear good things. 

I’ll be honest, I’d been more than happy with my Yamaha BB425 when this SUB5 came up, reasonably locally, at a giveaway price. I bought it with the intention of turning it around quickly for a profit. When I got it home and had a chance to play it, I found the slightly tighter string spacing more comfortable for me than the Yamaha. My only gripe was the edges of the fretboard were pretty sharp. I spent some time rolling the edges of the fretboard, dropped a set of new strings on it and set it up to my personal preferences and I have to say that I’m very impressed. It’s my current ‘go to’. I’d certainly recommend the SUB5 to anyone looking for an affordable 5 string

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@MoJo I like your updated decal - looks great.

However I won't be changing mine - and what a great Musicman it is - for those in the know it's a US made 'Sports Utility Bass' - hence SUB - classic 2 band EQ a basically a Stingray with cheaper finishes - it's fabulous!! 😏👍

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@Stub Mandrel how very dare you - that's based on the original 1970s Musicman logo - definitely 70s but corny - I don't think so. That one looks a bit odd btw - here is the one on my Classic Stingray. Looks magnificent to me (as Stingrays always have as far as I'm concerned!!) 👍

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Heres a modern one - Stingray Special. 

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Edited by drTStingray
  • Haha 1
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