Musicman Stingray - Such a love/hate relationship

[horrorshowbass]

USA SUB incoming on Thursday.

Happy Christmas to me

[Vanheusen77]

The more I play my Stingray special the more I love it. It really can do it all.

Edited December 24, 2022 by Vanheusen77

[Eric.C.Lapton]

On 19/12/2022 at 07:06, Delberthot said:

I think I've said this at some point in the past - I love the sound of Stingrays but the only way that I can get the Stingray sound live is with a Sterling. I just can't get as much growl and punch with a regular Stingray unless it's a ceramic pickup SR5.

 

I bought this a few weeks ago - Sterling HH with matching headstock

 

 

The sterling is a monster,  I’ve slays preferred it’s sound to the stingray a HH must be marvellous 

[Patrick Francis]

It’s refreshing to see so many others frustrated with their Stingrays - I had 4 of them, along with a Sabre and a US Sterling, Back in the late 80’s and 90’s I had very little understanding of tone and gain stages. 87-91 I was using a Trace Elliott sold state amp,

(the one with the black light) I used a pick and a chorus pedal. I had terrible tone but I didn’t even know it. When warmer more organically produced rock music kicked in with the grunge stuff, I moved on to a precision and an SVT. 
 

I found the Stingray NEVER sounded good with a pick - unless I went for the over the top Cure, Simon Gallup, Disintegration pick tone.

They never took to drive as well as passive basses.

They had a thin ‘snock’ sound that didn’t fit in a mix.

They’re prohibitively heavy. I wasn’t aware of their weight in my 20’s, now I’m 64 it’s a deal breaker. The most recent Ray I had was over 12 pounds, I never picked it up. I have to admit the Sterling was a nice reprieve, fabulous sound, lovely weight, it just felt a little small on me.

 

[agoulding]

I'm joining in on this resurrection... I bought my first Stingray this year. Adore the bloody thing but sometimes struggle with the sound.

I had the weak G problem but it was massively improved by adjusting the poles in the pick up.

I have now settled in using flats on it, I just adore the vibe of it. Flats on the Stingray is wildly underrated if you ask me.