2004 Textured Teal MusicMan SUB

[HeadlessBassist]

Sadly not mine - just in my custody while waiting for it's new owner to pick it up, but a delightful example of a 2004 Textured Teal/Checkerplate 2EQ MusicMan SUB.

 

 

 

 

[Mrbigstuff]

I missed out circa 2007 but I’ll have one of these one day!

[Sean]

That's lovely, Richard. There were a few times back in the day where I nearly bought one...

They were an absolute gem for the money. The likes of these don't exist anymore. 

[HeadlessBassist]

Just now, Sean said:

That's lovely, Richard. There were a few times back in the day where I nearly bought one...

They were an absolute gem for the money. The likes of these don't exist anymore. 

 

Hey Sean, yes - I was chatting to the new owner earlier - He was saying that most of the original SUBS have tatty necks where people have misguidedly tried to strip the gloss paint off. This particular example played like a demon. It was a very nice bass.

[Sean]

11 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

Hey Sean, yes - I was chatting to the new owner earlier - He was saying that most of the original SUBS have tatty necks where people have misguidedly tried to strip the gloss paint off. This particular example played like a demon. It was a very nice bass.

Yes, I've seen a few "shipwrecked" Subs out there. I've only ever owned 2 MM basses; a 5 string Ray for a few weeks and a Sterling (USA) that was lovely but got sold/traded for whatever reason. It could be a future endeavour, who knows what this crazy world of Bass GAS brings 😃

[ezbass]

14 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

tried to strip the gloss paint off

The problem was that it wasn’t gloss, it was matt, made glossy by playing, which in turn made them sticky. I never regretted stripping mine, it felt and played so much better.

[casapete]

I had a couple, and regret selling one in particular ( on here IIRC ). Mine were teal and black. 

Great basses, although weren’t the lightest of things.

MM did a passive one as well, along with a SUB Sterling which are really rare.

[Mrbigstuff]

10 hours ago, ezbass said:

The problem was that it wasn’t gloss, it was matt, made glossy by playing, which in turn made them sticky. I never regretted stripping mine, it felt and played so much better.

Often someone just went at the top 7 frets with a bit of sandpaper leaving an awful mess. But then even if it was done well, the painted headstock then looks odd.

[Veils]

I was fortunate enough to pick one of these up in white when they were first released. One of the best basses I’ve ever owned and it cost me about 400 quid. This one here looks lovely!

Edited 8 hours ago by Veils

[ezbass]

2 hours ago, Mrbigstuff said:

Often someone just went at the top 7 frets with a bit of sandpaper leaving an awful mess. But then even if it was done well, the painted headstock then looks odd.

I stripped the whole neck and left a curve for the headstock transition and it looked OKish. I saw another owner’s attempt, where the black started as a point behind the nut and flared out to the full black headstock, which looked much better. I think stripping the back of headstock would have been the best solution.

 

9 hours ago, casapete said:

 

Great basses, although weren’t the lightest of things.

 

Mine was beast, weight-wise, but marvellously balanced.

[BlueMoon]

Great basses for reasonable money back in the day. Prices are creeping up now and there are many butchered ones out there.

 

I was lucky enough to find an unmolested Stingray 4 SUB in black not so long ago.

[casapete]

1 hour ago, BlueMoon said:

I was lucky enough to find an unmolested Stingray 4 SUB in black not so long ago.

Black is the best colour IMO. Goes with the headstock well, and easily made a bit stealth with

the addition of a black guard once the original has been binned. 

IIRC the colours available were teal, black, white and a kind of burgundy red, all textured. 

[wavemaker]

And Graphite, which is a really nice silver grey that works very well with the texture as well as with the black neck and pickguard:

 

I honestly think the SUB line is about the least aesthetically pleasing thing to ever leave San Luis Obispo but if one can look past that, they are fantastic. Also, being face to face with these really helped me appreciate their utilitarian approach - you won’t ever spend a second thought on dings & scratches with this finish. 

 

As I personally seem to have quite a thing for Sterlings-without-contours (I have accumulated three over the past 11 months), my SUB certainly did scratch the itch and kept me from buying a third Classic Sterling. And while prices are indeed starting to get into stupid territory, you simply won’t get a better deal on a US Music Man (I paid 800€ for the one above because I wanted the rarer Sterling in this colour specifically and it was in excellent condition. Around here, 600-700€ seems to be standard for a well-worn SUB Stingray). Even cooler if you’re into the Classic line - surprising, really, how there’s a budget friendly alternative to these rare birds. 

 

Also, I saw somewhere on here an example of a stripped neck with an intact black "matching headstock" (front) and found that to have been a rather great call:

 

[casapete]

1 minute ago, wavemaker said:

And Graphite, which is a really nice silver grey that works very well with the texture as well as with the black neck and pickguard:

Ah yes, I forget the grey - that Sterling looks fantastic!