EBMM Stingray 4 string weak G string question

[mep]

[quote name='funkgod' post='758098' date='Feb 26 2010, 12:22 PM']take the pick up out you can leave it connected
THE 4 middle poles WILL push down, the 4 outside ones WONT push up because of the coil tensions at the ends, the middle ones will do it slow then when you put it back you can raise the pick up. JOB DONE
And remember you heared it here first folks, (or mabe not)[/quote]

Definitely worth a try.

[green]

funkgod, thanks for that info with the pole pieces !
i guess that could be a good thing to try out.

but don't hate on the new stingrays. i have one from '05 and it's really nice. never compared it to an older stingray, but i like it a lot. i like the plastic battery compartment better, since you don't need a screw driver to change the battery.
now about the neck: times change. and since there are so many luthiers who need that birds eye maple, i guess it is quite rare and/or expensive.
the neck on my stingray is very stable. it never changes. like it's a graphite neck !

nice woods always were natural sprayed, and bad woods always were solid painted. fender did it back in the days, musicman did it, everyone does it.
and i guess, everyone would do it when building basses. looks has nothing to do with sound. so, as long as it sounds good, the bad looks can be sprayed over.
i really don't give a sh*t what the wood under the gloss black paint looks like. the sound of my stingray is incredible !

ok, enough off-topic :-)

enjoy your basses everyone. and for the weak g-string fix, try funkgod's advice

[artisan]

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.

[funkgod]

Hello Green.
some good comments there
just let me say i dont hate stingrays i like the sound hence still having one,
tho i dont use it in favour of the g&l,
yes i agree woods like birds eye maple are getting more expensive and i have seen some fantastic birds eye E.B necks, but you must admit the ones for the majority they are making now
are of a lower grade wood, im only stating what i see.
birds eye aside, just tight grained maple must now be getting expensive, so yes maybe to keep the price affordable they are using a more affordable sub, or fast growing hybrid.
i know that now good dark tight grained rose wood is getting hard to get, and alot of guitar makers now use a hybrid rosewood what grows faster hence a more pinky colour, which is a good thing (dont want to start a eco thred here !).
as for the battery clip two of my friends stingrays have had probs with these, one was the copper contacts at the bottom had corroded. and the other was the clip at the top hinge had snapped and so now and again the sound level would drop, because the battery would not make good contact
i did not mind the two screws and chrome cover as only once every 8 months to undo.
but it was relyable

Good advice for the day... never drive faster than your gardian angel can fly !

[mrcrow]

i find G is always a bit weak and twangy
i have gotten used to playing it with a bit of extra finger pluck

[green]

funkgod, i don't think it is right to say, that they use lower grade wood nowadays, since the looks of the wood doesn't tell about it's grade does it ?
alder for example has very little grain, but makes good tonewood. such es mahogany, which has little grain to it, too.
and nice black ebony is very good tonewood, and one can say it has no grain at all :-)

you better say, the wood is not as fancy looking as back in the days, but for me, it's ok. i mean, it's a bass, not furniture. i wouldn't like to have one of those burl swirl flame super grain fodera and stuff. that's wood coming from ill trees, or with fungal infestation.
haha
although i must admit, it does look nice sometimes on the neck of a vintage musicman.

hey, how come squarepusher's sabre bass doesn't have a weak g-string ?
:-)

[OutToPlayJazz]

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.

Edited February 26, 2010 by OutToPlayJazz

[artisan]

[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.

[dub]

[quote name='artisan' post='758401' date='Feb 26 2010, 05:10 PM']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]

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.

Edited February 27, 2010 by dub

[artisan]

[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 ?

Edited February 28, 2010 by artisan

[dub]

Good to hear it all worked out well.

[Duarte]

[quote name='artisan' post='759667' date='Feb 28 2010, 11:43 AM']EBMM pickup anybody ?[/quote]
If you actually do want rid of it, I'll have it good sir!

Just a tip for people who raise their pickups a lot, be careful (especially on stingrays where the pole pieces are MASSIVE) that the magnetic pull doesn't affect the string's vibrations. Having a string too close on these pickups will make it vibrate a lot less, and make it sound like it has no sustain and in effect, much weaker...

Edited February 28, 2010 by Duarte

[Duarte]

[quote name='funkgod' post='758098' date='Feb 26 2010, 12:22 PM']the neck now is made from cheep "NEW" wood and is very wide open grain ( not old tight grain) the so called now smooth back of the neck is just sh*t, and soon wares off leaving dark patches, they should of left it varnished, the body is now very open grained, the selection process i think goes like this,
if it looks ok spray it naturel,
if it looks not bad with some figuring spray it translucent
if it looks pants with different coloured woods or miss matched grain ..paint it solid.
now there is nothing wrong with this process as everyone does it
but you dont know whats under the paint, as the natural ones are now open grained enough.[/quote]

Do consider the availability of attractive wood. MM stopped using birdseye necks on standard models because it is too rare and expensive to source, and would raise the price of what is already considered by many as overpriced. However, you can specify attractive woods if you want by choosing a model which they are offered on. Just do that.

[Chris2112]

Yeah, I have to say I enjoy the older MM basses more than the new ones. The old ones just have so much "FUNK"! And I always prefered the feel of the older necks to the new ones. The 1980's ones were my favourites, be it Sabre or Stingray. I don't know if it is my inherent love for the 80's affecting my view though. My Sabre special has a 1980 Sabre neck on it. You can tell just from feeling it that it has been played and played, but it is just full of funk.

[green]

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 ?

[Beedster]

[quote name='Bigwan' post='755787' date='Feb 24 2010, 08:22 AM']John East MM preamp perhaps?[/quote]

+1

[artisan]

[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.

[green]

but if you get a push/pull pot you don't lose the beefy sound. you just add one more possibility.
right ?

i would do it if i had a splitable pickup... ;-)

how much did the nordstrand cost by the way ?

[danweb22]

so is the G string more in the centre of the pole piece now with the Nordy pickup? Thinking of getting one myself!

[artisan]

[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.

[artisan]

[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.

[mep]

I was looking at my 4 string Ray last night. I changed the strings to Roto Nickels which sound and feel great. I didn't have too much luck with Funkgods idea of removing pup and pushing the 4 middle poles dosn and re-installing with the G string end set higher. What I have noticed is that my G string is not central to the poles. The bridge and string saddle design has changed over the years (well documented on the web). I therefore forced my D & G string saddles over by inserting a small folded strip of plastic between the circular ends of the saddles. The G saddle is now as far over as it can go and is stopped by the circular piece next to it. This looks discreet and has made a bit of a difference to the G string. I need to try it out in a gig setting to see if it really works, but for now I'm happy.

[green]

mep, let us know if it worked. and if it did, could you please post a closeup photo of your bridge after your modification ?

[dave_bass5]

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.

Edited March 4, 2010 by dave_bass5

[artisan]

[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.