Bass opinion

[T_dub]

@howard

I do admit to being tempted by some P-basses though

Me too for some reason lately, and not really Fender ones, just a P bass in general. I am starting to think it is a step I missed in my evolution and I want to add a P bass and eventually a Jazz bass, and mostly so I have 1st hand experience with each bass and it’s classic sound and potential range and such, etc… If I were to pick a dream P-bass’s or bucket list P-bass,
the top choice would be (and I can only find a youtube video on it) is:

• Lakland Geezer Butler signature that is sick AF.

There is a bad ass LTD Signature of a Frank Bello from Anthrax that would especially be cool to hang on the wall next to my LTD Tom Araya Slayer signature bass.
I am seeing a beautiful blue LTD one for sale here locally on Offer Up for about $300.
But
In reality, I might just be looking at a Glarry, SX, Harley-Benton, Ivy, Sawtooth, etc… cheap one online, and I would probably be just fine with it.

But…
If I were to spend on a high quality hand crafted or custom shop P bass, I would prob not start or even end with Fender,
I would actually start looking with G&L (yeah, I know Fender history, but…)
and also Sandberg, Lakland, and plenty of others that I can’t think of now.

@TNKA36

I have sold of all my directional drills and earthmoving equipment.

congrats, I think??

@Wombat-metal

best bass is a Fender Jazz, because I am excited to pick it up and play it.

I love my EBMM SLO Special, I get excited to play it, especially when I first got it, I was not playing at all, cuz I was sick and on the mend. I was so excited to get a chance to play it, and would just daydream about it for a while. And it was awesome to finally feel good enough to do a set up on it, and then slowly get to play it more and more over the last couple of weeks.
I also have my prior GO TO bass, my Ray4 plus other EBMM and SBMM options to play.
AND
I still pick up my $299 Stingray first, and most often.
I love to pick up and play my SLO Special next.
The Ray 34 comes next.
The Stingray Classic I have apart cleaning it up, and am going to sell it.
The Ray 4HH I am selling

So, I love the EBMM line, and Respect the Fender and all, but at the the end of the day, EBMM has not been able to sideline SBMM in my house, at least not yet. So I would not be able to say The Best Bass is EBMM Stingray because I am excited to pick it up most. and I don’t necessarily think of SBMM as the best bass because I am most excited to play it. I am more in apt to speak about the the general realm of Stingray’s and say to me they are the best because I am excited to pick them up and play, which is 100% true between the EBMM and SBM

I suppose if I were a Jazz bass guy, I might have several Jazz bass from several makes and then say Jazz bass are the best bass to me, Or P bass, etc…

Would I sell my Slo Special because of that, Hell no!!!
Would I sell my Ray34 and Stingray 4 Classic because they are not sidelining my Ray 4, YES, YES, I would. And that said, I am selling the Stingray Classic for sure, 100%, no doubt, and in the end, I may end up keeping the Ray 34, cuz one, I prob won’d get what I am valuing it at, and maybe not even get actual value, and in the end, it is awesome, and it is very hard to tell the difference between it and the Stingray Classic, or Stingray Special (as they now go by, after slight updates / upgrades) and I really like it on top of everything.
And there is also nothing wrong with the Classic 4, I am just selling it, cuz of the circumstances in which I bought it were such that, i did not want to miss another opportunity to get and EBMM and I like the look off, AND I set myself up to turn a profit when I do sell it.
Had I not got the SLO Special after that, I may not be selling the Classic 4, or selling it YET, or ALREADY, etc…

So, in the end, even tho MM made stingray and is considered the king daddy, leader of the pack, I could end up top heavy SBMM

Now if it came down to my wall of art basses, and did not come down to dollars and cents (or sense LOL) I would have a wall, if not three in my place dedicated to stingray’s. On that wall, there are a couple SBMM that I could add to the wall based on how freaking cool they are, but more of them would be the awesome array of colors they have been using on the later and current line up’s of Stingray 4 Special’s.
I would have other cool basses, many different ones on other walls, its not like I would only have stingray’s and remember this is only playing / dreaming around and only about art to the eye, not playability or sound.

[ronin2192]

I have that jazz bass. It’s a solid if unspectacular work horse that gets the job done. Only thing is that it is HEAVY.

[JerseyMike]

I have a StingRay Special 4HH and I love it. It’s way more bass than I need, but hopefully one day I’ll grow into it. It’s a gorgeous bass and the fit and finish us what you’d expect for a $2K bass. The roasted maple neck is exquisite.

As others have said, the two basses you linked are quite different, so a lot will be your preference between a J and a Ray, 5 versus 4. You have a Sterling Ray? Do you love it? If so, the Special could be a perfect upgrade.

My no. 2 us a Geddy Lee MIM J, so my advice is to get one of each.

[JerseyMike]

I don’t mean to sound judgmental or anything, but you probably need more StingRays.

[DaveT]

@Barney

I’m currently on the fence about a custom bass from a German company called Sandberg. You can configure it how you want and they’ll build it in about 6 months for a bit over $2000 CDN.

I’m super impressed with what you get for the price with Sandberg. I’m suspicious that their low pricing structure continues. I think this may be an opportunity to say “I got mine when they still only cost 2000”

[Tokyo_Rat]

I’m sure either is a fine bass…I have passed on the sting ray for personal reasons, won’t even test drive one though some of my favorite modern day bass players are playing them I’m sure they are awesome. The J, the differences between this and any other J bass in anyone’s arsenal are probably not going to be worth the extra grand they are going to charge you for it. For that kinda money I’d contact Keith Roscoe in Greensboro NC and have him build you one. If you absolutely had to have it right now and you want that Jazz styling you might look at Sire roasted neck, ebony board, active preamp and still walking away from the table with money in your pocket. Two tons of folks walking around with Ibanez gear and the new 2021 Corts are getting a lot of notice. Bottom line get what you want and for the amount of money you are willing spend you have a lot of options.

[Retta75]

I recently bought an EB MM Stingray Special 4H and I ABSOLUTELY love it. It’s like butta’ lol.

[TNKA36]

I agree @Retta75,
I recently bought a EBMM HH, and I really like the smooth neck and nice balance.
Cheers Brian

[terb]

@Noisembryo

I hate tuner placements on Stingray…why would anyone put just one tuner on the other side of the headstock???

I love this actually, it brings all the advantages of in-line string tension with a relatively compact headstock

[howard]

Yeah, I love 2+2 headstocks for this, so 3+1 seems like a nice compromise if you want to keep a little Fender going on one side, without ending up with a battle axe.

[T_dub]

@JerseyMike

but you probably need more StingRays.

If the consensus agrees with that, what the hell, I can hang with that.

@Noisembryo

I hate tuner placements on Stingray…why would anyone put just one tuner on the other side of the headstock???

Yeah, I love this, and it is part which drew me to the design before I picked one, up. I think you pretty much when first looking around a music store, pick up the things that your eyes draw you to. That headstock drew me in right away. The classic teardrop shaped fret board, and the just classic but not outdated look it can carry. It can look as modern as anything, and vintage as anything, and still look As Cool AF the anywhere in-between

But yeah, obviously that is coming from a Stingray Fan Boy, so of course I like the look,
But to your question “why would anybody”
the answerer is the because it is practical useful and a good design for shape, length and weight

I can 't say what came first, weather the 5 string drew from the Stingray or if the stingray was an idea which the 5 string headstock was designed around, but 5 string P basses, Jazz basses and Yamaha all have the 4+1 design, and for this is is more necessary, I think string length is a factor and if you put the 5th tuner on the same side, you may need custom length G strings.
If not, the balance is really what it is about and it works wonders.
And
i find it much easier to use the tuning key on the G string on a stingray than the G on an inline same side headstock like a J bass or P bass.
I don’t dislike either design, but I prefer the 3+1 or 2+2 even to the 4+0

[howard]

There’s tons of 3+2 for 5’s and 2+2 for 4-strings as well, and I greatly prefer 2+2 over all four on one side. It just looks a lot better IMO.

The Fender style is classic but I am really glad lots of lines have moved away from it.

[T_dub]

Yeah, I know tons of 3+2, but I was refering to the 4+1 because the poster seemed to have problem with 3+1, making me think he didn’t like the single tuner alone with a group of them on one side. And choosing the Jazz cuz of it, so I was pointing that the Jazz (and P I think) does the single sided tuner when they do 5 string. Thats all.

[terb]

also the Music Man guitars have a 4+2 headstock, I love this :

[howard]

Oh yeah totally understood.

Like, I really prefer this ESP Edwards Stream headstock:

over the T-bird:

despite the T-bird being classic. That headstock is huge, lol

(I like everything about that Edwards more than the Gibson, but that’s beside the point)

[T_dub]

back when I was playing guitar in like 91 or 92 I think the year was when Ernie Ball released the EVH, which had that headstock, and the coolest roundest, nicest neck I ever played guitar on. Now that I play bass, I can see where the guitar neck came from a little, it is like a Stingray neck for the round, thick, fits in the palm of your hand, but scales back for the size of a guitar.
I remember reading about the guitar in the Guitar magazine, prior to it hitting the shelves, and how they said they worked with Eddie to come up with a shape of guitar neck that felt good in his small hands, and helped with flow and transition up and down the neck.

I fell for the look of the guitar for sure, I thought it was cool AF, kind of a Telecaster meeds Les Paul for body profile, and the bad ass neck into that 4+2 headstock.

I loved that guitar, but list price (back in the early 90’s) was like $1300, and was double what I paid Carvin to make me a guitar to my configuration.
I stopped playing a while after that, never got a chance to get one.

Then when I went to the HollyWood guitar store early last year (like 1 year ago almost to the day) when I went to look to decide if I wanted to start to play bass.
i was walking around the guitar’s looking for the Ernie Ball EVH. I couldn’t find them, but Sterling had one that looked identical, as far as my memmory served, and was called Axis or something like that, and I was a little confused, but thought it looked similar.

Now that I know more about the current state of the companies and their sister or daughter companies and all that (mind you I said I know MORE about, nowhere near knowing all about) and I do see how the Axis is the evolution of the EVH, and I think (i don’t pay too much attention to 6 string these day, so I might be wrong, but I think) that Sterling makes them momre then EBMM and they are Axis, but they are some cool instruments, and if I decided to drop $200-$300 on a guitar anytime in the future, those are probably what I would be looking for.

I ahve seen EBMM EVH ones for as low as $250, and the SBMM Axis or EBMM if they do axix too?? go for as low ass $200, but usually $300-$350.
so yeah, I would get one if I had the need and the extra scratch, even if just to hang on the wall for memories, and to pull down once in a while to strum a bit, to realize why I chose bass this time around, and put back and look at its beauty some more.

[terb]

I like the Gibson “book” headstock :

and the Grabber headstock (so cute !) :

and I have always been a huge fan of slotted headstocks :

[howard]

The Grabber headstock looks a lot like some (but not all) of the Yamaha Motion Bass headstocks:

Cute! Neat little 32" scale 24 fret basses.

The Grabber headstock is engineered better though, straighter draw. Looks cooler too. Except the clover pegs

[franx]

Another Headstock. Austrian Bite custom bass guitars.

[howard]

Whoa, love the headstock! Looks like black hipshots too, nice tuners.

What’s up with the nut, though? grooves look way too filed out.