Need user input from owners users.
I’ve been a long time and still love my Fender P bass and Jazz Bass’s 55 years to be exact. I have an itch to buy a Music man. Played several in local stores. One of these felt great and sounded greater for a mere $570. a Ray4. Don’t mind spending additional for the Ray34 if it offers more versatility but still able to produce the Ray4 sound.
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There’s quite a bit of info on this in this thread:
Also technically those are Sterling basses, not Musicman. Analogous to Squier vs Fender.
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I have a Ray 34HH. Overkill, given my skills, but it’s wonderful. The roasted maple neck is just amazing. Everything just FEELS right. I also picked up a Ray 35 (5 string). Totally didn’t need it, but had a chance to trade a Epi Les Paul I didn’t care for. As far as setup, I don’t think there’s any difference between 'Rays, as they all have the same layout, the difference being hardware and finish quality. Also, at first I thought my Ray34 was buzzing because of setup, but my teacher played it, and no buzz…he declared ‘user error’ and told me to practice more…
I used to have a Ray4 and currently own a Ray34. The Ray34 is a significant upgrade over the Ray4. The pickup and preamp is closer to the actual MusicMan sound. Also the roasted maple neck is super nice to me. You may want to replace the tuners on either though as they do seem a bit cheap. I will say $570 is awful high for a Ray4, if you’re in the US. Also of note, the Ray4 has a narrower neck. At the nut, it’s closer to a jazz bass, whereas the Ray34 is more like a p bass.
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I’m looking at a Ray4 as my next bass, its about the neck width at the nut.
1.5" at the nut the same as my jazz basses, so far I prefer the narrower necks compared to my P.
There are a few great vids on how and what to use for pickup and preamp upgrades, also Al1885 has given me his upgrade ideas for the Ray4 that look pretty good.
In the vids they create an excellent sounding bass that sounds very EBMM.
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When I get a Ray4 the must will be a maple neck and if its roasted all the better, however I have not seen a Ray4 with a roast on, I still hope to find one.
I’ve seen your Ray34 a great bass and the neck looks great, a good roasting…
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Yeah this.
Ray4 is less than half that neighborhood. Less used.
If you are ok with used then it worth the extra time and look for OLP. That’s the closest to Ernie Ball Music Man, EBMM with the exception of 4 bolt neck instead of 5 or 6 bolt. You can usually pick it up from guitar center for $200-300. Looks great feel great.
There’s no secret that I’m a huge EBMM fanboi and I’ve own and modded many of their imports. You can make one really sing for relatively little money and some TLC.
Feel free to drop any questions.
Here’s a good example of what the modded OLP sounds like. I have the dual coil EMG and both modes sounds super awesome see how it compares to the others. It’s the cheapest bass on the line up by 5-10x to the others but like I said many times before sounds is the cheapest modded. 
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Actually I have not seen a new Ray24 for less than $500. Cost is important, but not I’m primary consideration. I’m trying to decide if the extra cost equals the upgrades, the one helpful reply was that the Ray34 will sound closer to the pre-Indonesian product and be more versatile. I’m not interest in rebuilding a bass for now, or taking a chance with used. The Ray34 typically new runs between $700-$800 I would have bought it by now but haven’t found maple new with a color that I like.
Ray24 is not a good choice for most people it cost 50%+ more than Ray4 same pickups no body carve. It’s not as well made as the original Ray34CA.
Beside The Ray34 “Stingray” I’d get the Pete Wentz model or better yet the Short Scale which has the most interesting pickup and preamp in the lineup.
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