The bass in question is my “Sterling by Music Man sub series Stingray”. When someone asks me which Bass I have , how would I refer to this one? Sterling, Stingray, Music Man?
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I call mine a Sterling SUB, Sterling By MusicMan, or SBMM.
To call it a Sting Ray or a Music Man would be leading people to believe you have a much more expensive bass than you do.
At the end of the day, people will either know what your bass is, or will just need it be described to them as it being a cheap version of the Music Man Stingray.
Not belittling your bass at all by calling it “cheap” and I hope I don’t offend you by saying that. I have one and enjoy it a lot, but to call what we own a Stingray is like someone with a Squier saying they own a Fender (which is super common when browsing what’s for sale on local apps).
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I went through this on a seperate thread. Refer to it however you want, it’s your bass 
BUT if you ever sell it it is SBMM, so to avoid confusion.
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This is not a silly question, and there is many ways to describe a StingRay. I have 3, and they each have their own description.
1- Sterling Stingray Ray34
This is the top line offering from Sterling. mine is a 2012 which I add to the description, saying I have a 2012 Ray34
2- Sterling Stingray Ray4
3 - Sterling Stingray Ray4HH
Same as above, but this has 2 pick ups. I just say I have a Sterling Ray4HH
You can be careful about just saying you have a Sterling, because that is an Ernie Ball Music Man model of bass guitars, named for Ernie Ball’s Son, Sterling (as is the company Sterling)
to just say you have a SUB Ray can be misleading as well. Ernie Ball did make SUB rays in the past, and these probably hold a little more value if you can find them, PLUS, the earlier SUB rays made by Sterling, pre 2008ish I believe, were pretty bad. I had one, and it was beyond cheap, like way beyond. I still liked it, but I had no problem selling it to upgrade to my Ray4
This is my DREAM Ernid Ball Music Man Bass!
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Agreed, I only gave examples of how I refer to it.
You hav a GREAT BASS BTW @Gadget , I am a die hard stingray fan
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Love that color.
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Yep, is that blue or black? it looks like my blue, but hard to tell in the light sometimes
That’s a great color.
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Yep, translucent blue, same as mine. I Love this color.
Hey, I like your bass 
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I refer to mine as a ray35.
I don’t see any problem calling it a stingray though. Loads of people say they have a p bass or a jazz bass without referring to a fender. I see stingray as the style and sterling / mm as the brand.
I would’nt refer to it as a musicman though but unless it’s a potential sale I think your free to call your bass what you want
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This is the correct answer. If you have a bass that you love and enjoy playing, refer to it however you like until it comes time to sell it. The rest is just semantics.
Or if it really bothers you, just go out and buy a real Music Man and you will have no worries about what to call it 
awesome.
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I’ve got an old 2000’s OLP Ernie Ball and when I saw on its headstock Ernie Ball and freaked out for a second thinking it was a really expensive bass but it looks just like a Stingray, I don’t have a picture rn but I can probably post one later.
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BONGO!
I don’t own a MusicMan, but if I did, it would be a Bongo.
Yeah looks a lot like a ray
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