Stingray

I agree. Sales of the sub Stingray can only increase. For anyone who cares about such things the old large SUB logo was possibly the ugliest thing to ever grace a headstock (even more than the Ibanez Sound Gear logo)

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There’s a Sterling Ray 34 in a limited edition Silverburst color (only made 500 back in 2010) on Facebook near me in Atlanta for only $400 (was $500 last week) AND it comes with an Acoustic B200 amp. I don’t think the owner realizes that it’s a limited edition color. The only one I found on Reverb is $695 (listed as good condition). If I hadn’t just bought 2 basses in 3 weeks I’d be all over it (am tempted to send him an offer anyway but I don’t think the wife would be happy with me). Here’s a pic from Facebook. You can see at the top of the headstock that there’s a little scratch in the black paint but otherwise it looks good:

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Those strings would have to go :rofl:

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it goes without saying that i love this.

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I’m new to the community so I’m not sure what you ( @itsratso ) mean by that. Are you a Stingray fan? Is it the color of the bass (or the strings), the price?

And I forgot to mention, thank you to @T_dub for breaking all those different models down. And correct me if I’m wrong, but Sterling By Music Man is a brand (overseas makes of Ernie Ball Music Man basses), but there is ALSO a model of bass called the Sterling (i.e., Ernie Ball Music Man Sterling as opposed to Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray or Bongo). That being said, I don’t think there is a Sterling By Music Man Sterling (at least not currently). The current Sterling By Music Man website only lists Stingrays. So if you want a non-Stingray (i.e., Bongo or Sterling), those are only made by Ernie Ball Music Man. Did I pass the test?

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hah, hi loco! yep, i’m a giant music man guy. i own a short scale stingray and a bongo. i’m going to some day add a full size stingray, just waiting for the perfect one to come along. music man is legendary for having the most confusing names in the world. this might help:

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Actually I kind of love the splash of color there :slight_smile:

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As a proud owner of a Soundgear, it’s pretty ugly and we could debate that

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Not very rock and roll is it? More like the sort of logo you’d see on the side of a van for a commercial laundry service :grinning:

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This is definitely the cutest Stingray I have ever seen for sale on eBay

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I think I’d want different pups on my Stingray, ones with less bark and growl (I got dad jokes for days).

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:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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Hi @mateoloco,
Buy your wife a bunch of flowers :joy::rofl::joy:
She will understand you have a serious issue GAS
Cheers brian

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Yes, Yes and Yes, you got it right. Sterling By Music MaN (SBMM) Has produced a Sterling before, and I actually owned ont, thinking it was a super cheap stingray copy and upgraded to a Ray4. Had I known what I kow now, I probably would have kept it just for the nostalgia to it, as a stingray collector or something like that.

Recently there nave been a couple Sterling Sterling’s on Reverb, both sold I think, and one of them was dug up from the US shop, and was the S/N. 0001, was the first SUB Stingray (or Sterling, can’t recall) made in San Luis Obispo at Music Man. They did a few years, or at least one, making the lower priced SUB Stingray and Sterling, but then either created SBMM or handed the project off to them and it has been with them since.

There is also a listing I had saved for a SBMM Sterling, but I am not sure if I still have it, although there is one for sale on that website someone shared showing the Bootsy bass, in New Jersey. there is a particular model they call it, but I can’t recall, but I am gonna look for it really quick and see if I can find it.
Here I found it, it was the SBMM SB4. IDK what years they were started or stopped. I would love to get one for my collection sometime, but I will wait til I see a great deal of somebody that doesnt’ know what they have, or if it needs work that I can do to it.

I should be clear, the first link was for a SUB STERLING bass made BY MUSIC MAN in the USA
while the 2nd one is made by STERLING and was made somewhere n the far east, not sure if it is Indonesia like they are mode now, or China. I can tell you the quality of the Sterling by Sterling I had was very much noticeably lower then what is put out from Indonesia today. Still was a fun piece and if I knew exactly what I had at the time, I would have kept it for sure.

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Oh no… those strings ROCK. I do actually like the feel and sound of DR coated strings and I have an Orange set on my EBMM Stingray BFR SLO SPECIAL, and it looks and sounds GREAT, to me, IMHO.

I do like the green strings on that bass, and I could see Red ones (that I have on my ESP LTD FRZ Tom Araya Signature model, or even the white ones or black ones, or yellow ones, maybe Blue or Purple.
TBH it works any way you string it TBH

I love that bass, and I would love to buy it if I were close by

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his contract with CBS that bought Fender, had a 10year non compete, meaning Fender could not work for, or create another copany that was in direct competition with Fender.

After the 10years was up, Leo Fender was FED UP with how CBS was handling his first company FENDER, and set out with Music Man as a rebuttal bass to take things further so they could beat Fender’s P and J bass to smithereens.
After developing the Stingray, testing it out on the great Luis Johnson (one of the funk pioneers) really helped Leo Fender to really stick it to CBS and FENDER and push them next level, was sort of the idea.

After Ernie Ball showed interest, and was destining new strings for the Stingray and that type of play, he also had a keen interest in staying on the project, eventually talking it over and purchasing if from Leo Fender and is group.

So Leo sold Music to Ernie Ball, and he continued to develope it further using his son Sterling Ball as the 2nd test subject. This was to create a smoother yet powerful Stingray and Luis Johnson could still slap the shit out of, but could be drawn way back to get softer more subtle tones, on the bass with the same basic design.

Sterling also wanted a smaller body bass, For the pre-amp that he wanted less headroom, and more functionality.
So instead of using bass and treble boosts to raise the power of the lows and highs,
he wasn’t a selector switch to change from a pickup wired in parallel (classic stingray) switch to a pick up wired in series, and one selection to put it into a hum cancelling single coil (or something to that effect)

This is where the STERLING, the bass was origonated, after they did all the wrk on several revisions of the Stingray, they then did a version of the Sterling.

I know there is alot ore information, some may be more correct adn factually accurate then what I just wrote off the top of my head, but then again, I often have a good memory and what I said may be what is, and the other page may confirm, or deny, and possibly be culprit, you will have to decide.
I only wanted to break this down into a simple quick story that many if not all can appreciate, and maybe help a few that are still confused.
If I have made it seem more confusing, PM me with questions and I will try to straighten it all oug.

I wanted to commend you @mateoloco for just jumping right into the conversation, it is the best way to get to know one and other, just jumping in with questions and joining in all parts of the conversation.

If you have not done so, It would be really cool if you can go over to the INTRODUCE YOURSELF topic section, and tell us ALL a little bit about YOU. Everybody, or most everybody, when they see it will will all be welcoming you to Bass Buzz with out FAMOUS (inside this forum) Bass Buzz Hello.

At which time you will be officially licensed product of bass Buzz and you can loudly say, anywhere you go "BASS BUZZ in-d-Muda-Fukin Hieeouse- BAM - REPRESENT.

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Saw this bad boy today.

$2700.

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starry night, just beautiful.

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Shorty too.

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