FS: Half of the (in)famous StealthRay Bass. (Status Graphite neck content).

[Fender32]

IMPORTANT NOTE: This offer may not be of such great interest to those outside of Europe, as currency exchange rates, the tax paid by me on this item when new, the shipping costs and possible import duties, make it not such a great bargain to those in the US and Canada (sorry ). However, if you have $500+ to spare, read on .

To those in Europe, however, the offer price represents a good saving on the price of a new one.



Regulars of TB's "Bass Guitars" forum, may have seen pictures of my heavily modified EBMM StingRay, known as "The StealthRay", or "The StatusRay" (below):






Well, for reasons that even I'm not sure about , I've decided to break it up and sell the parts off (I know, I should be shot ).

Anyway, my stupidity could be your lucky break .

The part on offer here, is the Status Graphite neck. This neck was custom made for me by Rob Green and will fit directly on to any 6-bolt fixing, 4-string (R/H ) EBMM StingRay.



I've written a full listing with all of the relevant details on the Status Forum (seemed appropriate), so please check on the link below to find out more .

There are no other parts of this bass available for sale, at this time (so please don't ask ).

If you have questions (or want to buy), you can PM me here at TB, or at the Statii forum (if you're a member).


Click here to view listing ...

Cheers for looking !

[JoshB]

For those that are lazy and don't want to click...

Originally Posted by the other listing

Here’s a chance for anyone who wants to modify their beloved StingRay to “jump the queue” for a custom neck and save about a £100 in the process smiley!

What you’re looking at here is one of Rob’s wonderful graphite StingRay necks, which was custom-made for me in July 2006 (yes, I do have the receipt to prove it smiley). I say “custom made” because, as you may have noticed, there is a subtle difference to the standard production model – mine has no front dot markers (only side dots). Although Status Graphite may well have the standard “dotted” necks in stock, a custom one like this involves a wait of 4 to 6 weeks. AFAIK, this neck may even be unique smiley, as I’ve never seen another one like it (excluding the old GMT necks, with the Fender-style headstocks, which came without dots as standard).

Personally I’ve always been a fan of the plain black, phenolic resin fretboards of the earlier Status basses smiley and wanted to recreate some of that “vibe” when I put together my “StatusRay” bass (a.k.a “The StealthRay”). This bass was, AFIAK, quite unique and developed something of a “cult following” over on the Talkbass forum, where it received and awful lot of compliments on it’s striking good looks smiley (see pics).

Anyway, things have come full-circle with me and I’m now selling off a lot my more “modern” bass equipment smiley, to concentrate on purely wooden, vintage basses. My loss, your gain!


OK, the details:

I can honestly say that this neck is in virtually the same condition as when it arrived from the factory, accept that I have done all the hard work (and it is tricky, believe me) of drilling all of the necessary holes to mount it to a modern, 6-bolt fixing EBMM StingRay and to fit the tuners. This work was carried out with great care and all of the holes are a tight fit for the screws and there are no “extra, bodged” holes anywhere on the neck.

As for the frets, the surface of the fretboard and the lacquer – there are quite simply no marks or defects anywhere on any of them! The finish on these necks is incredibly tough and you’d really have to abuse it to make a dent – I chose not to try! I think that the photographs speak for themselves smiley.

I paid about £340 for this neck (inc. taxes), but I’ll part with it for £250. This figure is non-negotiable, so please don’t PM me to haggle over it. For that price, you get the neck, the original screws and instructions, the allen-key and an original EBMM string retainer smiley.

Now, I have three different tuner options available for this neck (see below), but the basic price of £250 does not include any tuners.

I have a set of Schaller BM’s and a set of original Ernie Ball MusicMan tuners, both in “as new” condition, which I can fit for an extra cost. I also have a Hipshot “D-Tuner” available (again, as new), which can be included at extra cost.

My advice, if you are thinking of adding the D-Tuner, would be to take the Schaller tuners. I say this because the shafts on them are longer than the “stubby” EBMM ones and are therefore closer to being the same height as the D-Tuner. The EBBMs with a D-Tuner towering above them, looks very odd indeed smiley. You can see pictures of what both sets of tuners look like fitted, below. (n.b. The majority of the pics were taken today, to give the most honest description of the item’s condition, but the pictures with the Schallers & D-tuner are older).

Also, please note that the tuners are not available to buy separately – yet! I will leave it up to the buyer of the neck to decide which tuners he/she takes and then I may choose to sell what’s left afterwards. Here are the (non-negotiable) prices for the tuners.

Schaller BM set : £30
EBMM set : £40
Hipshot D-Tuner : £40
P&P : £10 (UK and mainland Europe)

I’m sorry that this is such a long listing smiley, but I want to save your time and mine by answering as many potential questions as possible, now.

Thanks for reading smiley. PM me if you want to buy, or have any further questions. It’s “first come, first served” on this one smiley!

All the best,

Andy
(Fender32)

Also, moved to the correct forum.

[Fender32]

Originally Posted by jmb7183

For those that are lazy and don't want to click...



Also, moved to the correct forum.

Thanks for the "quote", jmb7183! Why didn't I think of that .

BTW, I deliberatlely listed this on the BGFS forum, due to a promise that I made several TBers that I would list the bass on TB, if it ever came up for sale. As I'm only selling half of it (the important and unique half ), I thought that it better go there, as that's where they'd be expecting to see it. No matter!

[etaym]

Wow! I cant belive you are breaking this baby up!! As an owner of a 100th Anv. SR with the Status neck I must say this neck gives the SR an even better punch! (if that is possible at all).

How about selling this bass as a whole?

[Fender32]

Originally Posted by etaym

Wow! I cant belive you are breaking this baby up!! As an owner of a 100th Anv. SR with the Status neck I must say this neck gives the SR an even better punch! (if that is possible at all).

How about selling this bass as a whole?

It's largely a matter of economics, etaym .

I reckon that I could get back about 70% of what the parts cost me, as they're all like new and some of them are very hard to find (e.g. the neck, the EBMM tuners and the Delano pickup).

However, nobody's gonna be prepared to give me even half what the whole thing cost me (roughly $3,100 ), let alone the 70% that I'm hoping for, so I'll get back as much as I can on the extras and sell the bass in original condition if I need any more cash later (I'm cleaned out at the moment ).

I actually ran a TB thread on this once, with a poll and most voters said that they'd pay more for the standard bass, than for the "StatusRay"! As I say, economics .

Besides, doing it this way makes it much cheaper for a current StingRay owner to "give it a try", by just buying the neck and converting their own bass.

[etaym]

Well I wish you all the best with your sale!

SR users - give it a try -you won't regret it!

[WarriorJoe7]

nice bass... I have a Stingray HH with the same neck.

[superbassman2000]

Originally Posted by Fender32

There are no other parts of this bass available for sale, at this time (so please don't ask ).

I was just about to ask about the Delano until I read that

[Fender32]

Originally Posted by superbassman2000

I was just about to ask about the Delano until I read that

Yeah, sorry about that, superbassman2000 .

I'm trying to make sure that I don't sell off all of the "smaller, cheaper parts" and get left with the neck. If it doesn't sell, I'll probably look around for a StingRay body (needle in a hay stack ) and build another StatusRay.

Shame that these things are so damned expensive to get in the US , as I know that some of you guys would really enjoy this mod to your StingRays.

(*bump* ).

[Fender32]

Due to certain "limitations" to the TB posting/editing system , I was not able to change the title of the OP, to explain that this item is no longer for sale.

Sorry, to anyone who's had to read this far to find out .

Basically, as nobody was interested in buying it, after two months, I decdided to keep it and build another bass around it (expect to see it again in the "Bass Guitar" forum, in about 3 weeks)!

[TheMutt]

Yeah, don't know why the title of threads in here doesn't like changing. What you might want to do though is close the thread. In the [Additional Options] section under the [Reply to Thread] area, there is an option for Thread Management that has a check box next to "Close this thread after you submit your message" which only the original poster to the thread can see. Also, I eagerly await StealthRay II: Attack of the Clones in the Bass Forums...
(don't kill me for the lame joke! )