This is the fifth StingRay I've owned - it's the first one that's not American and, in many ways, it's the best one that I've had so far 
.
Now, I don't want to over-hype this Indonesian bass, so I should clarify that statement with some further exlplanation. My other StingRays were; a 1977 (pre-EB), two early Ernie Ball models with 2 band EQs and a 2006 Ernie Ball with a 3 band EQ. The most 'magical' tones came from the '77 Ray and the Ray34 can't compete with that, but I found the '77 bass pretty horrible to play, as the frets were worn right down and I have a really strong aversion to nitro cellulose lacquer on bass necks
(which this bass had). Even the bare wood on the 2006 Ray got quick sticky when my hands became sweaty, so that wasn't the perfect solution either 
.
Essentially, this new bass has the best playability (low action, good string volume balance, relatively few dead spot issues and good sustain) of any StingRay I've ever played and now that I've made some modifications, it has a tone that I think is 'better' than the 2006 USA 3 band Ray. At least, it sounds closer to the 'classic' StingRay tone than either my 2006 bass, or either of my mid-'80s basses. If only it had the same pre-amp as the '77 Ray, it would be just about the perfect Ray for me
.
The only things that I didn't really like about the Ray34 when it was new, were the non-standard (poor quality) tuners and the rectangular-edged pickup, which I couldn't rest me thumb on
. Fortunatley, I have a lot of MusicMan spare parts lying around (from various earlier projects 
), so everything that I needed for a bit of an upgrade.
Although the original pickup actually sounded fine to me, I also had a Nordstrand MM4.2 pickup, which I was really curious to hear in this bass and so I soldered it in and reassembled the bass, fitting an Ernie Ball (b/w/b) pickguard along the way, just to keep things looking tidy. The tone was noticeably thicker and warmer with the Nordtrand in. The standard pickup certainly had a StingRay tone, but was a little 'harsher' sounding than the Nordstrand, I would say.
I also had a set of original MusicMan tuners, which I bought cheaply on eBay, knowing that they would come in handy for something one day
. Although I had to re-drill the screw holes to fit them, it was worth doing, as I really wasn't happy with the look of the ones that came with the bass - the heads were bigger and the stems longer than a standard StingRay's tuners.
The only thing that I had to buy for this upgrade was the string retainer, as the original one was chrome and didn't match the nickel-plated tuners very well.
So, I now have a bass that is, to all intents and purposes, just as good as most US built 'Rays and probably a fair bit better than some of them. I weighs around 9.8lbs, has a nice two piece ash body, very solid hardware and playability and tone in spades - definitely a good buy
!
.Now, I don't want to over-hype this Indonesian bass, so I should clarify that statement with some further exlplanation. My other StingRays were; a 1977 (pre-EB), two early Ernie Ball models with 2 band EQs and a 2006 Ernie Ball with a 3 band EQ. The most 'magical' tones came from the '77 Ray and the Ray34 can't compete with that, but I found the '77 bass pretty horrible to play, as the frets were worn right down and I have a really strong aversion to nitro cellulose lacquer on bass necks
(which this bass had). Even the bare wood on the 2006 Ray got quick sticky when my hands became sweaty, so that wasn't the perfect solution either .Essentially, this new bass has the best playability (low action, good string volume balance, relatively few dead spot issues and good sustain) of any StingRay I've ever played and now that I've made some modifications, it has a tone that I think is 'better' than the 2006 USA 3 band Ray. At least, it sounds closer to the 'classic' StingRay tone than either my 2006 bass, or either of my mid-'80s basses. If only it had the same pre-amp as the '77 Ray, it would be just about the perfect Ray for me
.The only things that I didn't really like about the Ray34 when it was new, were the non-standard (poor quality) tuners and the rectangular-edged pickup, which I couldn't rest me thumb on
. Fortunatley, I have a lot of MusicMan spare parts lying around (from various earlier projects ), so everything that I needed for a bit of an upgrade.Although the original pickup actually sounded fine to me, I also had a Nordstrand MM4.2 pickup, which I was really curious to hear in this bass and so I soldered it in and reassembled the bass, fitting an Ernie Ball (b/w/b) pickguard along the way, just to keep things looking tidy
. The tone was noticeably thicker and warmer with the Nordtrand in. The standard pickup certainly had a StingRay tone, but was a little 'harsher' sounding than the Nordstrand, I would say.I also had a set of original MusicMan tuners, which I bought cheaply on eBay, knowing that they would come in handy for something one day
. Although I had to re-drill the screw holes to fit them, it was worth doing, as I really wasn't happy with the look of the ones that came with the bass - the heads were bigger and the stems longer than a standard StingRay's tuners.The only thing that I had to buy for this upgrade was the string retainer, as the original one was chrome and didn't match the nickel-plated tuners very well
.So, I now have a bass that is, to all intents and purposes, just as good as most US built 'Rays and probably a fair bit better than some of them. I weighs around 9.8lbs, has a nice two piece ash body, very solid hardware and playability and tone in spades - definitely a good buy
!
.
