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40th year Stingray has been revealed!

Everyone should have at least one Stingray. They'll do a sound nothing else quite replicates.

4 basses 2.jpg
 
What an unbelievable amount of whining, bitching and criticizing going on here. I am disappointed to see the lack of support for one of the greatest bass manufacturers ever...but not at all surprised.

With the new 40th anniversary model they are paying homage to the prototype of the flagship of their product line and it looks great. It has elements of the original with some benefits of some of their advancements.

The new basses do indeed follow some basic formulas but are bound to have the quality fit and finish as well as playability and reliability Music Man is known for. They deserve to have a piece of the pie for these designs more than many of the imitators that are constantly lauded for their Fender-esque designs that are much less subtle in their impression of the classics.

To look at their current offerings, I would say that it is diverse as ever. What a dramatic improvement to the website too!

I say kudos to Music Man for making some tough decisions to cut the fat from their product line and introduce some new stuff that they surely believe will improve their sales.
 
What an unbelievable amount of whining, bitching and criticizing going on here. I am disappointed to see the lack of support for one of the greatest bass manufacturers ever...but not at all surprised.

With the new 40th anniversary model they are paying homage to the prototype of the flagship of their product line and it looks great. It has elements of the original with some benefits of some of their advancements.

The new basses do indeed follow some basic formulas but are bound to have the quality fit and finish as well as playability and reliability Music Man is known for. They deserve to have a piece of the pie for these designs more than many of the imitators that are constantly lauded for their Fender-esque designs that are much less subtle in their impression of the classics.

To look at their current offerings, I would say that it is diverse as ever. What a dramatic improvement to the website too!

I say kudos to Music Man for making some tough decisions to cut the fat from their product line and introduce some new stuff that they surely believe will improve their sales.

Exactly!

Many people do not like the instruments Music Man puts out, and that is fine, to each his own.. but their build quality is unquestioned. With that in mind,
why hate on them for making their version of already consecrated basses? Some people always complain about not having enough options and stuff, well, here you have a new option with outstanding quality and looks.

The way I see it, this isn't innovative at all, but it is pretty great move on EBMMs part.
 
With that in mind,
why hate on them for making their version of already consecrated basses?

Because EBMM have been so outspokenly critical of the entire industry for doing exactly the same thing. Sterling Ball himself declared it was his mission to move the bass world past 1954. It would appear he has given up on that mission completely. That is why people are disappointed.
 
Because EBMM have been so outspokenly critical of the entire industry for doing exactly the same thing. Sterling Ball himself declared it was his mission to move the bass world past 1954. It would appear he has given up on that mission completely. That is why people are disappointed.

Truth!!!
 
Because EBMM have been so outspokenly critical of the entire industry for doing exactly the same thing. Sterling Ball himself declared it was his mission to move the bass world past 1954. It would appear he has given up on that mission completely. That is why people are disappointed.
To be fair, he probably should have said 1957.

I won't be buying one, but I like the idea. Maybe for the 50th they will do that P-pickup-in-the-MM-position prototype. I wouldn't buy that either, but it would be cool to see it in production.
 
Be interesting to hear it. I remember the originals having the capability for getting a very deep and mellow sound out of them. The newer ones seem to be optimized for slappers. Whole lot of bark and clank. Not at all smooth and jazzy like the 1976 2-band models could be. Maybe it's the newer preamp? Or maybe it's just the way most of them get played these days?

I'll reserve judgement. I keep thinking I'd like to own a Ray some day...even though I've resisted since 1976. Maybe this one will find the tipping point for me.
 
Because EBMM have been so outspokenly critical of the entire industry for doing exactly the same thing. Sterling Ball himself declared it was his mission to move the bass world past 1954. It would appear he has given up on that mission completely. That is why people are disappointed.

well, I didn't know about that, so that is a valid point! but I stand behind what I said about the whole "more options" thing.. I like most Musicman basses.. so I'm definitely going to e checking these out hehe