Anyone else feel their Stingray Special neck is a bit unstable?

[J Wilson]

Roasted for me is no magic bullet, as a) wood just varies, and b) it still varies after it's roasted, though supposedly it should tame things down somewhat.

Over my time, I've had basses from all price ranges, and they ranged from one that literally never moved (I know this as it was so spooky I would measure things 2 or 3 times a year and, really, it never moved) all the way to new production axes (relatively green wood at price points that probably didn't allow for much pre-production care) that I chased constantly until they got a little age to them, and everything in between, mostly the normal come-and-go with the seasons.

I love wood, but the randomness of its looks goes hand in hand that it is an inconsistent material that in some cases can be a handful to maintain, though thankfully not that often.

 

[juniorh]

Luthiers often characterize roasted necks as feeling, playing and sounding like a well aged instrument. Have you found the necks on older basses similar to work on and behave similarly to roasted necks?

IMO that kind of description falls somewhere between “poetic flattery” and “marketing bullshite.”

In the mean time the salesman I was working with at CME left and they said they had no record of his promise so I was SOL

I'll never touch a StingRay again except as firewood.

Sounds like CME are the real villains here, not the bass.

 

[Turnaround]

It's one of those compromises. Some players prefer the feel of a neck that is oiled rather than having a hard finish. But an oil finish is permeable by water vapour and since maple is a somewhat reactive wood the neck will react fairly readily to changes in relative humidity. A hard finish like poly or lacquer is less permeable and inhibits the migration of water vapour in the wood resulting in a more-stable neck. The oil-finished neck on a Music Man tends to be on the more reactive side

 

[RevOgre]

IMO that kind of description falls somewhere between “poetic flattery” and “marketing bullpoopiee.”

Sounds like CME are the real villains here, not the bass.

CME didn't build and ship a POS.

 

[relayer66]

My first SR was a starry night 4HH I got in 2016. The roasted maple neck was heavily flamed and birdseyed, and I thought it was the.most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Came perfectly set up. A month or so later, a cold dry winter came, and the neck crunked up overnight, with the stainless steel frets sprouting right out of the sides of the fretboard. Like, so bad it was unplayable. I was pissed, and was looking around to have the fret ends trimmed, but I threw it in the closet and didn’t look at it for a long time. I couldn’t bring myself to sell it because it was so gorgeous.

I pulled that bass out several times over the years, and the frets had settled back in, but it still required frequent adjustments. Also, I was having trouble bonding with the SR sound. Now I can say, 8 years later, that it has become one of my very favorite basses. The neck has become very stable, and only requires a small tweak twice a year. The frets have never been an issue again. I have gelled with the sound. 8 years is a long time to be patient, but I’m glad I kept it.

I recently picked up a BFR 5 string with a maple neck (not roasted), and the neck is all over the place. I have to adjust it weekly (I am not over-adjusting it, just small tweaks). I’m hoping it eventually settles down like my other one, and I hope it doesn’t take as long.

It’s hard to say “be patient” for something you paid good money for, but it worked for me. Fortunately I had several other basses I could play at the time.

 

[Maxi Funkl]

Since wood is used as structural components in many many engineering applications much more important than musical instruments, there is a LOT of published research out there about the materials properties of many types and treatments of wood products.

So a blanket statement like “X is more brittle than Y” is not far fetched.

What are you talking about I do not believe it's more brittle having owned necks that are roasted maple without any issues. SMDH So, yes some random proclamation in cyberspace would definitely require factual documentation to support one's stance. I'll never blindly believe some open ended comment without it being vetted out. Unless the source is own to me as a reliable source.

 

[Philthy]

Update: I did reach out to customer service. And, correct, being out of warranty my only offered option was to send it in for them to look at; which comes at with a cost. Cost for me to ship the bass, $80/hr on the bench for evaluation + $60 to ship back to me. If the neck is determined to be faulty, $1250 to build a new neck as they don't have necks readily available. So, sounds like I'm just going to have to live with it the way it is.

With that said, wondering if there is any advice to help stabilize it a little better. Could building up a TruOil finish on the back of the neck help a bit? I currently do like a quick wipe on/wipe off of TruOil once a year; but that's about it.

 

[lm183902]

Oh man, I ordered a Stingray 5 last week using the Custom design experience and I have to say that this thread has me a little worried.

I had a 2001 Stingray 5 that I bought new and it was incredibly stable. I will say that most newer basses I've gotten over the past couple years have been less stable than my first few quality basses. I had a Lakland 55-01 from 2007 that had a neck that wouldn't move for anything - I could put it down and not touch it for a month, then it would be perfectly in tune. Conversely, I bought a Lakland DJ5 last year and I have to move the truss rod every couple weeks. Probably the most sensitive neck I've ever experienced. I also have a Fender American Original 60s Jazz that's kind of similar. I ended up just setting it aside for a couple years and now it somehow seems to have gotten better?

Could this just be a symptom of using newer wood that hasn't had the time to dry out? (Although I guess that's what the roasting process is supposed to do?)

 

[Geri O]

Oh man, I ordered a Stingray 5 last week using the Custom design experience and I have to say that this thread has me a little worried.

I had a 2001 Stingray 5 that I bought new and it was incredibly stable. I will say that most newer basses I've gotten over the past couple years have been less stable than my first few quality basses. I had a Lakland 55-01 from 2007 that had a neck that wouldn't move for anything - I could put it down and not touch it for a month, then it would be perfectly in tune. Conversely, I bought a Lakland DJ5 last year and I have to move the truss rod every couple weeks. Probably the most sensitive neck I've ever experienced. I also have a Fender American Original 60s Jazz that's kind of similar. I ended up just setting it aside for a couple years and now it somehow seems to have gotten better?

Could this just be a symptom of using newer wood that hasn't had the time to dry out? (Although I guess that's what the roasting process is supposed to do?)

I wouldn't worry, There;s 2-3 comments on the matter. There's several hundred or a few thousand Stingray Specials out there.

In the Southeast US, tweaking the relief on a bass neck is fairly common 3-4 times a year. It's never unplayable when I realize that it needs tweaking and I'm not sure I'd even notice unless I looked every few weeks. My Stingray Special Five is similar.

I'm not discounting anyone's experience, but I get the impression that my experience is the more common one.

 

[Turnaround]

What are you talking about I do not believe it's more brittle having owned necks that are roasted maple without any issues. SMDH So, yes some random proclamation in cyberspace would definitely require factual documentation to support one's stance. I'll never blindly believe some open ended comment without it being vetted out. Unless the source is own to me as a reliable source.

This according to a company that produces roasted (torrefied) wood:

"Torrefied wood is a little less resistant to static flexion and to tearing compared to non-torrefied wood."

Translation - torrefied wood is more brittle. There are also scholarly papers from numerous universities that support the finding that roasting wood increases its brittleness in direct relation to the degree of roasting.

 

[Bliff Curton 2]

Is the neck on an SR Special a one piece?

Ive found one-piece necks to sound great and responsive...but are also very responsive to the elements.

I have a Carvin with a 1-piece and constantly make minor adjustments.
And my Carvin with a 5-piece is stable for 6+ months or more.

Also, do the necks in an SR Special have any stability rods?

 

[LowEndLobster]

I had a strange issue with my 2019 BFR neck that could never get worked out no matter who I took it to. I ended up getting rid of it rather than deal with the hassle. Probably my only sour experience with EBMM. I’ve read some specials had neck issues.

My pink bfr is finicky but my fretless one is solid.

 

[Big Louzer]

I have 2 roasted necks. One never moves … ever. The other moves about 1/4-turn worth of the truss rod every 6 months or so.

 

[RSmith]

I bought a BFR 5 string with a maple neck (not roasted) as well from Sweetwater and the neck moved every single day. I'd adjust it and measure it and the next day it would be wonky again. After a few weeks I returned it, the Sales Engineer could not wrap his head around how this was a defect and gave me a full refund on the condition that any future returns would get hit with 10% re-stock fee. I repeatedly asked to speak to his boss and he told me he was an independent contractor and there was literally no one to escalate to. Not the end of the world since I did get a full refund. That is the only neck issue I've experienced on a Special, but I have had the barrel bridge piece lower on it's own a number of times and I have played a few where the G string slipped right off the fretboard. You can usually navigate this with a bit of awareness, but it's still a fun surprise when it does happen! That being said, I love the tone of the HH and their colors are some of the best.

 

[Kevlanco]

I bought a BFR 5 string with a maple neck (not roasted) as well from Sweetwater and the neck moved every single day. I'd adjust it and measure it and the next day it would be wonky again. After a few weeks I returned it, the Sales Engineer could not wrap his head around how this was a defect and gave me a full refund on the condition that any future returns would get hit with 10% re-stock fee. I repeatedly asked to speak to his boss and he told me he was an independent contractor and there was literally no one to escalate to. Not the end of the world since I did get a full refund. That is the only neck issue I've experienced on a Special, but I have had the barrel bridge piece lower on it's own a number of times and I have played a few where the G string slipped right off the fretboard. You can usually navigate this with a bit of awareness, but it's still a fun surprise when it does happen! That being said, I love the tone of the HH and their colors are some of the best.

Is there such a thing as a Stingray 5 where the G string DOESN'T slip off the board? I say with love!

 

[Nedro]

Does anyone else believe their Stingray Special neck to be a bit unstable? I have a 2018 Stingray Special 4 HH in dropped copper with roasted maple neck and fretboard. I'll have it set up to my liking (.012" relief, 7/64" bass side, 6/64" treble side - bridge pu 9/64" bass 8/64" treble neck pu string height) and by the end of a gig night (avg. 2 1/2 hrs of total playing time) it seems like my action has gotten higher. I measure the relief and the neck seems to have moved. I'll have to tighten the trussrod again before the next gig. I've never experienced this with my other Stingrays. Anyone else have this issue? Maybe it's just me and I'm going nuts. but I want to see if I'm not the only one. Not sure what I can do about it. Thanks.

I’m having the same problem. I’ve had my luthier adjust them, maybe about a month or so I have to tighten the truss rod further.

I have:
1998 Stingray - (it hardly ever needs to be adjusted, plays great)
2018 SS 4 - (this bass is the biggest offender, it rarely stays adjusted)
2018 SS 5HH - (this bass does come out of adjustment more often, but not as bad as the 4 string)
2012 Bongo 6 - (the neck is sealed and seems to hold better, but it has a lot of tension pulling at it with the 6 strings)

My guess (sorry if I’m being redundant, I didn’t read every comment) is that they’re roasting necks because they don’t want or have the capability to dry out the neck wood sufficiently while keeping production up.

If that’s the case, they need to change that. USA models are quite expensive and shouldn’t be this temperamental. Plus, the necks are a proprietary fit, so getting a good warmoth replacement isn’t the best option. I’ve called Ernie Ball about a replacement neck and to see if there was a known issue with this year of production. No dice there, the replacement neck was more expensive than what I bought the bass for used.

I really like the company, but I’m kind of pondering getting rid of these two and getting older models before the neck roasting thing.

 

[Nuisance]

The roasted neck on My Stingray Special moves a lot. I need to make adjustments several times over the course of a year, while my Sterling Ray 34 is rock solid.

Bizarre...