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Can a brothah get a MM Stingray 6 string?

#42
I never though too much about the G string on my Ray honestly, but once I heard about 20 people make the complaint I started taking note, and yup, it is weak. No matter how low you place the string, how high you place the pickup, or how you shape the EQ you will never get the same volume out of the G string as you can on any other string with the Ray. Do you play your Ray in a band? I find that is when my G gets lost the most.

Don't get me wrong, they are a great bass, fantastic slapper, but it is no wonder why they would never make a 6, and as somebody else mentioned, they would weigh a ton.

I also view basses like girlfriends, they have to have one flaw you just have to figure out which one you can live with best. Thin G is fine, but this G and C is too much for me and most.

EDIT: Do a search : "Stingray Weak G string" and see the results, it is far from an isolated incident.
 
#43
DiabolusInMusic said:
I never though too much about the G string on my Ray honestly, but once I heard about 20 people make the complaint I started taking note, and yup, it is weak. No matter how low you place the string, how high you place the pickup, or how you shape the EQ you will never get the same volume out of the G string as you can on any other string with the Ray. Do you play your Ray in a band? I find that is when my G gets lost the most.
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DiabolusInMusic - I don't play in a band but I don't hear this weak G on my stingray. I'm assuming this weak G would create a lot of "dead spots"? (something I learned from TB as a newbie). Because when i learned about dead spots from TB I quickly went to see if I had that and nope....just fine. But these were just a few in the link to thread you sent. So wouldn't it be safe to say that maybe "some" stingrays have this issue? And wouldn't you agree that most of the brand name basses may put out basses that'll have an issue? Just using logic here...I could be wrong.
 
#44
Actually all bolt on necks have a dead spot if you ask Roger Sadowsky... I tend to believe as do most.... sorry boss, I am not trying to be rude but I have yet to see a Ray without a weak G string so I personally do believe it is a common, known issue on Stingrays.

Also, dead spots and a weak string are two completely separate issues. A weak string is an electronics thing, a dead spot is mechanical.
 
#48
RFord04 said:
Can a brothah get a six string Stingray? Absolutely not, and how dare you even ask...

That's basically the response you'll get from ol' Sterling Ball himself, and his mindless army of fanboi followers. I've seen those guys insult so many bass players for simply wanting their basses in a configuration that better suits them. Seriously, don't even pose the question, or you might end up like me, a former MM fan turned MM hater. You won't catch me dead playing anything with the Ball name on it, because I just can't support an arrogant s.o.b. who comes out and personally disses his fans for asking for something he doesn't make. Spend your money with someone who cares, as a few others have mentioned, a custom luthier. /rant
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This is true, IME. I had recently bought a JPXII 7 string guitar, and love it. I did some surfing around the EB forum, checking on the possibility of a narrow spaced 6 string bass, like Myung has been playing on this tour. I would think that a fretless version would be pretty sweet. I found a post by Ball himself, saying the the only folk who would buy them are the few "Myung pervs".

I love my new guitar, but I'm feeling a little hacked that I helped support a jerk.
 
#49
Kwin Smith said:
This is true, IME. I had recently bought a JPXII 7 string guitar, and love it. I did some surfing around the EB forum, checking on the possibility of a narrow spaced 6 string bass, like Myung has been playing on this tour. I would think that a fretless version would be pretty sweet. I found a post by Ball himself, saying the the only folk who would buy them are the few "Myung pervs".

I love my new guitar, but I'm feeling a little hacked that I helped support a jerk.
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Myung pervs...yikes. I like 6 string bass, but really not that much of a Myung fan and I'd think a good chunk of the 6 string players aren't huge Myung fans.

I like the JP 7 string. It rubbed me the wrong way with the 19mm thread and I ended up with a custom 7 string by someone else.
 
#50
DiabolusInMusic said:
EDIT: Do a search : "Stingray Weak G string" and see the results, it is far from an isolated incident.
Click to expand...

My SR5 G sounded ok, nothing outstanding but ok. I then picked up a SUB4 for peanuts and whoa, that G was way stronger in comparison to the SR5 G.

The engineer in me had to know why, it was no good reading that MMs have a weak G because they do, there has to be a reason. Folk law and superstition don't cut it with me, the laws of physics are just that, laws. Now I had one with a weak G and one without.

Checking the pole piece magnets for strength I discovered that on the SUB they were all the same strength but on the SR5 the G magnets were between 20% and 30% weaker.

I didn't have a proper flux meter hence the estimate of 20% to 30%. I can go into more detail of how I "measured" them if required but don't want to clog the thread up any more (which is already off topic).

For me it is mystery solved, YMMV.
 
#52
aasti3000 said:
Attitudes against the fans of your basses? ***?


Roy - I did try a Carvin and it did sound good but the feel just wasn't there. And I just followed the advice given to me that "if it doesn't feel right in your hands then don't get it". But you're saying they'll custom make a neck that'll feel right for me?
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Well, sorta. The basses are done several at a time on a CNC machine and then hand finished. I don't know that they would cut a custom radius for you, but they do have a beveled neck that is slightly wider on the lower strings (most famously on the Bunny Brunel 5). IME the 5 piece necks are slightly thicker front to back compared to the slab sawn maple that comes standard. If I were going to possibly modify it further my advice would be to order a slab sawn maple neck with tung oil finish on an LB76 and then if you have a luthier/builder in your area that you trust shape it further if needed.
That being said, I would go to their website and research the options for awhile.
 
#54
Ric5 said:
Yes Carvin will make a bass the CUSTOMER actually wants. Very customer friendly company.
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Unless you want a pickup switch instead of a pan knob. They won't do it. Hence why I do not own a Carvin.

As far as Sterling being a jerk. Well he kind of is (heck he's dissed me at least once on the EBMM forums), but I respect someone who speaks their mind over some of the other fawning marketing scripted company execs that I have heard from.

All I care about is that the customer service at MM is really good, and all of my MM basses sound great.

ps:though I do wish the Sterling Classic had the "Classic" neck plate and pickup switching.
 
#57
Stealth said:
Mind you, the public had cried for an MM5 with a 19-mm string spacing at the bridge. And they gave it a shot. And not even 10% of the people who said they'd buy it purchased it in the end.
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I remember that very well. They wanted a certain number of orders to go to production, and after they got a few orders early they decided that no dealers could order any - all orders needed to be from individuals. So, no order of 50 from GC, no order of 5 or 10 from Bass Central, etc. That was certainly a deciding factor in the failure of that episode (more so than the black/rosewood and no deviation bit). So, they got to make the offer and play the generous 'we listen to our customers' card and then made it as difficult as possible for it to be fulfilled. They could blame the failure of the experiment on bass players for wanting what they wanted instead of what they were given. I still haven't decided if I fault them for that; most companies would have simply ignored the requests and not been so public about it. They do love posting on their forum though, so it seemed meaner in a way back when it was going on. Got very testy there for a while.

They still make a very nice bass (a number of them in fact), and I would likely put Bongo pre's in damn near everything I have if I could buy them seperately, but they are an odd bunch over there IMHO.
 
#58
The SD basslines pickup on my warmoth gecko6 is right on the MM's sweet spot and this bass sounds pretty much like my 2 band/rosewood fb mm stingray, just a tad brighter (swamp ash body, maple/purpleheart neck, pau ferro fb, sdbasslines active soapbar/2 band active pre):

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#59
delta7fred said:
I didn't have a proper flux meter hence the estimate of 20% to 30%.
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500full.jpg
 
#60
Personally, I love the Bongo HH 6. It's among the top 3 of my bass wishlist.

A Stingray 6 hadn't occurred to me. I suppose you could hire a decent luthier to convert a Stingray 5 to 6, (i.e. add a tuner, change the bridge, nut, pickups, etc.) I think the fretboard would seem narrow as you would be squeezing 6 strings in the space of a 5-string neck.
 

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