• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Can a brothah get a MM Stingray 6 string?

#62
Well the reason MM made a 6 string bass (the bongo) is because John Myung of Dream Theater asked them to make it. There's quite a big change they even didn't build the bongo 6 if John hadn't asked them. Their answer was that ''they only would build a 6 string version of the bongo if a highly skilled artist would ask for it''
 
#64
Stealth said:
Fender has a custom shop, and they'd probably make one. Tye Zamora of Alien Ant Farm also has a custom Fender six, and you can see it played in the Smooth Criminal video.
Click to expand...

Stealth,

are you sure that was made by Fender? The bass in the Smooth Criminal video was made by Kenneth Brase (sp?) Tye has a 6-string that says "Fender" on the head stock, but i believe he built it himself?
 
#68
jim777 said:
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.
Click to expand...

Wow...I never would have thought all of this would have happened to fans of a manufacturer they love. DEEP!
 
#70
spade2you said:
Fender custom shop. For insane $$$, they'll build just about anything.
Click to expand...

Ok, just watched the video, and while i had his name wrong, i am almost sure that bass is a Ken Lawrence Brase. that was not built by fender.

Tye built a 6-string bass himself, with lane poor pickups in it. had someone else do the electronics, but i am positive the bass in the Smooth Criminal video is a Ken Lawrence Brase. the Bass he built himself can be seen in an issue of Bass Player from a couple (or more) years ago. I think he had the Fender logo inlaid in the headstock as a joke.
 
#71
imagAux1_Tye-Zamora.jpg
bassopotamus102 said:
Ok, just watched the video, and while i had his name wrong, i am almost sure that bass is a Ken Lawrence Brase. that was not built by fender.

Tye built a 6-string bass himself, with lane poor pickups in it. had someone else do the electronics, but i am positive the bass in the Smooth Criminal video is a Ken Lawrence Brase. the Bass he built himself can be seen in an issue of Bass Player from a couple (or more) years ago. I think he had the Fender logo inlaid in the headstock as a joke.
Click to expand...

I am going to go ahead and say i was wrong, Tye didn't make it himself:

attachment.jpg


But this is NOT the bass from the video.
 
#72
bassopotamus102 said:
Ok, just watched the video, and while i had his name wrong, i am almost sure that bass is a Ken Lawrence Brase. that was not built by fender.

Tye built a 6-string bass himself, with lane poor pickups in it. had someone else do the electronics, but i am positive the bass in the Smooth Criminal video is a Ken Lawrence Brase. the Bass he built himself can be seen in an issue of Bass Player from a couple (or more) years ago. I think he had the Fender logo inlaid in the headstock as a joke.
Click to expand...

You are correct. That is a Ken Lawrence in the video. However Fender did build him a bass that was very different that anything they've done. I believe Tue called it "the Oar".
 
#73
jim777 said:
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.

but they are an odd bunch over there IMHO.
Click to expand...

I think this is an inaccurate post.

The truth of the matter is that a manufacturer took notice of 41 pages or so of posts on a thread on this forum from people claiming they wanted a Musicman 5 with 19.5 mm spacing - bear in mind they are in the minority because MM already sell a shed load of 5s with the narrower spacing. So MM offered to make a special - the order window was one month IIRC, and four people placed orders during the period so it was pulled................. I think that says a lot about people 'talking about basses' eh?? I believe the necks were rosewood or maple so I think your post is wrong there as well - you are correct that it was black only but as black basses sell the most, that was probably a marketing decision.

So quite rightly, they took the high ground and it was also clear to many that open forums can be the place for a lot of hot air - it looks like they called these folk's (41 pages of them or so's) bluff.

I think it would be true to say that many people find certain attitudes displayed on TB to be rather strange indeed. Yes Sterling Ball has a bit of a reputation and has wound up one or two people on the MM forum - however the only people I've seen banned from the company forum have frankly got to the point of behaving like a**holes - it was not surprising they were banned - it's a much mellower place these days.

At the end of the day I believe MM make great basses and have a great customer focus - but they aren't a boutique manufacturer taking orders for one offs, however much one would like that.

You could try getting a boutique manufacturer to make a one off SR6 for you......but it would no doubt be expensive.
 
#78
drTSTingray said:
So quite rightly, they took the high ground and it was also clear to many that open forums can be the place for a lot of hot air - it looks like they called these folk's (41 pages of them or so's) bluff.
Click to expand...

Spoken like a true EB fanboy. Trying to find 125 guys in the market for a new 5 string in a 2 week window is pretty stiff. TB had a solid number of people ready to go, but I already said that the number and timeline was set up to fail. I must be full of hot air, cuz y'all don't want to know what I've spent on custom guitars and basses over the last couple years.


drTSTingray said:
You could try getting a boutique manufacturer to make a one off SR6 for you......but it would no doubt be expensive.
Click to expand...

Depends on the builder and options. Could be $2-3k, possibly a little less with more bare bones options.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back