Doner Designs
Steve Doner
- Jun 2, 2012
- 5,784
- 6,819
- Disclosures
- Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
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"clanky" Stingray
- Thread starter bobalu
- Start date
Can't help but jump in, got a 91' Ray, have had it a couple years now, still having trouble bonding with the tone of it.
Was considering wiring it in series instead of the traditional parallel wiring, i've heard by doing this, it gets darker and fatter sounding and not so stingy sounding.
Can anyone chime in on this?
Was considering wiring it in series instead of the traditional parallel wiring, i've heard by doing this, it gets darker and fatter sounding and not so stingy sounding.
Can anyone chime in on this?
This is what I'm talking about (jacopastorius composition/flakedbeans' fingers/ebmm stingray bass {2 band eq - bass80%, treble 35%}/zoom r24 digital recorder):
Playing StingRayTeen Town by Flaked Beans - picosong
^ ^ Funny the G string sounds preety good on this recording!
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Wow, 8 years.... You Talkbass guy's don't give up do 'ya!
I forgot that I even started this thread some 8 years ago, but will fill you in on what has happened since.
I ended up selling that Classic Stingray. A couple of years later, I bought another one. Then I sold it. I have since had a few more Stingrays, a Sterling, and a Bongo. (there are other threads here about this terrible disease, so no comments please
). I honestly loved the feel and tone of these so much that I just kept coming back to them to give it another try. I was also well aware of other bassists using them and not playing with the clank that I was experiencing (as some of you have pointed out in this thread), so I was less convinced that it was purely the Ray's fault and kept at it.
And as the storey ends.......I currently have 2 Stingrays. A 2014 H and a 1999 H and they are my main basses now. Through persistence I have learned to adjust my technique by not "attacking" the strings, honing my fretting technique to be smoother (this was challenging for me but worth the effort), and also to turn the volume down a bit on my bass and adjust volume with my amp instead. These three things together, for me, totally removed the clank I was experiencing. Still kept the round wounds on, nickel wrap.
So it can be done fellow TB'er's, I am living proof! (and all you guy's and gal's here helped, so thank-you).
Wish I had that original Classic Ray back.
I forgot that I even started this thread some 8 years ago, but will fill you in on what has happened since.I ended up selling that Classic Stingray. A couple of years later, I bought another one. Then I sold it. I have since had a few more Stingrays, a Sterling, and a Bongo. (there are other threads here about this terrible disease, so no comments please
). I honestly loved the feel and tone of these so much that I just kept coming back to them to give it another try. I was also well aware of other bassists using them and not playing with the clank that I was experiencing (as some of you have pointed out in this thread), so I was less convinced that it was purely the Ray's fault and kept at it.And as the storey ends.......I currently have 2 Stingrays. A 2014 H and a 1999 H and they are my main basses now. Through persistence I have learned to adjust my technique by not "attacking" the strings, honing my fretting technique to be smoother (this was challenging for me but worth the effort), and also to turn the volume down a bit on my bass and adjust volume with my amp instead. These three things together, for me, totally removed the clank I was experiencing. Still kept the round wounds on, nickel wrap.
So it can be done fellow TB'er's, I am living proof! (and all you guy's and gal's here helped, so thank-you).
Wish I had that original Classic Ray back.
I've had the same "clanky" experience with Stingrays. I'm a P-Bass guy for the most part, but I do wonder if my theory about Jazz Basses also holds up for Rays: The audience hears them differently than the player does. When I'm in the audience, a distance away from the amp or pa, Rays and Js sound fuller to me. Also, I think some of the clank or zing isn't as apparent when you're playing with a band. A friend of mine gets a nice, deep tone out of his Stingray 5, and I don't hear the zing unless he noodles between songs.
I feel your pain, I mean your clank 
I see the clank as a necessary evil. Like the OP I was finding the clank to be very annoying.
Like him I am aggressive with my plucking hand.
I found that on my practice amp the clank was off the charts intolerable but on my
main rig it was not that detectable. I also have learned by being less aggressive
and adjusting my settings on amp and Stingray EQ I was able to find a happy medium.
Old posts don't die, they get more interesting!
I see the clank as a necessary evil. Like the OP I was finding the clank to be very annoying.
Like him I am aggressive with my plucking hand.
I found that on my practice amp the clank was off the charts intolerable but on my
main rig it was not that detectable. I also have learned by being less aggressive
and adjusting my settings on amp and Stingray EQ I was able to find a happy medium.
Old posts don't die, they get more interesting!
I bought a Sterling brand new in '94 and had a running love/hate relationship with it for some time. It suffered from a weak G and carried a bit of clank as well, but I loved the feel of the neck and bass overall.
Tried every type of string and setup without enough success.
Went though a pickup hunt that proved unsatisfying until I finally discovered and installed a Lane Poor MM - he was still in business at that time and I bought it from him direct - along with an Aguilar OBP-3. I understand I emasculated the inherent EB sound, but I do not miss is one bit. The G is full, the clank is gone and I can get it to sound aggressive or vintage or anything in between.
Another huge improvement was a simple one. I added a thumbrest that allows me to play anywhere between the pickup and neck. Changing the attack location has done wonders for the tones it produces. This was a game changer.
I realize the purists will scowl and say I ruined it, lost that signature sound, but it went from a corner sitter to a mainstay and I have no regrets. The tone can now accommodate any genre with ease.
OP - I wish you luck finding a solution to your concerns.
Tried every type of string and setup without enough success.
Went though a pickup hunt that proved unsatisfying until I finally discovered and installed a Lane Poor MM - he was still in business at that time and I bought it from him direct - along with an Aguilar OBP-3. I understand I emasculated the inherent EB sound, but I do not miss is one bit. The G is full, the clank is gone and I can get it to sound aggressive or vintage or anything in between.
Another huge improvement was a simple one. I added a thumbrest that allows me to play anywhere between the pickup and neck. Changing the attack location has done wonders for the tones it produces. This was a game changer.
I realize the purists will scowl and say I ruined it, lost that signature sound, but it went from a corner sitter to a mainstay and I have no regrets. The tone can now accommodate any genre with ease.
OP - I wish you luck finding a solution to your concerns.
Played my StingRay last night for the first time at band practice. Fantastic powerful low end on the A and E strings (especially noticeable on Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak), but a little weak on the G and D strings. And no clankiness. It did sound pretty good in the live band setting. One of the two guitarists remarked that he did notice a difference in my tone compared to my P-Basses, as far as the G and D strings not being as noticeable, but everything else sounded good. I did turn up the Mid setting some to bring out more tone on the G and D strings, and it did help.
All-in-all, a good night of practice with the Ray.
All-in-all, a good night of practice with the Ray.
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The weak G string is something I more or less fixed on my Stingray. The first step was to make minute adjustments to the string height and pickup height to find the sweet spot. Too low or too high on either the string or the pickup will result in the weak G. The truss rod also comes into play since you'll need the relief to be exactly right. There's a point of optimal setup where the weak G improves significantly. It's simply elusive and requires many tiny adjustments to find.
The second step was to use flatwound strings. In my case it was D'Addario Chromes. This is something I would recommend regardless of a weak G string because I think Stingray's sound amazing with flats. In fact, I think they should go back to having flats as the stock strings on Rays. Opinions aside, flatwound strings have two key attributes that help with the weak G: increased string tension, which lets you dig in more while keeping the action relatively low; and stronger fundamental.
I also stuck a 5 gram tire balancing weight to one of the tuning machines. This helped a bit with a dead spot and may have improved the G string by changing the overall resonance of the bass.
The final and most important thing was an adjustment in technique. You have to position your right hand so that you're plucking across the string, not pressing it down and letting it spring back up. To put it more visually, pretend you'd like to make the string vibrate horizontally, parallel to the pickup, rather than up and down. This gives you better tone on any bass, and goes a long way toward mitigating the weak Stingray G string.
I got a 2012 Stingray 4 HH and a 2007 Sterling HS and none clanks, yes they are trebbly or honky if I want but they can also be tamed nicely with the EQ plus the humbucker combination makes easier to find the tone you looking for.
The only time I got clanking and buzzing sound was when I changed string gauges and the neck got too flat so I adjusted the truss rod and the buzz went away.
I put D'addario chrome flats 40/95 on the SR4 and it was a little odd at the beginning but after a week I really in love with the tone. The Sterling got EB Slinky 45/100.
Here is an example of the SR with D'addario flats:
And a MM bass comparison between rounds and flats, I can hear a very little clacking with the DR rounds/finger style but it goes away with the flats.
I personally believe that clancking honking or any types of sounds on a bass is really subjective since every one of us have a different perception and a bass or set of strings can be heard differently for different people, even exactly identical basses with same strings and setup can sound slightly different plus there is the play style factor as well. What is a unbearable tone for some players can be nice for others.
I do have a Fender P bass and a Sire V7 and Fender J bass but just love the Music Man tone in any of its variations! Cannot compare them just enjoy the difference.
The only time I got clanking and buzzing sound was when I changed string gauges and the neck got too flat so I adjusted the truss rod and the buzz went away.
I put D'addario chrome flats 40/95 on the SR4 and it was a little odd at the beginning but after a week I really in love with the tone. The Sterling got EB Slinky 45/100.
Here is an example of the SR with D'addario flats:
And a MM bass comparison between rounds and flats, I can hear a very little clacking with the DR rounds/finger style but it goes away with the flats.
I personally believe that clancking honking or any types of sounds on a bass is really subjective since every one of us have a different perception and a bass or set of strings can be heard differently for different people, even exactly identical basses with same strings and setup can sound slightly different plus there is the play style factor as well. What is a unbearable tone for some players can be nice for others.
I do have a Fender P bass and a Sire V7 and Fender J bass but just love the Music Man tone in any of its variations! Cannot compare them just enjoy the difference.
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Stonetown Lows
Commercial User
Series will fill it quite a lot and boost the lows and mids for sure. The resistance value on the MM pickup is so low I think it will definitely help. Half rounds, really dead light roundwounds or flats will go a long way to tame the sound as well.
IME all electric basses can be clanky depending on how you attack the string , usually finger style it's easy to hit it down onto the frets making for some serious clank . Just changing your attack will solve it . Sometimes you want this though so it's not a wrong method just one to be aware of .
