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EBMM StingRay Special Club

I am pretty sure there is a rule here that you can’t just mention your Snowy White Stingray without posting a photo of it! ;)
Well lucky for me I just happen to have it out and photo ready at the moment!
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I am pretty sure there is a rule here that you can’t just mention your Snowy White Stingray without posting a photo of it! ;)
If that's really a rule, I think the rule should really be that you can't mention your bass without showing a picture of it. :D

And it doesn't matter how many times we've already seen it (well, not to me anyway)! :D :D :D :D :D
 
Yes, Smoked Chrome, it’s like the anti-Snowy Night. Am seriously considering getting a SC to pair with my SN.
Those two would look really cool next to each other on stage, or anywhere else actually. The Smoked Chrome has a finish that is really hard for a camera to capture, although I have seen some nice ones. It looks like a galaxy far, far away. :D
 
Well, did it again. I played a three set gig last Friday night and used my Stingray Special 5HH for all three sets. This was the third or fourth time I've done it since buying it about four months ago. Earlier this year, it would have been unthinkable to not use my ceramic Stingray 5HH at all at a gig. :eek:

Another thing I've been considering is ending my three or four year affair with flats. I still love the Chromes that are on my ceramic, especially now that they're so well broken in. But I've started thinking about going back to nickel Lo Riders based on my still growing respect for the Special. The Special has rounds on it, a set of Elixir Nanowebs that the previous owner put on before I bought it. Nice strings. My rationale is that putting rounds back on the ceramic might level the playing field to better highlight the differences between the two of them.
 
One with flats and one with rounds sounds like a good idea to me.
Definitely a worthwhile approach. I’ve enjoyed having two Stingrays with two types of strings, but I’ve suspected that Flats on the ceramic and rounds on the Special kind of masks their differences.

Part of the reason I was thinking of trying rounds again on the ceramic is to see if I want to go the other direction - rounds on the ceramic to get more of the aggressive snarl out of that bass and flats on the Special to accentuate its less aggressive tone. That would make them sound more different than more alike, which is what’s happening now. But, since I’m enjoying the Nano Webs that that are currently on the Special, I was just going to leave them on until it’s time to change them (which could be a while, I like old rounds :D).
 
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Definitely a worthwhile approach. I’ve enjoyed having two Stingrays with two types of strings, but I’ve suspected that Flats on the ceramic and rounds on the Special kind of masks their differences.

Part of the reason I was thinking of trying rounds again on the ceramic is to see if I want to go the other direction - rounds on the ceramic to get more of the aggressive snarl out of that bass and flats on the Special to accentuate its less aggressive tone. That would make them sound more different than more alike, which is what’s happening now. But, since I’m enjoying the Nano Webs that that are currently on the Special, I was just going to leave them on until it’s time to change them (which could be a while, I like old rounds :D).
FWIW, I have a Special with flats and really like the sound.
 
Assuming I’d eventually do that, my default choice would be Chromes. I like pretty stiff, relatively bright flats that don’t take too long to settle into their long term tone and Chromes have been fantastic on every bass I've tried them on. That being said, I’m open to trying other strings just to see what’s out there.

I also like Labella Deep Talkin’ Flats a lot, too. They do have a fantastic thump, but I also found them to have more high mids and highs than Talkbass led me to believe. They’re also nice and stiff feeling. Wasn’t sure I’d like them, but they surprised me. They worked great on my Precision V and on my Ibanez short scale semihollow.

I tried GHS Precision Flats on my L-2500, thinking I’d like the thump but, for some reason, I didn’t really like them on that bass and, after about a year, I put Chromes back on it. The Precision Flats sounded better on my Ibanez although, after that same year, I put Chromes back on the Ibanez as well. Might be willing to try them again on a different bass, such as my Special.

I know Talkbass loves TI Jazz Flats, but they just didn’t do it for me. I didn’t feel like there was enough beef in the tone and they feel WAY too flexible for me.

So, which flats have y'all tried on your Specials, especially 5-string Specials, that might be what I look for in a flat?
 
One with flats and one with rounds sounds like a good idea to me.
I have a Special 4H (my #1) and a 1996 3-band 4H….they are very different in tone a feel. Even though the 96 has Basslines pup/preamp, replaced years back to fix the missing G string, it still sounds like the Stingrays of that era, biting, twangy sizzle. It’s tuned to Eb and wears broken in Sunbeams and sounds great. The Special wears Fatbeams and has a thicker punch….both are great basses just very different and useful is different situations.
 
Assuming I’d eventually do that, my default choice would be Chromes. I like pretty stiff, relatively bright flats that don’t take too long to settle into their long term tone and Chromes have been fantastic on every bass I've tried them on. That being said, I’m open to trying other strings just to see what’s out there.

I also like Labella Deep Talkin’ Flats a lot, too. They do have a fantastic thump, but I also found them to have more high mids and highs than Talkbass led me to believe. They’re also nice and stiff feeling. Wasn’t sure I’d like them, but they surprised me. They worked great on my Precision V and on my Ibanez short scale semihollow.

I tried GHS Precision Flats on my L-2500, thinking I’d like the thump but, for some reason, I didn’t really like them on that bass and, after about a year, I put Chromes back on it. The Precision Flats sounded better on my Ibanez although, after that same year, I put Chromes back on the Ibanez as well. Might be willing to try them again on a different bass, such as my Special.

I know Talkbass loves TI Jazz Flats, but they just didn’t do it for me. I didn’t feel like there was enough beef in the tone and they feel WAY too flexible for me.

So, which flats have y'all tried on your Specials, especially 5-string Specials, that might be what I look for in a flat?
We seem to have different taste in flats , and that’s ok.

My BFR Fretless StingRay5 Fuego wears TI Flats.

My Amethyst Sparkle StingRay5 Special wears a custom light set of Slinky (Cobalt) Flats.
 
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