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EBMM StingRay Special Club
- Thread starter MultiScaleMale
- Start date
Thanks! I just emailed AJ from EB. I’m curious to see if the option is available for other finishes and fretboards.
My Stingray Special [New Burnt Apple] arrived Friday;
First the Good News; Fit, Finish, Neck feel, Tuners and overall look Great
Now the Bad; First the case sent with it is a generic G&G no MM label similar to what Sweetwater sales for $185
and had a couple blemish marks; no big deal case sits under Bed; have decent Gig Bag for travel to Rehearsal and Gig's. The cases that came with my EBMM 25TH [aka Reflex] and Fender Ultra far superior.
It came with neck having back bow frets 1-7 awful sound; set it to my preferred .008 good to go;
That put Action at a little over 6/64ths E and 5/64s G [Close to EB suggestions] the playability felt a little uncomfortable since my last few basses were set at 5 & 4 [64ths]
I played it as is and sound was not what I expected even when I dug in no Stingray pop or coherency.
checked Pickup height it was good 6/32
So I lowered action to my preferred 5&4 there was the Stingray Pop and coherency[but had to have very light touch for clean] from Frets 1-7 but after that is was random Buzz and 'fret outs'; tried relief at .010 no change
Now with both 25TH Anniversary and Fender ultra even a setting of 4/64ths E and 3 G was clean up and down neck all 4 strings.
To keep a long story short [sorta] I spent quite a few hours fussing with it and ended up at a tad under 6/64ths & 5/64ths with tweaking A&D Strings for perceived volume match all strings and radius match for proper playability and feel.[
I can get nice clean sound with my normal attack and Pop when I dig in from frets 1-18 which is enough
I don't do much Slap or any Tapping/Chording so extra low action is not necessary and I may be able to handle a little higher than I am used to
But if I try to sell it the next person might find low Action Important and we all know what these cost.
So I will try a little more with it but it looks like it is going back
And No I will not try another Stingray it will be something different.[well maybe I am just angry at the moment]
I've said it here before, and I know it's not a popular sentiment, but EBMM does have occasional QC issues...
Hope you get it sorted out. Mine had a high fret that needed fixing when I got it
I'd talk to customer service at EBMM too
I checked Frets seem ok; It's being returned came out of the box that way and also with back bow, pickup being set on a slope way off spec; I am going to let EBMM and Guitar Center deal with it
May give them 2nd chance and have them send me another but my confidence in EBMM is low as of now.
It shouldn’t be. Their quality is more consistent than most.
No one is perfect but Yamaha, Ernie Ball and Sandberg are all known for their quality .
Yes EBMM is known for quality and the Bass I got was an example from the outside but I'm not so sure about their QC: Have read quite a few complaints about New in box delivered defective or poor setup.
Some can be remidied some can't like mine
I fixed neck relief and out of wack pickup the case blemish and low quality was just annoying coming from EBMM also having to do 120 mile round trip to return Tuesday
I am considering giving EBMM a second chance but a little worried that GC exclusive could be a bad run and with slack QC all may be like mine
My Bass was obvious QC neglect in it's price range.
Alright team - got a response from AJ. Here’s the gist of what is possible:
Right-handed instruments only.
Can be any current color on the EBMM website.
Neck must be roasted maple but fretboard could be maple, rosewood, or ebony with dots.
Sale would be done direct through the website with full payment upfront
Item would expect to ship by EOY.
No mention of any price premium but I wouldn’t be surprised if the +10% were true since they’re fitting a customer into production.
Overall, and I’m impressed that they can do this. Not sure if choice of hardware color is possible as well, but this is still very cool. The only issue is I don’t love any of the current colors. UGH.
Edit - Kind of wondering if they could do natural or burnt amber since they’re technically colors on other StingRay models. Heck, Starry Night is part of the DarkRay lineup. Hmm.
Right-handed instruments only.
Can be any current color on the EBMM website.
Neck must be roasted maple but fretboard could be maple, rosewood, or ebony with dots.
Sale would be done direct through the website with full payment upfront
Item would expect to ship by EOY.
No mention of any price premium but I wouldn’t be surprised if the +10% were true since they’re fitting a customer into production.
Overall, and I’m impressed that they can do this. Not sure if choice of hardware color is possible as well, but this is still very cool. The only issue is I don’t love any of the current colors. UGH.
Edit - Kind of wondering if they could do natural or burnt amber since they’re technically colors on other StingRay models. Heck, Starry Night is part of the DarkRay lineup. Hmm.
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Wonder if they'd do all that for a USA Sterling? I have a special I'm very happy with but I'd love a new Sterling too.
I think the US Sterling line has been axed. This SLO option is likely the closest to a modern day Sterling someone can get (1.5 nut, sculpted heel, etc.).
The US Sterling is alive at least for now. GC has or had new HH 4 strings for sale a few weeks ago. I don’t see them listed anymore. There is also a lightly used 2022 Sterling 5 in the classifieds. They have a roasted neck and stainless frets.
I’m not sure. Very interesting. I haven’t seen a “new” Sterling in the wild in years, and I can’t find a US one on Sweetwater.
It was at GC only and looks like they are sold out already. This was three weeks ago so they are still making them in very small batches.
Would have been very interesting to know the serial of that so we can be sure when it was actually manufactured or if it was simply NOS.
Dunno. The one in the classifieds was made in December ‘22. My only point is that they still make US Sterlings.
Back on track. Specials with special necks is a very cool developmemt!
Forgive the crappy editing, but how dope would a Laguna Green look with a tort pickguard? I might just do it....
Kind of a fender tele thing going on....maybe the Laguna Green is too saturated....
Attachments
Didn't see this posted the summer BFR is a Darkray korina
Ernie Ball Music Man DarkRay - Shadow Korina BFR
Ernie Ball Music Man DarkRay - Shadow Korina BFR
