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EBMM StingRay Special Club
- Thread starter MultiScaleMale
- Start date
Ooooh, I just looked up a GoldBar. I love it. I also love the Genius Gold, which looks to be a lighter gold than the GoldBar. Dang. I might have to do a sell-off before long to fund one of those...
I hate to break up the different finishes theme of this thread, but I have a setup observation and question.
I do my own setups on all my basses. The norm is to set the relief for a bit of relief, just a little more than what is detectable by eye (I'm too much of a neanderthal to actually make measurements with measurement devices).
This works well with my Mike Lull basses, all the Fenders I've owned, and so far, the Music ManStingray SR5s I've owned. I continued this procedure with my current Stingray Special 5H.
However, I sat down last light to practice for this week's work. I picked up the Stingray Special and after a few minutes, I went "harumph" (literally). It just didn't feel quite right. A buzz here, a clank there, so I started looking at the action. I've been playing bass for a few gigs, but this may be the first "me" time I've had with this bass in a while. Way overdue.
The neck "looked" (I know...) like a touch too much relief. So I tightened down the neck, retuned the strings and raised the saddles a touch. Better. But still...
No, it can't be, but why not try?
So I set the neck to damn near straight. I mean, I have to really stare at the length of the neck to tell that the neck is straight or very nearly. Retuned and raised the strings another touch. Wow, now we are talking!
I played the Special for another hour last night and sat down with it again tonight. Feels really good, even, no buzzing or clanking. It really feels like a new bass.
I was wondering how other Stingray Special users are finding their best setup preferences? Of course, these preferences will vary wildly between players, I know better than to look for a consensus. I really need to learn to use measurements and measuring tools to be sure and just replicate what I've set up and like. And with my gorilla-grip technique, I'm not terribly sensitive to the nuances and details of one setup or the other. I throw on strings, whack the bass into shape and go. Work to do, doncha know.....
.
I do my own setups on all my basses. The norm is to set the relief for a bit of relief, just a little more than what is detectable by eye (I'm too much of a neanderthal to actually make measurements with measurement devices).
This works well with my Mike Lull basses, all the Fenders I've owned, and so far, the Music ManStingray SR5s I've owned. I continued this procedure with my current Stingray Special 5H.
However, I sat down last light to practice for this week's work. I picked up the Stingray Special and after a few minutes, I went "harumph" (literally). It just didn't feel quite right. A buzz here, a clank there, so I started looking at the action. I've been playing bass for a few gigs, but this may be the first "me" time I've had with this bass in a while. Way overdue.
The neck "looked" (I know...) like a touch too much relief. So I tightened down the neck, retuned the strings and raised the saddles a touch. Better. But still...
No, it can't be, but why not try?
So I set the neck to damn near straight. I mean, I have to really stare at the length of the neck to tell that the neck is straight or very nearly. Retuned and raised the strings another touch. Wow, now we are talking!
I played the Special for another hour last night and sat down with it again tonight. Feels really good, even, no buzzing or clanking. It really feels like a new bass.
I was wondering how other Stingray Special users are finding their best setup preferences? Of course, these preferences will vary wildly between players, I know better than to look for a consensus. I really need to learn to use measurements and measuring tools to be sure and just replicate what I've set up and like. And with my gorilla-grip technique, I'm not terribly sensitive to the nuances and details of one setup or the other. I throw on strings, whack the bass into shape and go. Work to do, doncha know.....
.
I hate to break up the different finishes theme of this thread, but I have a setup observation and question.
I do my own setups on all my basses. The norm is to set the relief for a bit of relief, just a little more than what is detectable by eye (I'm too much of a neanderthal to actually make measurements with measurement devices).
This works well with my Mike Lull basses, all the Fenders I've owned, and so far, the Music ManStingray SR5s I've owned. I continued this procedure with my current Stingray Special 5H.
However, I sat down last light to practice for this week's work. I picked up the Stingray Special and after a few minutes, I went "harumph" (literally). It just didn't feel quite right. A buzz here, a clank there, so I started looking at the action. I've been playing bass for a few gigs, but this may be the first "me" time I've had with this bass in a while. Way overdue.
The neck "looked" (I know...) like a touch too much relief. So I tightened down the neck, retuned the strings and raised the saddles a touch. Better. But still...
No, it can't be, but why not try?
So I set the neck to damn near straight. I mean, I have to really stare at the length of the neck to tell that the neck is straight or very nearly. Retuned and raised the strings another touch. Wow, now we are talking!
I played the Special for another hour last night and sat down with it again tonight. Feels really good, even, no buzzing or clanking. It really feels like a new bass.
I was wondering how other Stingray Special users are finding their best setup preferences? Of course, these preferences will vary wildly between players, I know better than to look for a consensus. I really need to learn to use measurements and measuring tools to be sure and just replicate what I've set up and like. And with my gorilla-grip technique, I'm not terribly sensitive to the nuances and details of one setup or the other. I throw on strings, whack the bass into shape and go. Work to do, doncha know.....
I don't do measurements either, I just adjust truss until some buzzing at first fret and then add relief until it stops. Then I do the same above the 12th fret (lower until I get some buzz) and adjust saddle height slowly until no buzz. Set intonation and call it a day.
I just go by feel and how the instrument responds
This is what's throwing me. This is how I approach my setups, but this Special's neck has wound up nearly straight.
I won't question or dwell on this too much. I'm enjoying the Special.
But thanx for your thoughts on the matter.
I use measurements one reason is replication another is OCD related
; I have found super low action may be a tad easier to play but the tone takes a hit to my ears; since I don't do any tapping and minimal Chording, Slap/Pop super low is not critical
With my Special 4H I set my neck straighter[.008] than EBMM recommendation of thin business card[0.10] most manufacturers recommend .010 to .012.
My action on Special is at E 5/64 and G 4/64[low but not super low] with A and D slightly different based on Radius and what feels right to me; this is very comfortable and can play as fast as I will ever need and as I said better tone to my ears than when I go lower.
Having extremely straight neck can be susceptible to moving a Tad straighter in High Humidity [Summer Outdoor] environment and may cause trouble with Buzz/Rattle on open E for sure and 1 to 7 frets on all stings
I set all of mine to nearly straight, mainly by eye/feel/buzzing. I used to measure things because I like to measure things, but learned what the measurements felt/sounded like. All of my basses seem to want a small adjustment in the spring or fall as humidity changes.
Same here with the spring and fall adjustments….
I should add, I use 50/70/85/105/135 Pro Steels. I don’t aim for super-low action as I, too, feel the tone is better and rings a little more. Most players that play my basses comment more about the bigger strings than the action height.
Just picked up my Special for a few minutes. Still feels great with the very-nearly straight neck.
Hi all! Looking for some advice.
I recently acquired a Stingray Special HH. Love the way it feels and plays, but it is overwhelmingly boomy and bassy, so much so that I basically have to turn the bass knob all the way to zero for it to be even usable. Surely this can't be right, right? Is there something I should be looking at to figure this one out? It has fresh strings, and fresh batteries. None of my other basses are even half as boomy as this. When I say it's overwhelming, I mean like if I record something with it and wear good headphones, it legitimately hurts my ears, and I've never experienced that before.
I recently acquired a Stingray Special HH. Love the way it feels and plays, but it is overwhelmingly boomy and bassy, so much so that I basically have to turn the bass knob all the way to zero for it to be even usable. Surely this can't be right, right? Is there something I should be looking at to figure this one out? It has fresh strings, and fresh batteries. None of my other basses are even half as boomy as this. When I say it's overwhelming, I mean like if I record something with it and wear good headphones, it legitimately hurts my ears, and I've never experienced that before.
I find I usually have my bass knob set to the centre detent or just a little bit cut. Is it good when you have it cut all the way? If so, just leave it like that?
It's good when cut all the way, but it just seems odd that at center, everything else is completely drowned out.
Yes, it is.
Do all of the volume, balance, and tone pots seem to be working properly otherwise?
Do you experience the issue with either pup solo and both?
Just digging around some thoughts….
All the controls seem to work normally, and I experience this in all of the five configurations.
My Stingray has the most low end on tap of any bass I’ve owned! What are using for an amp? Also if you could post recordings that would go a long way too.
What is in the signal chain? Anything you have that was previously boosting the low end to compensate for another bass that was lacking?
I'm using a Quad Cortex, then running that into the return of a Darkglass Exponent 500.
I can try to post some recordings after work
Nope, I went through the signal chain and checked that as I had the same thought. I also tried it completely clean and the same thing was going on. My Fender J and Spector sound normal, but when plugging in the Stingray, it's pretty much all bass and nothing else.
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