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EBMM StingRay Special Club
- Thread starter MultiScaleMale
- Start date
If anyone is in the market for an insane BFR, mine is up for grabs in the classifieds.
Hate to see this one go, but I have some pressing priorities and moving some gear to handle them.
Thanks!
Hate to see this one go, but I have some pressing priorities and moving some gear to handle them.
Thanks!
The gentleman who posted the 5HH was the 1st bass ever were I thought that does look good with tort. LOL
Y'all are tempting me to post a pic of my tort-yful collection...
LOL!
LOL!
I like the Vintage Burst and the blue one. I really like the color combo on the BFR but I can’t stand spalted figuring. Spalted top AND flamed fretboard? Blegh.
Please do. Tort is amazing, especially Spitfire. I have 2 Spitfires arriving later this weekY'all are tempting me to post a pic of my tort-yful collection...
LOL!
Oh no. You just got this one back !! I hope you can find a way to hang on to it .
After quite a few string changes on the BFR fretless, I’m quite floored with how it reacts to the Elixir nickel Light/Medium 45-105 set with a .130 tapered B. Great tight tension (my preference) and man oh man are they slick feeling. Very slippery. Exactly how I wanted rounds on a fretless to feel.
Factory came with Regular green pack Slinkys. They were fine. Tried some Super Slinks. Nope. Tried LaBella Grape Ape nylons. BIIIIIG nope. TI Jazz Flats, nice, but nah. D’Addario Black nylons were QUITE surprising and nice. LOVE that papery texture to them. Despite being fairly supple, it seemed to like them and had a good amount of sustain and resonance though I couldn’t get the B string to not have wolf tones in the areas I tend to use it. Overall they’re good with a surprising amount of growl and bite. Not super dark like one would think. I’ll hang on the them for the future.
But these Elixirs have really made me happy.
Factory came with Regular green pack Slinkys. They were fine. Tried some Super Slinks. Nope. Tried LaBella Grape Ape nylons. BIIIIIG nope. TI Jazz Flats, nice, but nah. D’Addario Black nylons were QUITE surprising and nice. LOVE that papery texture to them. Despite being fairly supple, it seemed to like them and had a good amount of sustain and resonance though I couldn’t get the B string to not have wolf tones in the areas I tend to use it. Overall they’re good with a surprising amount of growl and bite. Not super dark like one would think. I’ll hang on the them for the future.
But these Elixirs have really made me happy.
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Winner !!!
Now you can enjoy playing it as much as you do looking at it !!When you spend BFR money , you want it just right . Glad you took the time and effort . It’s worth it .
Oh yeah. I try not to think about how much I’ve wasted… ahem… invested in experimentation on strings for the last decade. Curiosity and cats er whatever… Thankfully, the SR5 has a sweet spot with the EB Super Slinkys and just feels “right” and I can rest easy knowing that I can make a set last 6 months before I just have to have that sizzle and growl back and it only costing $25.Winner !!!
When you spend BFR money , you want it just right . Glad you took the time and effort . It’s worth it .
In the 6 years I had my Fodera, I easily went through 50 sets trying to find the right ones. I was never satisfied. Never happy with it. Always something was missing. Feel, tone, whatever. Hopefully the guy that bought it could give it a proper home.
Anyways…
Have some observations about the EQ on the BFR special. Each knob affects different EQ points along the curve. Really interesting getting a “scooped” sound just from cranking the Bass and treble knobs while keeping the Mids flat. And then cranking the Mids all the way with a tiny treble boost still yield a really tight yet present low end. Played through some bro country and just living in the Serial pickup sound today.
EQ on my SR5 sounds incrediballz with everything dimed and running parallel. Couldn’t be more different lol. I’d love to see a graph on the differences between these two preamps. The video for the 2 band vs 3 band was cool.
All, I've been jonesin' for a Ray Special for awhile now. Former fender guy; the changes to the Special with the pups, the pre, everything... it's time. I owned a Bongo 5 fretless 10+ years ago but had to sell (dumb decision). That Bongo was the best fit and finish and quality of any bass I've ever owned. Little things like the truss wheel made it such a great bass. So, yes -- I want a Ray 4 and 5 in my life now.
Issue -- I'm a shallow prima donna when it comes to looks and aesthetics. I'd sound unhinged if I listed all my biases (PJs are an abomination, Rick's MUST have shark fin inlays and not dots, fake relics should be outlawed, etc... it's fatiguing living with this lol!)
I **LOVE** the look of worn maple boards. Nothing looks better than logging the hours on a maple J or P and the board showing wear.
I really appreciate the Special neck being roasted, but I'm not sold on the look of the roasted board itself. Some pics I've seen the roasted maple board looks almost as dark as Pau Ferro (which I'm not a fan of). I think roasted maple looks great on the back of the neck -- I just don't want it that dark on the front, lol!
How dark are your roasted maple boards? Do they show wear after a few years of digging in? (I think the specials came out in '18 so we may have some out there with 5+ years of playing on them). I think EBMM oils the board (not lacquered) so that may affect how the boards look after play.
Sorry for sounding unhinged. Some people look for lighter basses. I would take a 10lb Ray with a light maple board lol.
My actual dream ray would be roasted maple neck with a vintage maple board like the Retro. Who knows, maybe some day I can custom order.
If anyone has pics of their maple boards they'd like to share I would **LOVE** to see!
Issue -- I'm a shallow prima donna when it comes to looks and aesthetics. I'd sound unhinged if I listed all my biases (PJs are an abomination, Rick's MUST have shark fin inlays and not dots, fake relics should be outlawed, etc... it's fatiguing living with this lol!)
I **LOVE** the look of worn maple boards. Nothing looks better than logging the hours on a maple J or P and the board showing wear.
I really appreciate the Special neck being roasted, but I'm not sold on the look of the roasted board itself. Some pics I've seen the roasted maple board looks almost as dark as Pau Ferro (which I'm not a fan of). I think roasted maple looks great on the back of the neck -- I just don't want it that dark on the front, lol!
How dark are your roasted maple boards? Do they show wear after a few years of digging in? (I think the specials came out in '18 so we may have some out there with 5+ years of playing on them). I think EBMM oils the board (not lacquered) so that may affect how the boards look after play.
Sorry for sounding unhinged. Some people look for lighter basses. I would take a 10lb Ray with a light maple board lol.
My actual dream ray would be roasted maple neck with a vintage maple board like the Retro. Who knows, maybe some day I can custom order.
If anyone has pics of their maple boards they'd like to share I would **LOVE** to see!
Happy to post a pic! Mine is a 2019 Stingray Special in Vintage Tobacco Burst, roasted maple neck and fretboard, and aftermarket tort pickguard.
I haven't seen any Specials with the grime that older maple neck Stingrays accumulated. I'm with you in that I don't like the roasted maple fretboard look. I do like the look of the roasted neck though with a ebony or rosewood board!
Every now and then I see a Special with a lighter roasted maple board, but it is rare.
It seems like the SBMM basses have a much darker roasting on the maple than the EBMMs do, so if you're looking at them and their burnt chocolate-chip-cookie-ness, it's not that bad.
I avoided the dark roasted maple fretboard phobia by getting an ebony one
The roasted neck pairs awesome with the ebony - that black/tan look rocks.
I have a few. All are different . But they are all Specials with maple .
None look worn in. I would cry if they did.
This is one perfect bass!
That's beautiful... love what you did with the tort. Board is too dark for my tastes but overall that is so, so sharp looking.
Yeah, the nice thing with Sweetwater is we can compare different models, and they're photography is usually consistent. Bass Central in FL seems like an awesome EBMM dealer, but many times I get the sense their photos are drenched in too much flash, and the roasted boards are darker than they appear in the photos.
+1 ^^It seems like the SBMM basses have a much darker roasting on the maple than the EBMMs do, so if you're looking at them and their burnt chocolate-chip-cookie-ness, it's not that bad.
I avoided the dark roasted maple fretboard phobia by getting an ebony one
Yes, we're talking the same language. Chocolate-chip-cookie-ness is spot on... it looks like a cc cookie that's been in the oven too long!
And yeah, even though I prefer maple, I think I'd rather have a dark rosewood or ebony board over roasted maple because it looks super classy.
Thanks everyone for the pics, I'm always open to fingerboard pr0n (I am so weird...)
Naw Swartz you're like all of us music geeks that are transparent enough to admit it!
CC cookie sounds about right. '94 rosewood not a special/2019 roasted
CC cookie sounds about right. '94 rosewood not a special/2019 roasted
