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EBMM StingRay Special Club

#14,461
Cesar Vortmann said:
I recently Plek'd my Stingray 5 Special. Here's the before picture. It had some high frets at the end of the neck and because I use low/medium action and my attack is hard, they would buzz more than ordinary. After been Plek'd I can it hit it as it supposed to be and there's no buzz :)

I'll find the "after" and post here later.

It's natural to have some part of the wood move in single-piece necks. Not a big deal. Not happy to pay some extra for it and hoped that EBMM would Plek at the factory but I don't plan to ever sell this bass so it will pay itself with time.

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Awesome!

A shop near me got a PLEK machine within the past handful of months and I just tried it out on my Jazz bass. Still waiting to get it back, but I've got high hopes! If it does what I'm hoping, I'll be doing it to all of my basses over the next year or so!
 
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#14,462
Killens84 said:
I have this Stingray Special 5H on the way from Pitbull Audio. I owned one identical to this about 6-7 years ago and I've regretted selling it ever since. This is my favorite color combo they've offered on these over the years.
View attachment 7194797View attachment 7194798
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The bass arrived yesterday. All is great, except the neck needs to be shimmed. I like my action a little lower than their factory specs, so the B and G saddles are bottomed out and still not where I want the action to be. I like 4/64 on the G string, and it's currently slightly above 5/64 with the saddle bottomed out. B string is 6/64 with the saddle bottomed, but I don't mind that action.
The neck relief is good. I checked that first. Music Man is sending me a set of their shims.
 
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#14,463
Killens84 said:
The bass arrived yesterday. All is great, except the neck needs to be shimmed. I like my action a little lower than their factory specs, so the B and G saddles are bottomed out and still not where I want the action to be. I like 4/64 on the G string, and it's currently slightly above 5/64 with the saddle bottomed out. B string is 6/64 with the saddle bottomed, but I don't mind that action.
The neck relief is good. I checked that first. Music Man is sending me a set of their shims.
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On the B and G, are they bottomed out because the bridge saddle screws have reached the top of the inside of the barrel? I had encountered that problem on my old Stingray Classic and was perplexed that they went with the same type of saddle for the Special.
 
#14,467
H vs. HH
Back in the old days of Stingray I remember that most preferred the single pickup version as the tone was different using just the bridge pup on the HH model. I think it had to do with pickup location as well as pre-amp design.
In the word of SR Specials, do most prefer the single H, and, can you get the tone of an H from an HH?

I'm on the fence between a Special and a Sandberg.
 
#14,469
Jim C said:
H vs. HH
Back in the old days of Stingray I remember that most preferred the single pickup version as the tone was different using just the bridge pup on the HH model. I think it had to do with pickup location as well as pre-amp design.
In the word of SR Specials, do most prefer the single H, and, can you get the tone of an H from an HH?

I'm on the fence between a Special and a Sandberg.
Click to expand...
I own all 3. Yep HH sounds like H.
 
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#14,470
Jim C said:
H vs. HH
Back in the old days of Stingray I remember that most preferred the single pickup version as the tone was different using just the bridge pup on the HH model. I think it had to do with pickup location as well as pre-amp design.
In the word of SR Specials, do most prefer the single H, and, can you get the tone of an H from an HH?

I'm on the fence between a Special and a Sandberg.
Click to expand...
The bridge pickup on the HH has always been in the same place as the H. I've never noticed a sound difference
 
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#14,473
Jim C said:
Does the HH offer some usable new sounds?
For that matter, I wonder if one really outsells the other.
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I prefer having the options of a HH. I primarily use positions 1 (bridge humbucker) and 2 (outer coils, I think), which sound like a Stingray and a super Jazz bass, respectively. The other positions are good, too, but those are my favorites. The neck pickup only (5) can be very warm and the inner coils (4) also sound good.
 
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#14,474
humbuckaroo said:
I ordered an H because I value simplicity and Leo's original designs, but from what I have heard and seen throughout my research, the HH Position 1 gets a tone that's identical to what the H sounds like, and then you get the other four positions on top of that.
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I went from an H to and HH, I don't really notice a difference. But I sure appreciate the extra tones.
 
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#14,475
Jim C said:
Does the HH offer some usable new sounds?
For that matter, I wonder if one really outsells the other.
Click to expand...
My guess is single H still is bigger seller

I don't find the sounds on the HH that appealing myself, but position 4 is pretty great. Lots of people love them though

Still if I was buying a 4 string I'd go HH just to have the options. The neck pickup doesn't bother me for slap but I know it does for some.

The switching on the 5H is my favorite though.
 
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#14,476
PrimitiveMan said:
My guess is single H still is bigger seller

I don't find the sounds on the HH that appealing myself, but position 4 is pretty great. Lots of people love them though

Still if I was buying a 4 string I'd go HH just to have the options. The neck pickup doesn't bother me for slap but I know it does for some.

The switching on the 5H is my favorite though.
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This. With a 5H there is a coil-series option that is heavenly.
 
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#14,477
Jim C said:
Does the HH offer some usable new sounds?
For that matter, I wonder if one really outsells the other.
Click to expand...

LadyLoveStingRay5 said:
Yes, especially #4, #3, for me. #4 is my favorite.
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And this, too. The HH is incredibly versatile. Like LLSR5, I find position 4 is where the toanz lives. Position 2 is no slouch either.
 
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#14,478
Killens84 said:
The bass arrived yesterday. All is great, except the neck needs to be shimmed. I like my action a little lower than their factory specs, so the B and G saddles are bottomed out and still not where I want the action to be. I like 4/64 on the G string, and it's currently slightly above 5/64 with the saddle bottomed out. B string is 6/64 with the saddle bottomed, but I don't mind that action.
The neck relief is good. I checked that first. Music Man is sending me a set of their shims.
Click to expand...
Update #2: I ordered a set of angled, full-pocket wooden shims from Amazon. They arrived yesterday. The lowest shim (0.25°) ended up working perfectly. The bass is now set up to my liking and it sounds and plays outstanding. It took to low action really well with no fret buzz anywhere I could find. A set of my preferred strings (D’Addario NYXL) will arrive today, and once I have those installed, the bass will be ready to rock. I’ll use it on a gig for the first time this Friday, so I’ll report back after that.
 
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#14,479
Just joined the club this past weekend!
IMG_1637.jpeg
 
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