Terrible colors though. Those that want passive would probably also want vintage-esque type colors. I know I would.
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EBMM StingRay Special Club
- Thread starter MultiScaleMale
- Start date
Yeah. I just sold my Fallout Green 4H for the same price I paid new because it was cheaper (and fortunately, a rare colorway). Very expensive instruments, especially given that they aren't custom shop level.
I respect that, but I love those colors! Definitely not a vintage vibe though
Yep. They are good but not custom shop level. I've had a few Specials with bad neck geometry and high frets. They are more like American Professional level with (usually) perfect QA (which means a lot!). The Retro 70s is better than Custom Shop for $300 more than a Special. (I literally have a $5K custom shop P and a Retro 70s in front of me, the 70s is a little better built.)
Passive P basses have satisfied that desire for me. One with flats, one with rounds.
I would argue they are definately a bit too high on the price scale but they also have a pretty big backlog so clearly people are buying them (myself included) and with all the BS going on with trump that may factor into needless supplier price increases getting passed to us..
Its a bit bizzare to me to compare this to a custom shop. Stringray Specials CAD are around 4k right now, but so are the highest off the shelf fender jazz, custom shop basses are usually pushing 6K+. Or maybe were talking about custom "shops" in general that aren't an offering from the big brands.
Maybe its because i think the relic stuff is the dumbest thing ever, but i have played some custom shop Fenders in a local boutique shop, some pushing into almost 10 grand, and i REALLLLLLLLLY don't get it lol. Its one of these things where its seemingly for people who maybe when they were a kid their first bass was a 70s jazz... but then most of the ones ive seen (i know they are ordered to spec) are roasted maple quartersawn necks. Soooo you want a vintage bass, but you want it banged up to hell, and to be like a modern bass - alot of conflicting thoughts there - but whatever floats peoples boat but theres no special magic for me that warants thousands of dollars more than a fender player series where i sand down the finish on the back of the neck to make it feel played in.
Its a bit bizzare to me to compare this to a custom shop. Stringray Specials CAD are around 4k right now, but so are the highest off the shelf fender jazz, custom shop basses are usually pushing 6K+. Or maybe were talking about custom "shops" in general that aren't an offering from the big brands.
Maybe its because i think the relic stuff is the dumbest thing ever, but i have played some custom shop Fenders in a local boutique shop, some pushing into almost 10 grand, and i REALLLLLLLLLY don't get it lol. Its one of these things where its seemingly for people who maybe when they were a kid their first bass was a 70s jazz... but then most of the ones ive seen (i know they are ordered to spec) are roasted maple quartersawn necks. Soooo you want a vintage bass, but you want it banged up to hell, and to be like a modern bass - alot of conflicting thoughts there - but whatever floats peoples boat but theres no special magic for me that warants thousands of dollars more than a fender player series where i sand down the finish on the back of the neck to make it feel played in.
Admittedly I have very limited experience with custom shop basses. Though from what I have tried I feel like EBMM delivers a product very close to that for a fraction of the price coming off a production line which is impressive.
And to clarify, by custom shop I mean like boutique builders, not Fender.
And to clarify, by custom shop I mean like boutique builders, not Fender.
The Special I'm thinking of has GHS Precision flats. I have another Special with EB Cobalt flats that also sounds good.
Empire music had 20% off recently on the Tim Commerford passive white bass. They still have two I think in stock.
I had the Natural Passive Timmy C before. Great bass. Passive was find. It just didn't have that signature Stingray sound so I let it go (not realizing until recently how lower the pickup can do so much for the sound). But I really want that Caliper Red Active Timmy so bad.
I really wanted one of those Tim passives until I learned that there's still a preamp inside (from this thread). That kinda killed the whole point for me. Should have just been wired the old way.
Fender custom shop is about 50% more here in the United States around $4200 for NOS and you can get the Stingray for around $2800. Fender is 1.5 times the price
I inadvertently tried something different with my 5HH at a festival we played two days ago. It's no secret here that Position #4 is my favorite but, as I've always said, I will use all five pickup switch positions in a typical gig. At one point on Thursday I went to Position #1 and then forgot about changing it over the course of a few songs.
After playing a few, I had to go tell the sound guy that one of his speakers was bouncing off of his bass bins and might drop onto the little kids that were dancing around in front of the stage. He went of to adjust things and try securing it and then stood there for the rest of that song. It wasn't until he walked away and said, "That bass is sounding FANTASTIC!" that I realized I had forgotten about the switch and left it there for a while. So I used that for most of the rest of the show just to pay attention to it. It sounded really good on the louder rock songs. Really good!
Position #4 is still my favorite, but it's cool getting a new/better appreciation for other things the HH can do. We've got about a month off now to rest before our next gig (we just did 11 gigs in April, May, and June and our usual MO is about 15-18 gigs/YEAR!). But I'm looking forward to trying out #1 a little more when we start back up next month.
After playing a few, I had to go tell the sound guy that one of his speakers was bouncing off of his bass bins and might drop onto the little kids that were dancing around in front of the stage. He went of to adjust things and try securing it and then stood there for the rest of that song. It wasn't until he walked away and said, "That bass is sounding FANTASTIC!" that I realized I had forgotten about the switch and left it there for a while. So I used that for most of the rest of the show just to pay attention to it. It sounded really good on the louder rock songs. Really good!
Position #4 is still my favorite, but it's cool getting a new/better appreciation for other things the HH can do. We've got about a month off now to rest before our next gig (we just did 11 gigs in April, May, and June and our usual MO is about 15-18 gigs/YEAR!). But I'm looking forward to trying out #1 a little more when we start back up next month.
Here my Hot Honey in action ....a short sample ! 
Sounds like a Stingray and looks Great on the side
Nice playing
Yes indeed, great sound, great bass. Thanks for posting, @Abzan_Titan.
Two months later the honeymoon refuses to stop. 1. Day wear! 2. Evening wear! 
Wow, it's amazing how much changing the pickguard changes the look!
. What is the name of that color?
