EBMM Stingray Special H . . . is this normal?

[FlashBazbo]

My coveting a new Stingray Special collided with COVID19 shutting down all the guitar stores. So I did something I would never recommend. I ordered a bass, sight unseen.

It's a black EBMM Stingray Special H with a black pick guard and roasted maple fret board. Beautiful workmanship. Absolutely flawless. The E and A strings provide a ton of output. Amazing tone. The best E and A I've played in twenty years and more basses than I would like to admit. And I'm not much of a slapper, but this bass is a slap machine. Incredibly easy to do things I could never accomplish on my Fender Jazz.

But . . . the G and D strings seem pretty dead. EQ doesn't help. It's not just that they produce a lot less output than the E and A. They don't seem to produce a very musical tone -- you can't get that sweet guitar-like tone out of them, no matter what you do. It's almost as if they're muffled. (Action for all four strings is 2.5mm at the 12th fret.)

Is this normal for an EBMM Stingray Special? Is it a setup problem? Or should I return the bass and ask for another? (The plastic on the pick guard showed some evidence that I wouldn't be the first to return this particular bass.) What does the forum think?

 

[Fun Size Nick]

First question to ask would be - how are the strings themselves? Do they sound that way acoustically?

If it’s not the strings themselves, how about the height over the pickup - are the D and G further away than the other two?

 

[FlashBazbo]

First question to ask would be - how are the strings themselves? Do they sound that way acoustically?

If it’s not the strings themselves, how about the height over the pickup - are the D and G further away than the other two?

Good questions. Acoustically, with regard to volume, the strings sound normal to me -- which is to say that the higher the string, the louder it sounds. That's the opposite of how they sound plugged in. The volume issue isn't the strings.

But playing them acoustically also shows me that these strings sound different than what I'm used to. The D and G aren't dead, but they don't ring as clear as what I'm accustomed to. My "lack of musical tone" complaint is definitely the strings.

String height over the pickup . . . the E is 4mm and the G is 3.5mm.

 

[Energy]

First question to ask would be - how are the strings themselves? Do they sound that way acoustically?

If it’s not the strings themselves, how about the height over the pickup - are the D and G further away than the other two?

I second this. Check the pickup height and put a set of fresh strings on and see what happens. If the problem persists, return it.

Check the EBMM Special Club. Most users are quite happy with their Specials. Me too.

 

[FlashBazbo]

I'm ordering strings. We'll see what that does for us. I'll have to try a set of stock strings (EB Super Slinky's) just to see if the strings were shot as they arrived on the bass.

The plastic on the pick guard would seem to indicate that the previous player did a lot of popping. (Lots of heavy wear on the G side of the strings.)

 

[Fun Size Nick]

I'm ordering strings. We'll see what that does for us. I'll have to try a set of stock strings (EB Super Slinky's) just to see if the strings were shot as they arrived on the bass.

The plastic on the pick guard would seem to indicate that the previous player did a lot of popping. (Lots of heavy wear on the G side of the strings.)

Either that or it had the usual treatment from the in-store slappers! The plastic film shows wear pretty quick.

 

[Jim C]

I have no experience with this bass but have owned 3 regular SR's and still have an 83'.
All of them had a weak G string. The output volume looks really good on a VU meter but there is less bottom.
This has been documented many time before.
Now for a real good time, contact the manufacturer on their forum and see what they think...

 

[GIBrat51]

I just got a Stingray Special HH that I ordered sight unseen, too. But, I ordered it from the factory, so the thing works just fine... Based on your description,My guess would be that the previous owner, Mr. Slap-and-Pop, slapped all the goodness out of those strings. So... yeah, you need new ones. Especially if the bass passes the "Tap the pickup poles" test - lightly tap the pickup poles with something metal, with the bass plugged in. Personally, when I buy a used bass (and I've bought a lot of them), the strings never last much past the initial function check. By definition, those strings are dead; grotty; and need to meet my garbage can ASAP. Do the test; if the bass passes - which I imagine it will - then decide what strings it will wear...

 

[Killing Floor]

Yeah. I'd replace the strings. There is nothing that can occur in nature that will take the fire out of a Ray.
DR, Slinky, Dads. Don't put flats on a Ray or the Lord will visit plagues upon your town. A new set should solve your problem.
Can't hurt to check the battery(s) while your at. You'll be Rays for Days.

 

[FlashBazbo]

Can't hurt to check the battery(s) while your at. You'll be Rays for Days.

Yep, the first thing I did was change the batteries. It didn't make much difference.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Try new strings and if the issue continues try playing with the pickup height.

I’ve owned a lot of Rays over the years. Sadly, I have come across a couple duds that just didn’t do the StingRay thing. I couldn’t tell you what the reason was, but all manufacturers are prone to creating at least a few lemons.

 

[Fun Size Nick]

Don't put flats on a Ray or the Lord will visit plagues upon your town.

I mean, not unless you want to sound like Bernard Edwards!

 

[Ric5]

My coveting a new Stingray Special collided with COVID19 shutting down all the guitar stores. So I did something I would never recommend. I ordered a bass, sight unseen.

It's a black EBMM Stingray Special H with a black pick guard and roasted maple fret board. Beautiful workmanship. Absolutely flawless. The E and A strings provide a ton of output. Amazing tone. The best E and A I've played in twenty years and more basses than I would like to admit. And I'm not much of a slapper, but this bass is a slap machine. Incredibly easy to do things I could never accomplish on my Fender Jazz.

But . . . the G and D strings seem pretty dead. EQ doesn't help. It's not just that they produce a lot less output than the E and A. They don't seem to produce a very musical tone -- you can't get that sweet guitar-like tone out of them, no matter what you do. It's almost as if they're muffled. (Action for all four strings is 2.5mm at the 12th fret.)

Is this normal for an EBMM Stingray Special? Is it a setup problem? Or should I return the bass and ask for another? (The plastic on the pick guard showed some evidence that I wouldn't be the first to return this particular bass.) What does the forum think?

Weak G string is a recurring problem on many Stingrays.

Try this … use thinner E and A strings and fatter D and G strings

also raise the pickup of the G side and lower it on the E side

 

[sawzalot]

I’ve got a ray with the classic “weak G String” problem. I solved it years ago by tilting the pickup so the bass side is significantly farther away from the strings than the treble side. It looks a little odd from the players perspective but it worked for me.

 

[MMiller28]

It's either a setup issue or it's in your head. Probably the former.

 

[Yahboy]

Try action 2.5mm on E to 2.0mm on G string check on 17th fret .
Once done, try adjust pickup height 6mm on E and 4mm on G . Distance between bottom of string and top of steel rod or magnet pole piece.

Hopehelp

Off topic.
I own a cheap sub ray5 and I found both G and B string louder than EAD string.
After I raise the pickups steel rod, problem solve and fairly even string to string output.
And my action is 1.75mm on B to 1.25mm on G . Pickups height 6.5mm on B and 4mm on G.

And I use EB 2810 Flatwound, the growl still there with less harsh zing, but overall tone are fuller+thicker and much flexible on onboard 2band EQ tweak.

 

[pineweasel]

From everything I've read, the weak G string is no longer an issue with the Specials, as you'd hope given the pickup and pre-amp are both new designs.

 

[mcnach]

My coveting a new Stingray Special collided with COVID19 shutting down all the guitar stores. So I did something I would never recommend. I ordered a bass, sight unseen.

It's a black EBMM Stingray Special H with a black pick guard and roasted maple fret board. Beautiful workmanship. Absolutely flawless. The E and A strings provide a ton of output. Amazing tone. The best E and A I've played in twenty years and more basses than I would like to admit. And I'm not much of a slapper, but this bass is a slap machine. Incredibly easy to do things I could never accomplish on my Fender Jazz.

But . . . the G and D strings seem pretty dead. EQ doesn't help. It's not just that they produce a lot less output than the E and A. They don't seem to produce a very musical tone -- you can't get that sweet guitar-like tone out of them, no matter what you do. It's almost as if they're muffled. (Action for all four strings is 2.5mm at the 12th fret.)

Is this normal for an EBMM Stingray Special? Is it a setup problem? Or should I return the bass and ask for another? (The plastic on the pick guard showed some evidence that I wouldn't be the first to return this particular bass.) What does the forum think?

can you post a recording so that we can hear that?

 

[Nobis17]

I bought my SR HH sight unseen from the factory as well. I haven't heard any "sonic disappointments" or dead spots or the like. I have had nothing but happiness and sunshine from my Ray

 

[FlashBazbo]

UPDATE: I don't have the new strings yet, so I can't report on that. But I adjusted the pickup height. Somebody in this bass's past did the standard Stingray fix. The G side of the pickup was 3.5mm below the string and the E side was 4mm below the string. Conventional wisdom would indicate that they did the right thing. But I wanted to test the hypothesis.

I looked up the factory spec. It's 4.76mm at the G string with the pickup on the same plane as the pick guard -- a whopping 1.26mm farther away than what was on my bass. So, I adjusted the pickup height to factory spec and . . . the results were pretty dramatic. Now, there's balance across all four strings. Huge improvement. And the tone on the D and G strings is vastly improved. Not perfect, but much improved. You can actually hear a musical note on 16th-note runs now. (Before, 16th notes on the G string were pretty indistinct. You could hear that you struck a string, but you couldn't pick out what note it was.) The strings still give off a kind of muffled or muted tone -- a little furry -- but I'm hopeful that a new set of strings will improve that somewhat.

Things moved in the right direction in a big way. Thanks for all the help!