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Fretless Stingrays
- Thread starter Bassis78
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- ebmm stingray fretless
I have owned three StingRays in the past 20 years, all three of them fretless. I started out as a Jazz Bass player, but when I wanted a fretless bass, knowing that I wanted to use flatwound strings exclusively, I discovered very quickly that Jazz Basses just don’t sound anywhere near as good with flatwound strings as Precision Basses and StingRays.
Of course, this is all opinion, and there are plenty of people who like flatwounds on Jazz Basses, fretless or otherwise, but my opinion is that fretless StingRays sound dramatically better than fretless Jazz Basses. The difference is the pickups and the pickup positioning.
This thread needs some audio visuals. I'm not sure who the bass player is but he seems pretty good and he has a Stingray!
Just kidding. As I posted previously, Pino and his work with Paul Young was instrumental in my appreciation of bass, especially fretless. That Stingray tone - with and without octave pedal - was fantastic and sounds more bass-like than typical Jaco to me. (Listen to Tear Your Playhouse Down for a great octave example...) And you gotta love how out-front the bass is in the mix!
Just kidding. As I posted previously, Pino and his work with Paul Young was instrumental in my appreciation of bass, especially fretless. That Stingray tone - with and without octave pedal - was fantastic and sounds more bass-like than typical Jaco to me. (Listen to Tear Your Playhouse Down for a great octave example...) And you gotta love how out-front the bass is in the mix!
Im so glad someone bought that 2016 fretless in the classifieds! I had money burning a hole in my pocket, was killin me seeing it there.
Be patient. I finally found mine back in November after looking since August. There will always be a glut of those same BFRs and that one overpriced white 1979 for $6,000 on Reverb. That kinda polarizing blue-with-pearloid 5-string is still there from the summer. Wait it out, and check every day. The day mine appeared, there was another brilliant alternative, too, that had been posted that day which I would have been just as happy with.
And if you're concerned about MWAH tone, it's all in the setup and the strings. I have mine set up to sound and play like my Pedulla did, and it's fabulous.
And if you're concerned about MWAH tone, it's all in the setup and the strings. I have mine set up to sound and play like my Pedulla did, and it's fabulous.
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This is hilarious to me...I feel the same way about those Reverb posts! Overpriced is right! Thanks for the support!
The first 2 basses I ever bought were ‘94 fretted and fretless Stingrays - matching natural finish.
Both are gone now (really sucks thinking about it), the Fretless was traded for the ‘96 L2500 I still have. The fretted was sold in 2012 for half of what it would have yielded today (that was the market in 2012).
That fretless stingray was the best sounding and most playable I’ve had. I have probably bought and sold about 8 different fretless basses since then, and even put together a few as parts-basses. I have tried two iterations of Fretless Jazz basses, but quickly got bored of their sound.
So since I can’t afford an actual EBMM Stingray, let alone a Fretless Stingray, I kind of cobbled together yet another Frankenstein fretless bass along those lines.
There’s something about MM pickups in a Fretless that makes sense. I also have coil-tapping so I can do the Jazz sound, too.
Both are gone now (really sucks thinking about it), the Fretless was traded for the ‘96 L2500 I still have. The fretted was sold in 2012 for half of what it would have yielded today (that was the market in 2012).
That fretless stingray was the best sounding and most playable I’ve had. I have probably bought and sold about 8 different fretless basses since then, and even put together a few as parts-basses. I have tried two iterations of Fretless Jazz basses, but quickly got bored of their sound.
So since I can’t afford an actual EBMM Stingray, let alone a Fretless Stingray, I kind of cobbled together yet another Frankenstein fretless bass along those lines.
There’s something about MM pickups in a Fretless that makes sense. I also have coil-tapping so I can do the Jazz sound, too.
I do like the tone of a fretless Stingray. For me, the width of the neck is not my taste. A good few years ago, I wandered into a bass shop in London and Pino’s backup 79 Stingray was there on consignment. Impossible to resist. I sold it on last year. Lovely bass.
Do you find the neck too wide, or too narrow? I dislike the narrow width of the 4-string Jazz Bass, and find the wider nut of the StingRay much more comfortable. I only like 5-string Jazz Basses, but I don't like the StingRay5.
This is exactly how I feel.
I like the chunky neck on a Stingray, the Jazz 4 kind of feels a little too narrow at the nut. However, a Jazz 5 with its 1-7/8” nut and 18.4mm bridge is way more comfortable than a Stingray 5 with 1-3/4” nut and 17.5mm bridge. Talking 1mm and 1/8” difference at either end, but the difference will make or break a bass for a certain individual.
Here's a more 'recent' live show with Pino on his old StingRay playing with Nine Inch Nails, and the bass sound is just killing!
He's one of the greatest ever voices on fretless IMHO. Just so damn expressive. Heck, there are times when I think he was/is even more expressive than Jaco was...and that's really saying something. His collaboration with Paul Young back in the 80's, is analogous to that of Joni Mitchell and Jaco several years earlier; i.e. no matter how good the material or performing artist, he's the type of player who simply elevates the music to places it could never otherwise reach were it not for his totally unique voice on the instrument.
Too wide for me. I prefer a J width neck. I always have done and have never owned a Precision for that reason. It would be boring if we all liked the same thing.
I did very much like the sound of that Stingray and the combination of that, with the cast-iron provenance and very reasonable price, made it a no-brainer to buy.
I put it on consignment with the shop I bought it from and it sold very quickly. Just after, I put a defretted 62 Jazz bass on consignment in the same shop and I understand Pino tried it out with his son. Would have made me smile for him to buy my bass after I bought his.
I doubt he would post about it online though.
Most likely due to ease of manufacturing; no extra CNC programs or chances to put the wrong nut on the wrong neck...
