People can say what they want to say about Sterling Ball but I know otherwise from personal experience.
I know I have told this story before on here but maybe for those that think the guy is an arrogant jerk, I know otherwise and here is our story.
Last year I decided to add some high end basses to the Ibanez Soundgear basses that I already had. Our former pastor had a Music Man SUB that I really liked so I decided to look at them first. In April of last year, I joined their site to learn about the basses. Basically the difference between a Stingray and a Sterling. I thought I would like a Sterling more so I traded a Taylor acoustic guitar that I had for a Sterling 4H. About 1 week later, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. It really took us all by surprise. Well, being the noob that I was over at the EBMM forum, I asked the most common question there was, "Does Music Man make custom basses?" I explained to everyone that I wanted to make a custom made Breats Cancer Awareness bass for my wife, to honor her but also, to use that bass to help spread awareness and help raise funds to donate to different cancer places to help find a cure. All of the members on the forum were very sympathetic to our situation but kindly explained that EBMM does not do custom builds unless you are an endorsed artist. I understood and was not angry.
The next day, Sterling Ball read my post and then posted that they would build the bass for me. Sterling Ball then did something I never expected in my wildest imagination. He offered to donate 100% of the funds from the bass to our Relay for Life team that we had done every year even before my wifes diagnosis. He then challenged the dealer that was going to sell me the bass to do the same as well as the forum members. Bass Central, was the dealer I went through and they also donated 100% of the money they would have made. Then many forum members also did the same. As a result, our Relay for Life team last year raised around $7,000.00 for the event and we were one of the top teams that raised money.
Now I don't tell this story to brag or rub it in what Sterling Ball did. In fact, I still shake my head in amazement at his kindness as well as everyone else's. Keep in mind too that prior to his building this bass, I had never bought a new Music Man bass before so the amount of dollars he had made off of me up to that point was $0.00. To me, that spoke volumes for what kind of man he is. I then read about the Casey Ball Foundation and was blown away by all that he has done in helping others out due to what happened with his son.
Now, when I see threads or posts about people getting angry because he doesn't make a certain color or make a neck a certain width or do whatever, to me that is really petty stuff. The main reason, as he has explained, is because he knows what it takes to run a successful business and he doesn't want to have to lay any workers off due to his making bad business decision that appeases only a small number of people. Sure, if he could do it and know in advance that it would be a success, I'm sure he would but he cares enough about his employees to not take risks that he thinks will cause them to lose their jobs in an already tough economy.
Call me a fan boy all you want. But my family has personally experienced true kindness from the man that we didn't deserve so nobody will ever convince me otherwise of the negative things said about him.
To us, Sterling Ball will always be a true friend!
Oh, and on a side note, I know it is Sterling Ball's desire to see his Dad, Ernie Ball inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame someday. While I have little to no pull whatsoever in the music industry, I did start a facebook page to try and get as many people to sign a petition to help get him inducted. If you would like to join, here is the link. Maybe one day, I can help repay back the kindness he showed to my family!
Jay
Induct Ernie Ball into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame | Facebook
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