I was telling my wife how I came to be a massive StingRay fanboy and player and thought it might be cool to see from you all how you ended up playing your current "workhorse" or favorite bass?
Not that any of you asked, but here's how I ended up playing 'Rays.
I was 17 and and bought a POS Samick bass at a pawn shop (I don't remember if it was a P or J style). It sort of worked for about 6 months. In that time I picked up some bass instruction books and worked through them, and joining my high school's jazz band.
In the jazz band, the intonation and staying in tune problems of my Samick proved to be too much, even after a setup, so the conductor had me use the school's MIM Fender Jazz bass.
My Samick was relegated to a corner of my room, never to leave the cheap gig bag I had it in again.
I was allowed to take the MIM J bass home over the summer between junior and senior year so I could build up my chops. I also started to jam with some friends and learn how the bass functioned in the mix with a band--in jazz band, I was just playing the notes; there was no feeling in my playing.
During that summer, I found out Les Claypool used Carl Thompson basses for hiw work with Primus. I loved his sound with Primus and desperately wanted a CT of my own (I had no idea how to get one, hell, I thought I could go to Guitar Center and grab one off the shelf. That's how naive I was at the time) so I could sound just like Claypool.
Turns out, GC doesn't stock CT basses (again, I was jsut starting and had no idea what I was doing), but they did have a bass that looked similar to a CT, or at least close enough that I fell in love with it on sight--the Rickenbacker 4003.
So I got a jetglo Ric and played with my band friends. About a week later, the neck became horribly bowed, and I had no idea why or how it happened. I took it in for a trussrod fix, but even that couldn't save it. GC gave me a refund for the bass and I was back looking for a bass that would be a step up from my MIM Jazz bass.
I found a Warwick Corvette and went with it. Except it was fretless, and since I had some experience with an upright bass, I thought I could handle it.
Nope.
I had bitten off more than I could chew, so I took the Warwick back within the return window. I had missed the refund window, which was fine since I was going to get another bass, and the sales person I ran into asked me about the basses I had played thus far. I retold the previous story to him and he pointed me in the direction of an obnoxious orange bass. He said this guy named Flea used a bass like this, and that maybe this might be a good route to take. And, if I didn't like it, I could always return it and try to find another one.
So I tried out that orange bass with an SVT head.
I was in love. That sound...I can still hear it more than 20 years later.
That bass followed me home. It was a StingRay and I was hooked.
I ended up selling that bass when I went into the USMC 4 years later.
Two years into my USMC enlistment, while deployed to Iraq, I decided to order a StingRay 5. At the time (2005) nu-metal was a thing and I was into it, and thought the extended range would be a benefit more than anything else, so I pulled the trigger.
Turns out Musician's Friend ships to APOs, and about a week after ordering my bass, it was delivered to my office in the middle of the An Anbar Province of western Iraq.
I had to sell that bass a few year later due to moving across the country after my medical discharge from the USMC, and took a little break from bass.
Eventually, I got the urge to play again and found a red StingRay 5 with black pickguard, and bought it.
That's my current workhorse. I tried out an Adam Clayton Signature Jazz bass in the Sherwood Green when they came out, but the neck profile wasn't something that worked for me.
So here I am, a StingRay player and I couldn't be happier.
Well, I will be happier once I pick up that Rickenbacker 4003S/5 I fell in love with last weekend.
Not that any of you asked, but here's how I ended up playing 'Rays.
I was 17 and and bought a POS Samick bass at a pawn shop (I don't remember if it was a P or J style). It sort of worked for about 6 months. In that time I picked up some bass instruction books and worked through them, and joining my high school's jazz band.
In the jazz band, the intonation and staying in tune problems of my Samick proved to be too much, even after a setup, so the conductor had me use the school's MIM Fender Jazz bass.
My Samick was relegated to a corner of my room, never to leave the cheap gig bag I had it in again.
I was allowed to take the MIM J bass home over the summer between junior and senior year so I could build up my chops. I also started to jam with some friends and learn how the bass functioned in the mix with a band--in jazz band, I was just playing the notes; there was no feeling in my playing.
During that summer, I found out Les Claypool used Carl Thompson basses for hiw work with Primus. I loved his sound with Primus and desperately wanted a CT of my own (I had no idea how to get one, hell, I thought I could go to Guitar Center and grab one off the shelf. That's how naive I was at the time) so I could sound just like Claypool.
Turns out, GC doesn't stock CT basses (again, I was jsut starting and had no idea what I was doing), but they did have a bass that looked similar to a CT, or at least close enough that I fell in love with it on sight--the Rickenbacker 4003.
So I got a jetglo Ric and played with my band friends. About a week later, the neck became horribly bowed, and I had no idea why or how it happened. I took it in for a trussrod fix, but even that couldn't save it. GC gave me a refund for the bass and I was back looking for a bass that would be a step up from my MIM Jazz bass.
I found a Warwick Corvette and went with it. Except it was fretless, and since I had some experience with an upright bass, I thought I could handle it.
Nope.
I had bitten off more than I could chew, so I took the Warwick back within the return window. I had missed the refund window, which was fine since I was going to get another bass, and the sales person I ran into asked me about the basses I had played thus far. I retold the previous story to him and he pointed me in the direction of an obnoxious orange bass. He said this guy named Flea used a bass like this, and that maybe this might be a good route to take. And, if I didn't like it, I could always return it and try to find another one.
So I tried out that orange bass with an SVT head.
I was in love. That sound...I can still hear it more than 20 years later.
That bass followed me home. It was a StingRay and I was hooked.
I ended up selling that bass when I went into the USMC 4 years later.
Two years into my USMC enlistment, while deployed to Iraq, I decided to order a StingRay 5. At the time (2005) nu-metal was a thing and I was into it, and thought the extended range would be a benefit more than anything else, so I pulled the trigger.
Turns out Musician's Friend ships to APOs, and about a week after ordering my bass, it was delivered to my office in the middle of the An Anbar Province of western Iraq.
I had to sell that bass a few year later due to moving across the country after my medical discharge from the USMC, and took a little break from bass.
Eventually, I got the urge to play again and found a red StingRay 5 with black pickguard, and bought it.
That's my current workhorse. I tried out an Adam Clayton Signature Jazz bass in the Sherwood Green when they came out, but the neck profile wasn't something that worked for me.
So here I am, a StingRay player and I couldn't be happier.
Well, I will be happier once I pick up that Rickenbacker 4003S/5 I fell in love with last weekend.
) So I went out and bought a Peavey milestone J bass clone.)
) and pocket money to get a Fender Jazz Bass neck.
