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MM Old Smoothie <=> Stingray Classic

B

beholder011

Jan 8, 2007
10
6
Atlanta, GA
#1
I just love my Old Smoothie. I owned/tried several MM basses, and although it is in butter scotch, and it was dinged, I had no dilemma that it was a keeper.
So, I'm more curious than serious, but if i was to get a Classic's pickup and pickguard, with a little bit of soldering (or solderless connections) I could switch between 2 sounds/setups?

Am I missing something?
 
#4
beholder011 said:
I just love my Old Smoothie. I owned/tried several MM basses, and although it is in butter scotch, and it was dinged, I had no dilemma that it was a keeper.
So, I'm more curious than serious, but if i was to get a Classic's pickup and pickguard, with a little bit of soldering (or solderless connections) I could switch between 2 sounds/setups?

Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

Just buy a Classic. Why change a rare special edition Stingray? I know the answer is he can do what he wants with his bass, but two band Stingrays are not rare or unreasonably expensive.
 
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#6
Dr. Cheese said:
Just buy a Classic. Why change a rare special edition Stingray? I know the answer is he can do what he wants with his bass, but two band Stingrays are not rare or unreasonably expensive.
Click to expand...
I'm with you Doc. This is more curiosity than anything else, considering that changing the pickup is an easy, and fully reversible modification... this Smoothie is here to stay! :)
 
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#9
Definitely not worth the trouble lol. The smoothie has the long poles also, and imo sounds better, I’d just buy a cheap 90s stingray, same electronics as the classic basically and maybe 800 dollars more than buying a real used musicman pickup but the labor work of soldering and unsoldering that all the time is worth it lol
 
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#10
I really enjoyed my Classic 5, just have both haha
IMG_20220215_082341205~2.jpg
 
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#12
Mrtoodamnsabre said:
Definitely not worth the trouble lol. The smoothie has the long poles also, and imo sounds better, I’d just buy a cheap 90s stingray, same electronics as the classic basically and maybe 800 dollars more than buying a real used musicman pickup but the labor work of soldering and unsoldering that all the time is worth it lol
Click to expand...
Hm, interesting math you are offering here... and it does make sense to me. Maybe you should start an online course "Math for bass players' significant others" :)
 
#13
beholder011 said:
I just love my Old Smoothie. I owned/tried several MM basses, and although it is in butter scotch, and it was dinged, I had no dilemma that it was a keeper.
So, I'm more curious than serious, but if i was to get a Classic's pickup and pickguard, with a little bit of soldering (or solderless connections) I could switch between 2 sounds/setups?

Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
I've thought about doing the exact same thing. I've just bought a chocolate sunburst Old Smoothie and wondered whether I should buy a Curtis Novak classic pickup and another pickguard to give me a 1976 first pickup version option. The Nordstrand MM 4.2 is cheaper and would give the 2nd pickup version option same as my 1980 SR. However, I think I've decided not to mod the Old Smoothie and wait until a Musicman BFR 1976 Radio Stingray comes up for sale to satisfy that GAS. The Old Smoothie is a fantastic sounding StingRay; I think the thing to do is turn the bass and treble EQs down to 60% which brings the mids back just as with other 2 band EQ SRs.
20230727_140220.jpg
 
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#15
Sparky Mark said:
I've thought about doing the exact same thing. I've just bought a chocolate sunburst Old Smoothie and wondered whether I should buy a Curtis Novak classic pickup and another pickguard to give me a 1976 first pickup version option. The Nordstrand MM 4.2 is cheaper and would give the 2nd pickup version option same as my 1980 SR. However, I think I've decided not to mod the Old Smoothie and wait until a Musicman BFR 1976 Radio Stingray comes up for sale to satisfy that GAS. The Old Smoothie is a fantastic sounding StingRay; I think the thing to do is turn the bass and treble EQs down to 60% which brings the mids back just as with other 2 band EQ SRs.
View attachment 5151739
Click to expand...

not to mention that the pickup routing for the smoothie will not accommodate any aftermarket pickup because of the routing, you would have to use wood filler to put any other pickup in there due to the pole length and the channel that’s routed in there to fit the poles for the smoothie pickup
 
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#16
Mike Vee said:
I would leave that bass unmolested. It would be a bit of a bummer to change up such a rare and classic bass.
Click to expand...
Agreed.

Mrtoodamnsabre said:
not to mention that the pickup routing for the smoothie will not accommodate any aftermarket pickup because of the routing, you would have to use wood filler to put any other pickup in there due to the pole length and the channel that’s routed in there to fit the poles for the smoothie pickup
Click to expand...
Yes, but I would've attached the pickup to the pickguard instead of the bass body so no modifications required to the OS. The Curtis Novak pickup also has the same 1" length pole pieces as the OS. However, I'm not going to do this anyway as the OS is a keeper as it is. Cheers.
 
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