They are actually almost identical. Probably due to wear and tear on my allen wrenches. I would still try the 5/64.
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Music Man StingRay Club | PART FIVE
- Thread starter fivestringgecko
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They are actually almost identical. Probably due to wear and tear on my allen wrenches. I would still try the 5/64.
1/16" (4/64) is too large, so 5/64 won't work for me. I'm going to hit home depot & get another 1/16th tonight on the odd chance my 1/16th is mismarked.
Mine only arrived an hour ago. They've been rare on the used market lately, good luck. There is a lovely one on Reverb at the moment (a honey burst 1995), might be worth a trade enquiry?
NBD. It was worth the wait. I was having a number of terrible ideas about how I could wangle a Stingray fretless in a market that didn't really have any available. I was even calling other countries and had designs on swapping necks or refins. But then, just like waiting for a bus in England, you wait for ages and ages and then two unlined fretlesses arrive at the same time (then a 3rd, which I mentioned above). The near perfect combination of Honey Burst ("Sunburst" at the time of manufacture in '91), the old bridge with mutes, the 2-band (I had not tried one, was keen to) and the weight: 8lb 14oz, proved too much to bear.
On the 2-band vs 3-band thing: First, I don't understand when people completely dismiss one of them out of hand. They are both a big part of the Stingray sound, and arguably the 3-band is largely responsible for the resurgence of the Stringray in the 90s. I love the "boing", as I call the signature Stingray peak at around 3.4kHz (thanks to @RudyTardy for discovering that), and it is one of the things that sets this bass apart from any old Fender. But I now get the whole 2-band thing and I'm a convert. It's a classic tone that goes from midrangey and kinda old-sounding to full blast-off, but without most of the 3.4k zing. The 2-band has almost a contrabassoon-like low end that's beautiful. But if a 3-band Ray already sounds like a record when set flat, the 2-band needs a little dialing. But once you get it dialed, it is pretty special, and my love of Guy Pratt, Louis Johnson, Bernard Edwards, John Deacon, Supertramp etc thanks me for choosing it.
On the 2-band vs 3-band thing: First, I don't understand when people completely dismiss one of them out of hand. They are both a big part of the Stingray sound, and arguably the 3-band is largely responsible for the resurgence of the Stringray in the 90s. I love the "boing", as I call the signature Stingray peak at around 3.4kHz (thanks to @RudyTardy for discovering that), and it is one of the things that sets this bass apart from any old Fender. But I now get the whole 2-band thing and I'm a convert. It's a classic tone that goes from midrangey and kinda old-sounding to full blast-off, but without most of the 3.4k zing. The 2-band has almost a contrabassoon-like low end that's beautiful. But if a 3-band Ray already sounds like a record when set flat, the 2-band needs a little dialing. But once you get it dialed, it is pretty special, and my love of Guy Pratt, Louis Johnson, Bernard Edwards, John Deacon, Supertramp etc thanks me for choosing it.
sold it before I could work a deal...
I sure love the look of the markerless fingerboard. Not gonna lie though, I didn't know how much I relied on markers until they were gone. I might slip up or down a half step now and then before making a "creative" choice to return back to the right key. Somehow the little dots on the side don't always do the job.
The only fretless I currently own is unlined (a Vox 'Lectra violin bass from around 1970). The dots are... almost enough, but I'd rather have lines too.
I was prepared to go the same route, but I had a feeling I would have had to take a year out to bust out the Simandl method.
Here's a question for you wood experts. Are these examples BOTH Pau Ferro? I know that EBMM has used rosewood on occasion in the past. The top one is my bass.
I can't help but think the top example has a tinge of Rosewood look about it. Just wondered. It's the black specs in it that remind me of the side of an acoustic guitar, but I imagine there is plenty of variegation in Pau Ferro for the same reasons there would be for any tree. Rosewood would be more pitted, wouldn't it?
I can't help but think the top example has a tinge of Rosewood look about it. Just wondered. It's the black specs in it that remind me of the side of an acoustic guitar, but I imagine there is plenty of variegation in Pau Ferro for the same reasons there would be for any tree. Rosewood would be more pitted, wouldn't it?
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I think you're right. Yours looks closer to the top example grain-wise, but with the redness of example 2. I think a rosewood fingerboard would have turned to chum after 29 years, so yeah, must be Pau. Thanks for the pic.
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Mine is of similar vintage - 1992 - and I think PF was pretty much standard for fretless rays back then.
I got my Stingray Fretless around '94 in the Bass Center, Birmingham UK. Pau Ferro. I think they all were around that period.
I should add...
I used roundwounds and the Pau Ferro on mine was really hardy. Now, I only gigged it for a year, but you really had to look to see any marks on the fretboard. Great bass.
In a nutshell,.. They have used both Rosewood and Ebony in addition to Pau Ferro. Rosewood early early on and for a short time but was dropped as it is a softer wood and doesn't hold up well. Then moved on to Ebony and Pau Ferro. Both are still being used but Pau Ferro is the preferred as it is a much smoother harder wood that has lasting durability. You'll find a few with Ebony as a specific model. Search google for fretless ebony Darcie delight for example. There is one pictured (Dargie) that is a piezo that I would give a left one to acquire, VERY rare..
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At least some were ebony. I played a fretless pre-EB Sabre for a while. The fretless fingerboard was in the curved ebony veneer style, probably less than 2mm thick.
