NBD Pre Ernie Ball MusicMan Stingray

[vincent69]

I got lucky enough to find a Pre Ernie Ball Musician Stingray left handed.
Serial Number is on the bridge: B016096
Neck date: 26 Feb 1980
Body date: 14 Feb 1980

This bass is in pretty good shape. It has a few normal signs of age for a 40 years old instrument. It has the 2 bad eq and is all original part from the frets the have been replaced.

Here are a few pics.

 

[Geri O]

I got lucky enough to find a Pre Ernie Ball Musician Stingray left handed.
Serial Number is on the bridge: B016096
Neck date: 14 Feb 1980
Body date: 26 Feb 1980

This bass is in pretty good shape. It has a few normal signs of age for a 40 years old instrument. It has the 2 bad eq and is all original part from the frets the have been replaced.

Here are a few pics.

View attachment 4535253 View attachment 4535254 View attachment 4535255

I would say, the stars smiled big-time on that find!

I had the pleasure of (lightly) refurbing a 79 Stingray that had not been treated well by a previous owner, but fortunately, the neck and frets were in really good shape, save for a little polishing. I did have to replace the preamp, which EB was happy to help with, once I sent in the bad preamp. The new one looked a little different, but it was that pre-EB sound.

I really enjoyed having that bass around for nearly 2 years, even though it was a 4-string and insanely heavy. Finally, the owner decided to pick it up. And it’s been in the case at his house ever since. Too bad, too. I’m

 

[wvbass]

Wow. An early left-handed Stingray! That is the only one I remember seeing on TB. Is that extra hole because there used to be a second string retainer?

 

[Jim C]

Congrats. What does it weigh?

 

[mikeswals]

Awesome! Nice find.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

What a find!! Nothing beats a great StingRay!!

 

[dedpool1052]

As a fellow lefty, I am both happy for you, and a bit jealous.

Play it in good health.

 

[vincent69]

Hi all,
I'm very disappointed and sad about this bass. I won't keep it.

I brought it to a luthier to set it up as I noticed the action was pretty high.
He noticed the following:
- the neck has been refretted in the 80's (this I knew), but when doing this a few mm of wood have been taken of.
Thickness at the 1st fret ist only 0.76 inch (approx. 19,3mm). The neck is so sensible that it can be bent just with hand pressure.
- The neck has a strong bow. 2mm under 9th fret (measured with a capo on 1st fret and one finger on the 21st fret,
- the trussrod is fully tightened. The action can thus not be correctly set. One can feel the trussrod's pressure through the wood near the 1st fret.
- lastly and that's the worst problem: the neck isn't straight. It bends towards the G string. Which a ruler set on the E string side, ruler touches at 1st fret as it should, but at 21st fret there's a good 2mm gap.

I contacted the seller. Told him what the luthier found and that I wanted to find a solution with him.
He is OK that I bring the bass back to him and to give my money back.

 

[vincent69]

Bass brought back to the seller. He is a real gentleman. He took it back and gave me my money in return without asking anything. He just tested it dry and that was it.
I also gave him the report that the luthier gave me as a proof of the problems found.
I link it here underneath as information for those interested

 

[blacktocomm]

Bass brought back to the seller. He is a real gentleman. He took it back and gave me my money in return without asking anything. He just tested it dry and that was it.
I also gave him the report that the luthier gave me as a proof of the problems found.
I link it here underneath as information for those interested

Man, that stinks that it had issues and wasn’t a keeper. Nice to hear the seller was a stand up guy and gave you a refund without hassle though.

 

[VermeerschAnton]

Hi all,
I'm very disappointed and sad about this bass. I won't keep it.

I brought it to a luthier to set it up as I noticed the action was pretty high.
He noticed the following:
- the neck has been refretted in the 80's (this I knew), but when doing this a few mm of wood have been taken of.
Thickness at the 1st fret ist only 0.76 inch (approx. 19,3mm). The neck is so sensible that it can be bent just with hand pressure.
- The neck has a strong bow. 2mm under 9th fret (measured with a capo on 1st fret and one finger on the 21st fret,
- the trussrod is fully tightened. The action can thus not be correctly set. One can feel the trussrod's pressure through the wood near the 1st fret.
- lastly and that's the worst problem: the neck isn't straight. It bends towards the G string. Which a ruler set on the E string side, ruler touches at 1st fret as it should, but at 21st fret there's a good 2mm gap.

I contacted the seller. Told him what the luthier found and that I wanted to find a solution with him.
He is OK that I bring the bass back to him and to give my money back.

Is this bass still available somewhere? What happened to this bass. Do you have the contacts of the original seller?
Thx

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I got lucky enough to find a Pre Ernie Ball Musician Stingray left handed.
Serial Number is on the bridge: B016096
Neck date: 26 Feb 1980
Body date: 14 Feb 1980

This bass is in pretty good shape. It has a few normal signs of age for a 40 years old instrument. It has the 2 bad eq and is all original part from the frets the have been replaced.

Here are a few pics.

View attachment 4535253 View attachment 4535254 View attachment 4535255

Nice find. congrats.