NBD Stingray Special…Oh My

[djaxup]

what an awesome finish, congrats!

 

[4 Out of 5]

Have mercy! That's the best looking Ray I've ever seen.
The charcoal hardware looks so good on it, especially as it matches the colour of the pickup covers.

 

[Les Fret]

Seems like you got yourself a keeper. Congrats!

I think your old Ray34 can be set up to play just as well as this new one though. It’s just a matter of a good setup. Bring the Ray to a luthier would be my suggestion.

 

[ComeHomeShane]

Count me in! Finally got one. Fell hard for Charcoal Sparkle first time I saw it. Watched a few used ones online and either was outbid or waited too long to pull the trigger so I missed out on them. Not this time.

View attachment 5410851

I’ve been happily playing my SBMM Ray34 H for a couple of months since I hopped over to playing bass in my band having been the (crappy) lead guitar player for quite some time with this band and others. I found the 3 band eq to be very diverse. Love the roasted maple neck. Factory set up was pretty darned good compared to other Ray 34s I tried and other brands in a higher tier I tried.

Then I started looking into the HH Rays. Every demo I heard convinced me that HH would be the tool I would prefer to use. From there the hunt was on.

UPS dropped this fella’ off about 8 last night. Let it adjust to the house for a little bit then cracked it open. I pulled it out and checked tuning. My 14 year old daughter who doesn’t even play snagged it in awe and spent an hour teaching herself how to play 7 Nation Army. She always gets a little excited to see new gear come in to the house but never like this.

Eventually I got my hands on it and I immediately understood the difference between SBMM AND EBMM. I’ve experienced the levels of craftsmanship between Gibson-Epiphone, Fender-Squier, etc in so many other areas besides instruments, and this just supports the buy-once-cry-once axiom.

Action is perfect, frets, perfect, neck perfect…yeah, every aspect is just a bit better than my Ray34. The playability far exceeds the SBMM and that’s really the biggest thing for me. Didn’t realize how much I struggled to play certain runs until now. Truly the extra time spent crafting the EBMM justifies the cost.

But what a joy to play. I’ve always preferred ebony fretboards on my guitars and I get the same response I like from this one. Unfortunately after playing it for a few hours very quietly after the house went to bed I didn’t get to fully unleash the broad palette packed int the HH configuration. I got enough to know that I am going to love playing this bass for a long time. Can’t wait to explore it further.

congrats and welcome to the club. The original finishes of the special are becoming very hard to find. I'm lucky to own both a charcoal and aqua sparkle, they're never getting sold. Absolutely astounding instruments.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Count me in! Finally got one. Fell hard for Charcoal Sparkle first time I saw it. Watched a few used ones online and either was outbid or waited too long to pull the trigger so I missed out on them. Not this time.

View attachment 5410851

I’ve been happily playing my SBMM Ray34 H for a couple of months since I hopped over to playing bass in my band having been the (crappy) lead guitar player for quite some time with this band and others. I found the 3 band eq to be very diverse. Love the roasted maple neck. Factory set up was pretty darned good compared to other Ray 34s I tried and other brands in a higher tier I tried.

Then I started looking into the HH Rays. Every demo I heard convinced me that HH would be the tool I would prefer to use. From there the hunt was on.

UPS dropped this fella’ off about 8 last night. Let it adjust to the house for a little bit then cracked it open. I pulled it out and checked tuning. My 14 year old daughter who doesn’t even play snagged it in awe and spent an hour teaching herself how to play 7 Nation Army. She always gets a little excited to see new gear come in to the house but never like this.

Eventually I got my hands on it and I immediately understood the difference between SBMM AND EBMM. I’ve experienced the levels of craftsmanship between Gibson-Epiphone, Fender-Squier, etc in so many other areas besides instruments, and this just supports the buy-once-cry-once axiom.

Action is perfect, frets, perfect, neck perfect…yeah, every aspect is just a bit better than my Ray34. The playability far exceeds the SBMM and that’s really the biggest thing for me. Didn’t realize how much I struggled to play certain runs until now. Truly the extra time spent crafting the EBMM justifies the cost.

But what a joy to play. I’ve always preferred ebony fretboards on my guitars and I get the same response I like from this one. Unfortunately after playing it for a few hours very quietly after the house went to bed I didn’t get to fully unleash the broad palette packed int the HH configuration. I got enough to know that I am going to love playing this bass for a long time. Can’t wait to explore it further.

Sounds like your daughter was inspired by the sparkles to pick it up and play.
If she spent an hour teaching herself to play a song rather than being on her phone or other electronic device, you might have to get her a nice sparkly SBMM StingRay. ( Just check the hardware and trust rod thoroughly).

 

[EliasA]

My 14 year old daughter who doesn’t even play snagged it in awe and spent an hour teaching herself how to play 7 Nation Army. She always gets a little excited to see new gear come in to the house but never like this.

Tell her to keep practicing! I started at 14, a year later I was learning Jaco (still working on that repertoire). Good luck!

 

[Corevalay]

There's just something about the Specials. They feel and sound so good. As someone who usually HATES wider necks on Stingray's and Precisions... the Stingray Special neck feels perfect in my hands. Can't explain it, but I just love it. Congrats!

 

[BassGuyFL]

I played a Ray35 as my main one for a while and was mostly happy with it. When I got my Special 5HH I was like wow yeah there is a difference. Way more tonal variety with the HH and everything overall was just much nicer. Not a huge difference but enough to notice and justify the price difference. I had another Stingray and a Sterling 5 too it was never totally happy with either of them. Once the Specials came out I was like wow they fixed everything I didn’t like and I’ve been super happy with it ever since.

 

[CaptainRuss]

Sounds like your daughter was inspired by the sparkles to pick it up and play.
If she spent an hour teaching herself to play a song rather than being on her phone or other electronic device, you might have to get her a nice sparkly SBMM StingRay. ( Just check the hardware and trust rod thoroughly).

Growing up in this house fortunately she has developed very good taste in music and has no tolerance for commercial pop or anything locked into a digital grid. She has a decent ear. However, it’s her small hands that are the challenge. Even my PJ bass with the narrower neck is tough, better than the ray, but not easy either. I keep eyeballing that copper short scale ray in the classifieds. If she can get her hands on the neck comfortably she will likely keep at it.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Growing up in this house fortunately she has developed very good taste in music and has no tolerance for commercial pop or anything locked into a digital grid. She has a decent ear. However, it’s her small hands that are the challenge. Even my PJ bass with the narrower neck is tough, better than the ray, but not easy either. I keep eyeballing that copper short scale ray in the classifieds. If she can get her hands on the neck comfortably she will likely keep at it.

I bet she will like the feel of those.

 

[CaptainRuss]

I bet she will like the feel of those.

Yup. Gotta sell the Fender PJ first I suppose since I never play it and, though it’s a little easier for her it still is not the right bass for her right now.