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NBD: Stingray

Warpeg

Warpeg

Jun 20, 2005
5,428
12,494
Ohio
#1
My main player from 2003 to 2010 was a black '02 Stingray 4H with maple fret board and 3-band EQ. I put well over 200 gigs on it and twice that many rehearsals. It was truly my favorite bass of all time; it was an extension of me and we went through a lot together. Like a dummy, I traded that bass away....and have regretted it ever since.

Over the past nine years, I tried to track down that bass so that I could buy it back. Alas, I finally found the current owner and he explained that it was parted out. I'd never have the chance to play it again.

Flash forward to yesterday. I picked up a '99 Stingray with identical specs to the '02, in great shape, and for a steal of a price. It plays perfectly, looks great, and sounds exactly as my old Stingray did. No issues. It even has the original G&G hard case with it. The icing on the cake is that it's only 9 lbs., which is fairly light for a Stingray.

A tort pickguard is on order. Once installed, it will be as close as possible to the '02. The top picture is the new '99. An old picture of the '02 is below it.

7A8FF69A-ECFF-4C1D-AF4F-54A90778AC9C.jpeg


1CCC0507-0E72-4542-8A34-6DE6F212D741.jpeg
 
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#2
Awesome! Happy NBD for sure. I've never played a bad Stingray. Glad you found one equal to your old flame. I know it's a personal choice but I kinda dig that black pick guard on the black body. Either way will look great.
 
#3
tindrum said:
...Glad you found one equal to your old flame. I know it's a personal choice but I kinda dig that black pick guard on the black body. Either way will look great.
Click to expand...

I also like the black pickguard. The new tortoise shell pickguard is mainly to pay tribute to my long-lost '02 (Silly, I know). Who knows, maybe I won't end up liking the tort guard and I'll switch it back to the black some day. :smug:
 
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#8
Geri O said:
Very nice!

I wonder if you can find out, what on earth caused the 02 to be parted out??

And I agree with something said earlier, I've never played a bad Ray!
Click to expand...

The owner of the '02 decided to put a graphite neck on it, so he sold the factory neck. He also sold the pickup and preamp in favor of an aftermarket setup.
 
#9
Warpeg said:
My main player from 2003 to 2010 was a black '02 Stingray 4H with maple fret board and 3-band EQ. I put well over 200 gigs on it and twice that many rehearsals. It was truly my favorite bass of all time; it was an extension of me and we went through a lot together. Like a dummy, I traded that bass away....and have regretted it ever since.

Over the past nine years, I tried to track down that bass so that I could buy it back. Alas, I finally found the current owner and he explained that it was parted out. I'd never have the chance to play it again.

Flash forward to yesterday. I picked up a '99 Stingray with identical specs to the '02, in great shape, and for a steal of a price. It plays perfectly, looks great, and sounds exactly as my old Stingray did. No issues. It even has the original G&G hard case with it. The icing on the cake is that it's only 9 lbs., which is fairly light for a Stingray.

A tort pickguard is on order. Once installed, it will be as close as possible to the '02. The top picture is the new '99. An old picture of the '02 is below it.

View attachment 3476549

View attachment 3476550
Click to expand...
Great story. I have an almost identical story, just a few years earlier:)....I bought that same bass new in 1996, I was listening to a lot of RHCP, wanted to be flea and was in a bust cover band. I gigged with it 2-3 times a week, 50 weeks a year for nearly a decade. I still have it, but have never fully gotten along with the 3-bands twangy aggressive treble. It also had the "missing G string" issue real bad...after trying everything I upgraded the electronics to SD Basslines right when they came out and the problem improved substantially. Its a great bass with a lot of memories and ill never sell it, but i mostly favor passive P and J's these days so it doesn't get used much.
 
#11
Warpeg said:
I'm lucky with mine - the G string is strong and tone is not at all twangy. It's very punchy and articulate, but still sounds natural.
Click to expand...
It was super frustrating for the first couple years i owned it....no G string at all, any note played on it would completely disappear. Overall its a classic bass and great build, I still have all the original parts.
EDIT: I also had tried to get a cheaper TORT PG for it on Amazon as well, it ended up being a "photo print" of tort and looked horribly cheap, so im hesitant about trying that again:)

IMG_0199.JPG
 
#12
I find the G string issue, or any tonal imbalance is usually resolved with a good setup and strings of your preference. I'm very particular now regarding the string height and the distance from each magnet pole piece to the bottom of the string.

I pushed the A and D pole pieces on both of my Stingrays to lower the stagger. I still kept a bit of stagger (close to what Nordstrand MM4.2 pickup has), but a much less pronounced one. That fixed the only issue that I always have with Stingrays - comfort of playing over the pickup. I always hit the pole pieces because I like to dig in now and then, and I like to use the meat of my fingers, not just the tip (that's what she said). My 90s ray has the old sharp pole pieces, so that made things even worse. But now they're both perfection.

Another thing to note is that the G string doesn't sound as fat as the rest of the strings, but that's by design. The location of the pickup is not meant for the same fundamental tone like the one on a P bass for example. That's the Stingray tone though.

New Special Stingrays have magnets that have the pole pieces flush with the cover. Probably because it's easier to produce all of the pickups to be designed the same for 4H and 4HH, and probably because neodymium is a stronger magnet so no need for stagger. Some would argue there's no need for stagger for alnico either these days. Aguilar AG4M for instance - alnico pickup, flush pole pieces and sounds great.

Still, my preference lies with stock preamps and pickups, after trying several aftermarket pickups and preamps in my former Stingrays. I just have to set them up to my liking.
 
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