Ok, I have to confess:this time it struck me hard and I could not resist:this thread tempted me on tuesday evening and after some hours of hesitation, I placed an order on the ss silver stingray and today it arrived, 55 hours after placing the order and shipping from california the bass arrived in Bonn, Germany - amazing!
I have always been a fan of simple and, yes, cheap instruments. All previous basses I bought 2nd hand for max. a few hundred euros and I had a lot of fun (and learned a lot) by modifying them. My first brand new instrument was the pink Bronco bass end of 2019, which still is my favourite bass. My 2nd new instrument was the acinonyx cat bass, which on paper looked perfect for my taste, but with whom I could not bond at all and I sold him very quickly. I have never been a friend of stingrays, because I had the impression, they had a aggressively bright and harsh character imparted, but when listening to some youtube videos of the short scale stingray, I noticed, that they have a certain variety to their sound. Lately, when I visited a music shop, what happens pretty infrequently, I had the opportunity to try sterling short scale stingrays and I had the impression, that they felt quite nice and I enjoyed the neck, though the string spacing is a bit broader, than I am used to. But overall it did not click with these instruments - the colors and fretboard combinations did not appeal to me.
When I looked at the announcement of the new short scale collection the silver one with the roasted maple neck was the first combination, which really caught my sympathy. As I had just finished a very intense working period, I was financially in the situation to even consider the purchase (you do not want to know, how much I paid with VAT, duties and express shipping...), so I started to think about it. The sterling had just felt a bit too ordinary to me, not a step up from my bronco bass, but I had the hope, that a US made SS Stingray has a more sensible craftsmanship and of course quality. So I decided to take the risk and ordered the silver one. Very smooth transaction and really fast shipping. And so far I can say, it was worth it.
The neck feels excellent and interesting enough, the sound is, in a positive way, completely different, to what I had expected. While the pink bronco has a very clear and present (not harsh or overly trebly) sound, the Stingray has a very round sound with much more body to it. Completely different character, but equally well. The pickup switch just changes nicely nuances of the sound, but the general character stays: round and warm bass, there is treble, but more on the high side, and not so much upper mids. Oddly enough, the difference between thumb picking and finger picking is much more pronounced, than with the Bronco bass.
I may fiddle a bit with the setup, but in general, the bass is excellent made without any flaws and it feels really great. I had had the opportunity to play a Fender custom shop guitar lately and I had noticed the different feeling of a really well built and set-up instrument. Two years ago, I drove for the first time a Mercedes-Benz and I noticed the different feeling of quality as well. And this silver short scale stingray also feels as a quality instrument. It will be interesting, in which direction this instrument will lead me...
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