Interesting to see the responses here! Tim started using StingRays again at the same time he started using Barefaced cabs, so we've talked about them a lot. He's barely played a standard StingRay over these past five years, they may have looked stock but he had the 18V electronics before the Special came out, then he had the old school mute bridge on the Special, obviously he had his DIY ramp thumbrest he makes and fits. So yes, it's not the StingRay you heard on Rage's debut album (there's plenty of old ones out there if you want to buy one!) but these are the StingRays he wants now. Rather like how his rig now is very different to his rig back then!
Despite the appearance of the battery cover, the active ones are 18V, he just prefers the metal plate to the plastic battery box on the Specials. He loves the shortscales, he's been raving about them at me for the last 18 months - note that for years my main bass was a 36" scale, the acoustic I play the most (at home) is a 35" and my main electric now is a 34". He's been playing the shortscale with Wakrat (and now in the new group), and he was debating taking some shortscales on the now postponed RATM tour. I'd like to try one for sure. The finish choices are his own, he wanted some classic looks and variations on them. The "ramp" is a copy of the ones he fits - except their design guys worked out how to make it part of the pickguard and fully adjustable in height, which he was blown away with.
It's worth watching the whole video about them, it's only 10 minutes long - it's a very honest representation of what Tim wanted with these basses and how he feels about the end result (I've basically heard the same over the phone over the past year or two as the project has progressed). We're super pleased with the launch video because you can hear our contributions loud and clear!
