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New Ernie Ball Tim Commerford Models
- Thread starter LadyLoveStingRay5
- Start date
Correct, but it seems he had design input on all 4. I think he’s involved with at least 2 active bands, so it may be that he plays different basses depending on the context. Or maybe all 4 with both bands. I don’t know.
To me, it's like TC designed a StingRay to his specifications and then they produced it with 4 options (short scale passive, short scale active, regular scale passive, regular scale active). Each of them has the distinctive design elements that TC chose (the ramp, old style bridge, mutes, etc).
No other StingRays have that new ramp.
No previous StingRay Special has had the mute bridge, string-through body, or metal battery cover.
There's never previously been an active short-scale available.
Tim was directly involved in their development.
How does that not fit your criteria?
Ugh. I’m almost sold on buying one of these. Only thing killing it for me is I want the passive full scale aesthetics of the natural with black hardware but with active electronics (much like Tim C. has in the below interview). Almost but no cigar….
100% in agreement with you on this one. I would have probably ordered one right away and then worried about selling a bass after the fact. But not having a full scale natural with black hardware and active electronics is a no go. The black one just does nothing for me. Kind of a poor decision on their part. They seem to have sold the most, though.
The only thing I do wish the short scale active had was black hardware, that really would have checked all the boxes for me, but that's just me being picky.
Yes, you're right. The black pickguard looks good, too.
If you want to hear Tim talk some more about his Ernie Ball basses, as mentioned earlier in the thread here is his Rig Rundown video from a few years ago.
It just occurred to me. How amazing would these have been with an active/passive switch and the only difference between the 4 models been one of scale length and aesthetics?
My long scale natural/passive/black hardware has been despatched and I’ve been told it will be delivered to me in the U.K., Friday morning 
Very nice, My short scale/active is showing that it will arrive here in WA tomorrow!!
That would be cool. They'd probably have to put in a 3-way switch to get the different coil tap options that the passive version has but that would be a cool feature as well for the active setting.
Yeah, given this model cost around $700 more than the base model (& around $300-$500 more than the Darkray) I can imagine the coil taps as having been possible to add. Plus, as it’s something Ernie Ball hasn’t done on a Stingray (that I’m aware of) it likely would have been even more popular and appealed to a larger player base.
Yeah I'm seeing most Stingray models go for 2400-2500 bucks on Sweetwater. Asking 3k for this doesn't seem that bad in comparison. But's still a lot of money. I thought about it, but my head is telling me to put a lid on it.
$3,000 is a lot for a production instrument. It’s also a lot when you realize StingRays could be had for about $1,500 new about 15 years ago.
Id love to try a Special or one of these TC models, but the price is steep.
Id love to try a Special or one of these TC models, but the price is steep.
