Question for Musicman Stingray 5 guys: String Spacing verse neck width

[IronLung1986]

I think the solution should be to reduce the thickness of the neck front to back, widen the fingerboard, and increase string spacing to 18mm.

I personally wouldn't want them to increase the string spacing. I like 17.5mm. My Pedulla is 17.5mm and there's plenty of room on either side so that you'd never slip off. But it still doesn't feel like a wide neck at all. So it can be done. It's pretty much the last remaining design flaw in the Stingray so it'd be nice if they addressed it.

 

[Geri O]

Apparently MM Stingray 5 lovers don't like talking about the issue regarding the G string (being close to the edge of the finger board). I guess they're in denial!

Or we like the SR5 so much, we get used to the close string spacing and therefore, see no need to start nor participate in conversations about it.

 

[drTSTingray]

Or we like the SR5 so much, we get used to the close string spacing and therefore, see no need to start nor participate in conversations about it.

Exactly - although I have done so in this thread! However based on the pic I posted above, you’d have to have quite a heavy handed left hand technique to pull that G over the edge of the fretboard in normal playing - it makes me wonder if that same technique was applied to the D how the perpetrators could actually play in tune!! Surely every note would be sharp!!

 

[drTSTingray]

So I think claiming a design error is pretty wide of the mark - more likely a number of people have dodgy technique!! Pulling the string off the edge of the fretboard is possibly a saviour to prevent people playing notes on the G string out of tune where necks are wider, with more room to achieve this

I vote leave them exactly as they are, thanks!!!

 

[jjk2007]

I bought a brand new SR5 in the summer of 95. Thinking back I remember every so often if I was playing aggressively/quickly the G string would slide off the edge of the neck. I travelled with that as my main bass for 3 years. I think since I played that bass out so much I just got used to it and ‘adapted’ my playing style around it so I ended up being fine with it.

 

[FMartin]

Any design can be improved, at least theoretically. There’s no doubt SR5’s sound great (and usually have a remarkably consistent low B sound too, which is great for that price range). String spacing is just a design decision, you may find it uncomfortably tight or the opposite. I prefer slightly wider string spacing on the bridge side, but I can go by with the SR5 nut/fret 1 spacing. Now, the margin between the G string and the edge of the fingerboard is just unnecessarily tight, and calls for trouble. It could be improved very easily. Just make a slightly wider neck, adding, say, 1.5 mm (or 2mm) from the centerline towards the G side, and adjust the neck pocket. No need to do anything with the bridge or pickup, just solve that specific issue. It wouldn’t affect playability, or sound, orcosts. After so many years, it should be a thing from the past.

 

[andruca]

Funny thing. I'm about to give up on yet another Jazz 5er... because of neck width and string spacing feeling CUMBERSOME compared to my EBMM Stingray5s.

I've forever been looking for a 2 pickup bass (preferrably Jazz Bass sounding) that plays anywhere near as easy as my Stingray5s (my main bass for the last quarter of a century). I've owned several Yamaha BBs, an Ibanez ATK-405 (H+J), a Maruszczyk Jake 5a+, a Sire V3, and now own a MarkBass Gloxy Val GV5. It's always the same. I like them... UNTIL I REALLY NEED TO RIP ON THEM, usually with a modern metal band I occasionally play with, which is my most technically demanding gig (playing with a pick, but that's circumstantial, I do so for the groove, not speed itself). I suffer thru' the set list (mostly my fretting hand, muting also gets HARDER) with any other bass, period. Then I hang one of my Stingray5s on and I'll shred thru' it no problem. I've never had a problem playing fingerstyle either on my SR5s, at 17.5mm spacing. IDK, a wider neck would totally RUIN the Stingray5 playability for me, and that's what's been systematically happening with almost every 2 pickup 5ers I've owned so far.

Closest 2 pickup bass in playability I've ever owned was an EBMM Sterling5 HS (could sound nothing like a Jazz Bass, after playing many, I find the added neck pickup useless, no sound I like involving it), and a Schecter CV-5, 35" scale, Schecter's THIN-C profile, ultra skinny, 17mm spacing, lovely playability. I gigged with this metal band no problem on that Schecter in fact. That's why I'm also dumping the MarkBass Gloxy, which is overall NICE, perfectly thin front to back (20mm@fret 1, as it should be), but just too wide and too spaced at the bridge to play fast metal/HC stuff and mute correctly. I'm waiting for a Schecter J-5 to be delivered home, same scale, spacing and neck profile as the CV-5 I owned, but Jazz Bass sounding.

Also I own an Ibanez EHB1005MS and that's close enough to Stingray5 playability. It just doesn't sound Jazz, horrible pickups (I've changed for alnico Wilkinson Jazz PUs, HUGE improvement) and too close together, so damm NASAL. Also I still haven't gathered the balls to play with it onstage. It's mostly my practice/travel bass and a versatile enough multi purpose backup bass too.

For me there's simply no other 5er as playable as a Stingray5. The difference gets ABYSMAL (really uncomparable to almost anything else I've ever played) when trying challenging stuff, when it counts. I've never had a problem with the outer strings being too close to the edge, nor any other usual "cons" mentioned about Stingray5s. It's that perfect for me. They should just make a JJ version (70's J pickup positions), I'd pay whatever if EBMM came up with such a contraption.

 

[cholyoke]

I own four EBMM 5 string basses and have never had this problem. The B string is great and the neck feels perfect in my hands. I've also owned a couple of five string SBMM 5 string basses and never had this problem. I can see how sloppy technique could cause it, though.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

This is one reason that I sold my Stingray5 .

Then I realized how much I missed that bass . My technique has certainly improved and now I am much better off.

 

[mikeswals]

I own two StingRay 5s, and four Wal 5s, as well as a Squier J5. I don’t play any of them any differently from one another and I don’t have any neck problems. And the StingRays get used about 40 gigs a year.

 

[Geri O]

I have a Stingray Special 5 and a Lull Jazz-style 5. I go back and forth between them regularly. No apparent issues…

However, I’ll not dismiss anyone that finds either instrument uncomfortable or switching back and forth between them unwieldy.

Maybe those same folks don’t have phobias about their basses on hanging-style guitar stands….

 

[Stevorebob]

Mileage varies. What works for some may not for others. I’m very happy with Music Man 5 ergonomics. Others are not. I also like Vegemite.

 

[joel the bass player]

If there was a chance for them to update the spacing or neck dimensions it would have been when they rolled out the Specials. They were massaged in many different areas but this was not one of them.

It is close to the edge, but has never been an issue for me. I have a handful of basses I play and the necks are all different. I can't say I ever think about neck shape or size when I'm playing, I just think about the tone.

 

[Geri O]

I have a Stingray Special 5 and a Lull Jazz-style 5. I go back and forth between them regularly. No apparent issues…

However, I’ll not dismiss anyone that finds either instrument uncomfortable or switching back and forth between them unwieldy.

Maybe those same folks don’t have phobias about their basses on hanging-style guitar stands….

But this design flaw notion….

If you prefer 18mm spacing , do you call the Sadowsky’s 19mm spacing a “design flaw”?

Or if you are a Sadowsky player, do you call the Mike Lull’s 18mm spacing a “design flaw”?

 

[Bryan Threlkeld]

Not a MM guy, but I'm looking into the Stingray Special 5 HH. Is the bridge adjustable, or if you want to go narrower than 17.5mm do you have to replace the entire bridge? If so, does EB have those bridges or do you have to go with a 3rd party company? Somebody mentioned going to 16.5mm, which is more to my liking... but was wondering if the bridge itself can do that movement (17.5mm to 16.5mm). Thanks, Bryan

 

[Stevorebob]

Not a MM guy, but I'm looking into the Stingray Special 5 HH. Is the bridge adjustable, or if you want to go narrower than 17.5mm do you have to replace the entire bridge? If so, does EB have those bridges or do you have to go with a 3rd party company? Somebody mentioned going to 16.5mm, which is more to my liking... but was wondering if the bridge itself can do that movement (17.5mm to 16.5mm). Thanks, Bryan

String spacing is not adjustable on EBMM bass bridges. A third-party replacement bridge or perhaps custom-machined saddles would be required for 16.5mm spacing.

 

[Bryan Threlkeld]

Thanks Steve.

So I did a google search and can't seem to find a suitable replacement bridge for the EBMM Stingray Special HH 5-string. I'd be open to 16 to 16.5mm fixed, or 17.5mm adjustable. The MM bass I'm considering has gold hardware. Let me know if any of you MM players can help me track one down.

Thanks!
Bryan

 

[EricOnTheBass]

I have a StingRay 5 Special H, and yeah, the G string is right on the edge. It forces you to sharpen up your left hand technique, that’s for sure. Ideally you should be fretting without pulling on the string anyway, and this makes sure you are doing it properly. You get used to it.

On the other end of the spectrum, I’ve got a MetroExpress JJ 5 that has too much space between the G and B and their respective edges.

 

[mikebassplayer]

Why does Musicman continue to make their 5 string Stingray necks too narrow for their bridge spacing?
Am I the only one that this bothers?
16 Years ago I purchased a new Musicman Stingray 5 (this one):

View attachment 4060853

View attachment 4060874


After it arrived, though I love the sound, I immediately struggled with the G sting riding so close to the edge of the fingerboard. It literally hoovered above the area on the end of the fret (where it was filed). If I didn't push up a little when I played I would eventually pull the string over the edge of the fingerboard.
I traded the bass after 2 weeks due to this reason.
Obviously not everyone struggles with this because there are so many players out there that own and play the Musicman SR 5's. Maybe I have bad technique in that area but I don't have this issue with any other basses.
This design issue on the MM 5 has kept me from owning a MM Stingray 5.
It could easily be solved by either slightly widening the neck at the body or at least providing a bridge design that allows tweaking the string spacing.
I recently stopped by a local music store and played one of the new Sterling by Musicman SUB Ray 5's and they solved this problem by reducing the string spacing to 16.5 mm at the bridge. This allows plenty of room from the edge of the fingerboard to the G string. I liked it so much that I ordered a Lake Blue Metallic Ray 5 from MF and love it. Here's a pic:

View attachment 4060869

I measured the neck and it appears to be the exact measurements at the nut and body as the MM SR5. But with the narrower string spacing the strings are better centered on the neck. Oddly the narrower spacing on the Ray 5 doesn't bother me. It actually feels good. But I'm sure some players wouldn't like it.

I'd love to own a US MM SR 5 but I guess as long as this issue exists I'll never purchase another one (although I really have GAS for a US MM SR 4 HH model).