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S.U.B. Club

#1,561
Just picked up this lil beast. My first SUB and first "H", (had a Sterling HS and HH). Cleaned and oiled the neck/body. Came out pretty nice. Love the California coastal corrosion on the keys, never to try to clean those! :)
GREAT tone, I'm really surprised. Never thought I'd like a single H before.

Question: The black paint on the back of the neck is obviously wearing off as they all do. I noticed that underneath the black paint is a clear coat over FLAMED maple! Stoked to see what it all looks like.
Is there a way to remove the black without damaging the clear under it?
Thanks in advance!

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#1,565
Ukko said:
I've had my SUB Sterling for 14 years now and no paint is coming off the back of the neck. Likewise with my 2004 SUB 4 which I sold a couple of years ago.
Click to expand...

I figured it must be the oils/acid in everyone's hand sweat that causes this. We all sweat differently. Plus this bass came from the California coastline, lots of salt air. Don't know if that affected it or not.
 
#1,568
xhawk5 said:
Just picked up this lil beast. My first SUB and first "H", (had a Sterling HS and HH). Cleaned and oiled the neck/body. Came out pretty nice. Love the California coastal corrosion on the keys, never to try to clean those! :)
GREAT tone, I'm really surprised. Never thought I'd like a single H before.

Question: The black paint on the back of the neck is obviously wearing off as they all do. I noticed that underneath the black paint is a clear coat over FLAMED maple! Stoked to see what it all looks like.
Is there a way to remove the black without damaging the clear under it?
Thanks in advance!

View attachment 3050435View attachment 3050428View attachment 3050429View attachment 3050432
Click to expand...
xhawk5,if you go back to page 73,you will see where I sanded the black paint off the back of the neck,on a 2003 SUB I owned. I kept the paint,and logo on the front of the head stock.
 
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#1,574
After working on and playing a original 78 or 79, 2 band eq Stingray, I knew I had to have that kind of tone. I also found the instrument very comfortable to play.
There's plenty of stingrays to be found in my area new and old. Just lack of funds so I started looking at alternatives.

I knew about the different more budget models. And first tried a Indonesian Ray 4, it wasnt setup well but my impression was not so good even accounting for setup. Not a bad instrument, just not what I wanted.

Then found a late model compensated nut US musicman sub bass, in original if a little neglected state for £500. After a few messages I had him down to £350, ones in slightly better condition can go for around £400 or more even. Drove 2 hours to get it. Cleaned it. Oiled fret board and it was so dry the frets moved slightly. Levelled offending frets, polished them all up. Sounds excellent! But of course being pretty much a full fat stingray it would do.
Interesting they could of cheapened these more, I know they use the exact same electrics pu and pre, as the sr classic but surprisingly the hardware, bridge and machine heads are usa musicman too just without the stamping of branding, the machine heads are not as finished and part chromed. And the knobs and control plate is as the sr classic.
I'm glad they didn't use cheaper parts of course, it's just surprising they used proper US bits all round, some just without extra finishing.
It goes to show they really were trying to produce a proper quality usa made instrument, just at a more friendly price point. And the fact they even started using a compensated nut towards the end, shows they cared.

I'm also glad the production stopped and didn't just cheap out. It's a huge shame our basses are wrongly associated with the far eastern sub line, I'm not disrespecting the far eastern sterling basses, but they are not the same instruments or in the same league.
I wouldn't be surprised if these became a future collectable.

Future collectable I'm sure.
 
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