New addition as of last week. Put some Chromes on it just for fun. I got one of the good ones - no QC issues and it plays great. 8.0 lbs according to Sweetwater.
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SBMM Stingray Short scale
- Thread starter dralionux
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- short scale bass
Man, that color with the roasted neck! 
Can anyone Recommend "Drop-In" Replacement Tuners for a Sterling Stingray short-scale bass? They are very-poor quality and make Accurate Tuning difficult. Appreciate any input.
See the post above recommending Hipdhot hb-1. You have to drill new holes.
I replaced mine with Hipshot licensed ultralite hb-6c 1/2 inch tuners and drilled a new hole for each tuner. I also filled the holes from the old tuners with wood filler. It's 3 bass side, 1 treble side tuners. They work fantastic.
Another option is to purchase the lightweight tuners used on the EBMM short scale, which have spades instead of screws. You would have to drill two shallow holes for the spades of each tuner. See links below.
Lightweight Clover Bass Tuning Key for B, E, A or D Strings
Lightweight Clover Bass Tuning Key for G String
Those are pretty cool! I'm now tempted. I'm also looking at going a different way:
4 String 3+1 Bass Ratio Classic Clover Leaf Button (PRB-4311)
Not a light weight option, but the quality should be better.
I put hipshots on mine with the non tapered posts. I was able to get a better string angle behind the nut with them.
D
Another case of me just using the tuners to tune. I never looked at the backs of the tuners on my Tim Commerford passive shorty, but, yup, it uses those tuners. Coolio!
After staying away from Sterling for a long while since after the tuner debacle, I decided to give them another shot so ordered and received the exact same bass, same color yesterday. To my disappointment the control plate had several scratches on it and the tone knob had a bad wobble. I took off the knob thinking I could straighten it and found that the shaft had been stripped so there was not enough for the set screw to grab on to, thus the wobble. The pots were also scratchy so I removed the control plate and was going to hit the pots with some electrical spray but found them to be sealed with no access. Working the knobs back and forth seemed to help some but the very next time I played the bass the pots were right back to being scratchy. There was also a likely grounding issue since I got an annoying hum. Lastly there was a bad scuff mark on the paint on the back of the bass which I managed to polish out with some scratch remover and lots of patience. On the good side the fret work was good, tuners seemed fine and the bass played nicely. I liked the bass enough to want to keep it and thought I could fix most of the problems myself, but also didn't think it was right that I should have to deal with these issues on a brand new bass. I called ZZounds from where I purchased it explaining the issues at hand asking for some kind of allowance which would also save them the cost of return shipping and also them having to try to resell it as used, faulty and blemished. Surprisingly they were not willing to work with me one bit, so it's sad!y being returned. I had to nearly beg them to have UPS come pick it up, they wanted me to drive nearly an hour round trip and spend my gas money to go to a drop off location and then acted as though they were doing me a huge favor by having UPS come get it. So I'm disappointed again with Sterling. Sweetwater will now be getting all my future business. With them you can see the actual bass you're getting along with its weight, and it is also inspected thoroughly before being shipped out. As far as this short scale being returned, it's a shame. It could have been a nice bass if everything were right with it. Perhaps I need to be looking at an EBMM, but they seem to have drifted away from the short scale and the ones they do show on their website are all sold out.
You have a very nice collection of Specials. Like me, it probably spoiled you on their level of build quality . You’ll probably be happier with EBMM version. Try Reverb of the classifieds here for a used one. These are how I purchased my 2. I enjoy them just as much as the rest of my basses.After staying away from Sterling for a long while since after the tuner debacle, I decided to give them another shot so ordered and received the exact same bass, same color yesterday. To my disappointment the control plate had several scratches on it and the tone knob had a bad wobble. I took off the knob thinking I could straighten it and found that the shaft had been stripped so there was not enough for the set screw to grab on to, thus the wobble. The pots were also scratchy so I removed the control plate and was going to hit the pots with some electrical spray but found them to be sealed with no access. Working the knobs back and forth seemed to help some but the very next time I played the bass the pots were right back to being scratchy. There was also a likely grounding issue since I got an annoying hum. Lastly there was a bad scuff mark on the paint on the back of the bass which I managed to polish out with some scratch remover and lots of patience. On the good side the fret work was good, tuners seemed fine and the bass played nicely. I liked the bass enough to want to keep it and thought I could fix most of the problems myself, but also didn't think it was right that I should have to deal with these issues on a brand new bass. I called ZZounds from where I purchased it explaining the issues at hand asking for some kind of allowance which would also save them the cost of return shipping and also them having to try to resell it as used, faulty and blemished. Surprisingly they were not willing to work with me one bit, so it's sad!y being returned. I had to nearly beg them to have UPS come pick it up, they wanted me to drive nearly an hour round trip and spend my gas money to go to a drop off location and then acted as though they were doing me a huge favor by having UPS come get it. So I'm disappointed again with Sterling. Sweetwater will now be getting all my future business. With them you can see the actual bass you're getting along with its weight, and it is also inspected thoroughly before being shipped out. As far as this short scale being returned, it's a shame. It could have been a nice bass if everything were right with it. Perhaps I need to be looking at an EBMM, but they seem to have drifted away from the short scale and the ones they do show on their website are all sold out.
I had the exact same issue on my tone control, it came from the factory super wobbly and like yours the shaft was stripped. I ended up stripping all the shafts trying to get the knobs seated right. Wobbly knobs are a well known issue on these basses. It's a little nuts that a $599 product ships with parts that were obviously not designed to go together and routinely fail, but whatever. I ended up keeping mine and modifying it, and it's a fantastic bass that punches well above its weight.After staying away from Sterling for a long while since after the tuner debacle, I decided to give them another shot so ordered and received the exact same bass, same color yesterday. To my disappointment the control plate had several scratches on it and the tone knob had a bad wobble. I took off the knob thinking I could straighten it and found that the shaft had been stripped so there was not enough for the set screw to grab on to, thus the wobble. The pots were also scratchy so I removed the control plate and was going to hit the pots with some electrical spray but found them to be sealed with no access. Working the knobs back and forth seemed to help some but the very next time I played the bass the pots were right back to being scratchy. There was also a likely grounding issue since I got an annoying hum. Lastly there was a bad scuff mark on the paint on the back of the bass which I managed to polish out with some scratch remover and lots of patience. On the good side the fret work was good, tuners seemed fine and the bass played nicely. I liked the bass enough to want to keep it and thought I could fix most of the problems myself, but also didn't think it was right that I should have to deal with these issues on a brand new bass. I called ZZounds from where I purchased it explaining the issues at hand asking for some kind of allowance which would also save them the cost of return shipping and also them having to try to resell it as used, faulty and blemished. Surprisingly they were not willing to work with me one bit, so it's sad!y being returned. I had to nearly beg them to have UPS come pick it up, they wanted me to drive nearly an hour round trip and spend my gas money to go to a drop off location and then acted as though they were doing me a huge favor by having UPS come get it. So I'm disappointed again with Sterling. Sweetwater will now be getting all my future business. With them you can see the actual bass you're getting along with its weight, and it is also inspected thoroughly before being shipped out. As far as this short scale being returned, it's a shame. It could have been a nice bass if everything were right with it. Perhaps I need to be looking at an EBMM, but they seem to have drifted away from the short scale and the ones they do show on their website are all sold out.
The knob is wobbly on mine. My suspicion is that it's a knob for a 1/4 pot on a 6mm shaft.
sorry that you've had so many issues with SBMM QC.After staying away from Sterling for a long while since after the tuner debacle, I decided to give them another shot so ordered and received the exact same bass, same color yesterday. To my disappointment the control plate had several scratches on it and the tone knob had a bad wobble. I took off the knob thinking I could straighten it and found that the shaft had been stripped so there was not enough for the set screw to grab on to, thus the wobble. The pots were also scratchy so I removed the control plate and was going to hit the pots with some electrical spray but found them to be sealed with no access. Working the knobs back and forth seemed to help some but the very next time I played the bass the pots were right back to being scratchy. There was also a likely grounding issue since I got an annoying hum. Lastly there was a bad scuff mark on the paint on the back of the bass which I managed to polish out with some scratch remover and lots of patience. On the good side the fret work was good, tuners seemed fine and the bass played nicely. I liked the bass enough to want to keep it and thought I could fix most of the problems myself, but also didn't think it was right that I should have to deal with these issues on a brand new bass. I called ZZounds from where I purchased it explaining the issues at hand asking for some kind of allowance which would also save them the cost of return shipping and also them having to try to resell it as used, faulty and blemished. Surprisingly they were not willing to work with me one bit, so it's sad!y being returned. I had to nearly beg them to have UPS come pick it up, they wanted me to drive nearly an hour round trip and spend my gas money to go to a drop off location and then acted as though they were doing me a huge favor by having UPS come get it. So I'm disappointed again with Sterling. Sweetwater will now be getting all my future business. With them you can see the actual bass you're getting along with its weight, and it is also inspected thoroughly before being shipped out. As far as this short scale being returned, it's a shame. It could have been a nice bass if everything were right with it. Perhaps I need to be looking at an EBMM, but they seem to have drifted away from the short scale and the ones they do show on their website are all sold out.
As for EBMM, they're stellar. I don't think they have drifted away from short scales. All of them have been short limited releases that sold out, most very quickly, followed by long periods when none were available. So, one can wait for the next release or watch the used market for one that grabs you. Just know that most of the releases were 50 of each of the colors for that year. There aren't a lot out there.
A few of us have an SBMM & an EBMM. The QC, workmanship, and materials are significantly better but you pay for that. The sound is closer which is what makes the SBMM short scale such a killer deal when you get a good one.
D
Wow. I guess I should feel fortunate that the bass I bought from ZZounds (a carbon gray Schecter Banshee; the only one I could find in stock just after the new colors (without the racing stripe) were released) was basically flawless. Good thing I didn't have to deal with their customer disservice department.After staying away from Sterling for a long while since after the tuner debacle, I decided to give them another shot so ordered and received the exact same bass, same color yesterday. To my disappointment the control plate had several scratches on it and the tone knob had a bad wobble. I took off the knob thinking I could straighten it and found that the shaft had been stripped so there was not enough for the set screw to grab on to, thus the wobble. The pots were also scratchy so I removed the control plate and was going to hit the pots with some electrical spray but found them to be sealed with no access. Working the knobs back and forth seemed to help some but the very next time I played the bass the pots were right back to being scratchy. There was also a likely grounding issue since I got an annoying hum. Lastly there was a bad scuff mark on the paint on the back of the bass which I managed to polish out with some scratch remover and lots of patience. On the good side the fret work was good, tuners seemed fine and the bass played nicely. I liked the bass enough to want to keep it and thought I could fix most of the problems myself, but also didn't think it was right that I should have to deal with these issues on a brand new bass. I called ZZounds from where I purchased it explaining the issues at hand asking for some kind of allowance which would also save them the cost of return shipping and also them having to try to resell it as used, faulty and blemished. Surprisingly they were not willing to work with me one bit, so it's sad!y being returned. I had to nearly beg them to have UPS come pick it up, they wanted me to drive nearly an hour round trip and spend my gas money to go to a drop off location and then acted as though they were doing me a huge favor by having UPS come get it. So I'm disappointed again with Sterling. Sweetwater will now be getting all my future business. With them you can see the actual bass you're getting along with its weight, and it is also inspected thoroughly before being shipped out. As far as this short scale being returned, it's a shame. It could have been a nice bass if everything were right with it. Perhaps I need to be looking at an EBMM, but they seem to have drifted away from the short scale and the ones they do show on their website are all sold out.
It might be a good idea to check the Vault offerings from time to time . I’ve seen Short Scales pop up in there when they are in between normal production runs.
If you email EBMM , they might give you an indication if and when they will release another run. If you do and find something out, let us know. Shoot me a message.
Sounds like a good plan. I'll send EBMM an email today and see what they say. I may have to sell one of my 3 Specials in order to have the funds immediately on hand in case something should come up. Is Talkbass a good place to sell a bass? I believe the only cost is $35 to join where as Reverb takes a rather chunky commission.
D
I think most sellers on Reverb bump up the price to cover Reverb's commission. I just use Reverb for searching, and then contact the seller, if possible. For individuals, selling direct might be tougher, but for stores selling through Reverb, they have the ability to sell direct. For example, I finally found a passive short scale EBMM Tim Commerford on Reverb. It was listed for 4200 € plus 42 € shipping. Reverb listed the seller as a store in Estonia. That same was was listed on their website for 3900 € plus free shipping within the EU. I saved 342 € by buying direct.
I also installed the Hipshot Ultralites and went with the lollipop paddles. Filled the other holes and only one small new hole per tuner. The USA Ultralites are also reversible.
