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Stingray 5 Club!

#761
Now that I’ve played it for a couple hours after picking it up this morning, it seems to me like the issue is totally fixed :bored:. I will try to put in some extra hours on the bass and monitor the situation before my next gig, but if a lull this week w the holiday and all. I’ll share my best understanding of what happened just so it’s in the thread if this happens to anyone else.

so I bought this SR5 from 1998 a couple months ago, it’s been my dream bass, I’m excited to play it everytime I pick it up. But even when I bought it and was testing it out the output jack on the bass seemed like it had lost some spring in the last 20 years, it held the cable fine but no solid click or snap when I plugged a cable in so I had been planning to replace the jack. A couple weeks ago the OG output jack began to start crackling in and out of signal if the cable was jiggled out bumped. Ok, definitely time to replace this jack now. So I took it to a tech at a local store who recommended changing it from the 4 pin stingray jack (that’s specially designed so you don’t get the dread loud pop when you plug it in or remove it while the amp is live) to the regular 2 pin jack seen in every other kind of 1/4 jack instrument around. I picked it up, worked great and went into the studio for an 8 hour session followed by a college gig. No issues during the session but yeah, second to last song of the college gig I lose all signal and it’s the bass’s fault, cables and amp are all fine. When I brought it home I was able to get signal but would cut out if jostled much. And that takes us to today where the tech installed a whole new output jack (the 2 prong one just like the first one he put in) and it’s been working perfectly since I picked it up with the new new jack. The pre amp seems to be working fine, I was even wiggling the cable around and tapping on the battery compartment trying to make it fail again. My guess is that he didn’t quite nail the soldering the first time around and wanted to give reasons other than human error why it would have failed. Hopefully this bass is ready to rock reliably for the next 23 years or so. :bassist:
 
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#762
Smokey P said:
Now that I’ve played it for a couple hours after picking it up this morning, it seems to me like the issue is totally fixed :bored:. I will try to put in some extra hours on the bass and monitor the situation before my next gig, but if a lull this week w the holiday and all. I’ll share my best understanding of what happened just so it’s in the thread if this happens to anyone else.
:bassist:
Click to expand...

Also, just so everyone knows, if the preamp ever does fail (rarely, but not unheard of) and you like the OEM preamp just fine, you can return the bad preamp to Music Man and they will sell you an exact OEM replacement of the preamp you returned to them. And the price will be very reasonable.

I replaced the preamp in a pre-EB 1978 (obviously) Stingray and even coming from MM, I was skeptical of the new preamp sounding like the old one I remember. But I'm happy to say, the new preamp sounded exactly even though it looked a little different. and it take long at all at to get the replacement. Right at a week. And it was all of $59.00. At that time, of course.
 
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#763
Smokey P said:
Now that I’ve played it for a couple hours after picking it up this morning, it seems to me like the issue is totally fixed :bored:. I will try to put in some extra hours on the bass and monitor the situation before my next gig, but if a lull this week w the holiday and all. I’ll share my best understanding of what happened just so it’s in the thread if this happens to anyone else.

so I bought this SR5 from 1998 a couple months ago, it’s been my dream bass, I’m excited to play it everytime I pick it up. But even when I bought it and was testing it out the output jack on the bass seemed like it had lost some spring in the last 20 years, it held the cable fine but no solid click or snap when I plugged a cable in so I had been planning to replace the jack. A couple weeks ago the OG output jack began to start crackling in and out of signal if the cable was jiggled out bumped. Ok, definitely time to replace this jack now. So I took it to a tech at a local store who recommended changing it from the 4 pin stingray jack (that’s specially designed so you don’t get the dread loud pop when you plug it in or remove it while the amp is live) to the regular 2 pin jack seen in every other kind of 1/4 jack instrument around. I picked it up, worked great and went into the studio for an 8 hour session followed by a college gig. No issues during the session but yeah, second to last song of the college gig I lose all signal and it’s the bass’s fault, cables and amp are all fine. When I brought it home I was able to get signal but would cut out if jostled much. And that takes us to today where the tech installed a whole new output jack (the 2 prong one just like the first one he put in) and it’s been working perfectly since I picked it up with the new new jack. The pre amp seems to be working fine, I was even wiggling the cable around and tapping on the battery compartment trying to make it fail again. My guess is that he didn’t quite nail the soldering the first time around and wanted to give reasons other than human error why it would have failed. Hopefully this bass is ready to rock reliably for the next 23 years or so. :bassist:
Click to expand...
I replaced the jack on my 2004 last weekend, no more cracles :)
20211118_214436.jpg
 
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#765
Nice! Thanks for the help everyone, I am thinking it’s all good, honestly think the tech didn’t want to admit to doing a rush job when he soldered in the first replacement. Awesome seeing these other ceramic pup SR5s, I have been loving the sound of that pick up personally and am very happy to have this bass back in working order (touch wood!) cause the way it feels and plays and sounds has me completely uninterested in playing any other electric bass! Amps tho…I am GASing for a new rig.
 
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#767
Can't let all this talk of ceramic SR5s end before I post a pic of my #1. :D

It's a 2007 SR5HH in honeyburst (why did EBMM discontinue this finish?!?!) with a tortoise shell pickguard. I like that the rosewood fretboard is pretty dark and almost looks like ebony. The only mod to it is Duncan straplocks.

2021-11-23_11-31-27.jpg


I now have a cocobolo Revo wooden strap for it and the colors in the wood of the strap match the bass REALLY well. I'll have to get a newer picture with that strap on it.
 
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#768
dave64o said:
Can't let all this talk of ceramic SR5s end before I post a pic of my #1. :D

It's a 2007 SR5HH in honeyburst (why did EBMM discontinue this finish?!?!) with a tortoise shell pickguard. I like that the rosewood fretboard is pretty dark and almost looks like ebony. The only mod to it is Duncan straplocks.

View attachment 4481715

I now have a cocobolo Revo wooden strap for it and the colors in the wood of the strap match the bass REALLY well. I'll have to get a newer picture with that strap on it.
Click to expand...
That's a looker!
 
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#771
Some do. Well, probably many. But me, I'm King of the Bursts! I've got six basses on my collection and all are bursts.

And, now that you know that, I probably don't need to tell you what kind of pickguards are on the ones that have pickguards! :D

However, I have no problem at all with the sparkly basses that are popular now, as can most owners of sparkly Stingrays in the Stingray threads could corroborate. I’ve drooled over many of those basses when the owners post pictures. But, for myself, I buy bursts if at all possible because they're just what I like.
 
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#773
I’ve always been a black finish or natural finish kind of person but I am in love with the red bass w/maple neck look now. I really love the trans red finish on mine cause it’s a darker red too. I could do a burst but I couldn’t do a sparkle, not my vibe.
 
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#776
I'd say that the Musicman Sparkle finishes are the equal of any other sparkle finish out there. But, even as a huge Musicman fan, I have to admit that the G&L metal flake finishes are at a whole other level. They're simply amazing.

... though not amazing enough to sway me from my preference for MM basses.
 
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#777
dave64o said:
I'd say that the Musicman Sparkle finishes are the equal of any other sparkle finish out there. But, even as a huge Musicman fan, I have to admit that the G&L metal flake finishes are at a whole other level. They're simply amazing.

... though not amazing enough to sway me from my preference for MM basses.
Click to expand...
G&l have some great necks. The feel of this Ray neck I have is also really something.
 
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#778
My L-2500 is my #2 (though my FrankenJazz is constantly vying for the #2 spot) and I do like it a lot. But there's a noticeable difference in feel between the two. The L neck has a much chunkier, heavy feel than my Stingray. That's neither a good thing nor a bad thing, but I do prefer the feel of my Stingray neck.

It's a really nice bass - sounds great in general and has lots of tonal variety. But it ain't a Stingray. ;)
 
#779
dave64o said:
But there's a noticeable difference in feel between the two. The L neck has a much chunkier, heavy feel than my Stingray.
Click to expand...

The whole reason I was looking to get away from my Jazz V was the neck - it's wide and shallow. I was trying to decide between an L-2500 and a SR5. Based on Internet sleuthing, I could see the L-2500 nut was similar to the Jazz but the MM had a narrower nut. After playing on a couple SBMM Ray5 basses (not exactly a EBMM, but close) and having no opportunity to get my hands on a G&L, I went for the SR5. I went back to my Jazz V while my MM was out for a set up recently. I really missed the MM!
 
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#780
Hey, anybody have a SR5 Special in Maroon Mist with a different pickguard on it. If so, let's see it. I have a 5HH in route and was just wondering. I also have a mint guard and a tort one in route. Just never liked the pearloid pickguard on anything.
 

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