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Stingray Classic Returns

To be clear: I am not criticizing EBMM for their pricing. They are a small company paying highly skilled luthiers a living wage and using expensive materials to build basses to a high standard. I don’t think the price point is unreasonable in our current economy given the quality of the product; it’s just not an expense I could justify.

Neither could I...not to the wife, anyway. ;)
 
Ben Orr.jpg
 
The figured necks on the classic look nicer IMO.
I would have to say the contrary. While I do like a figured neck in the right place, I have always preferred a straight even and clean piece of maple especially on a vintage designed piece. Figuring on wood makes me think of more modern design and styling. After all, it used to be a not so desirable piece of wood as far as instruments used to go so I'm glad to see they even put this into consideration while designing the instrument to make it more vintage accurate.
 
Period correct

Yep. And I've had many basses over the years with 3-bolt. Never had a single issue with any of them.

I’ve never been a sunburst fan either but their chocolate burst is really nice!!
I’m missing a natural in my collection. StingRay in natural ash just looks perfect!! It’s the only bass I like th looks of in natural ash.

Same here. I'm not a fan of natural ash finish on any bass EXCEPT the Stingray, where it is actually my favorite. Don't know why. Maybe seeing Louis Johnson and Bernard Edwards with them so much back in the 70s.

They know what we want. They know we are weak. They know we will bitch and whine and moan about the price and then pay it anyway :thumbsup:

Yep. Exactly right. And exactly what I did for five minutes and then ordered one before they all evaporate.

So… where are the naturals being sold?

I bought it direct from Ernie Ball Music Man website. If you go to "shop" and then "the Vault" you can buy quite a number of their models, including this new one. It looks like right now only the natural is in stock.
 
Black, white, and burst in stock now at Sweetwater but it seems the weights are also retro at 10lbs+

Looks like at Sweetwater they range from 9.5 (black) to 10.5 (white). At Bass Central I see one (black) at 9.3 .

So, yeah, I guess I'd best be prepared for a boat anchor, especially since natural ash tends to be heaviest. My current heaviest bass is about 9.7 pounds. Although I will say, of the several Stingrays I've owned over the years, the best sounding was the heaviest (around 10 pounds). It was a Classic Stingray. It seems that although the heavier basses are bad on my old back, they do tend to have a "tighter" sound, generally speaking. More focused and less flabby. Although, for sure, that is not always the case.
 
The only to get that pre-ernie/pre 79 sound is to buy the real deal. The epoxy pre is the magic..

The preamp had a couple of minor revision in 1977, and 1978 - apparently due to having to change suppliers of a couple of components.

All that changed in 1979 was that they stopped dolloping epoxy over the preamp (by then, the cat was out of the bag, and people had copied the circuit).

The 2 band preamp didn't change between 1979, and 2018 (other than format, due to changes of some components form).

The StingRay Classic, Old Smoothie, and this new 70's Retro model have epoxy dolloped on the preamp.

There's no magic in the epoxy.

The "magic" if it existed at all, was most likely down to the fact that the pickups were hand-wound, very inconsistently, and with wide tolerances.

That's probably why some sound amazing, and some are just good.

What EBMM did in 1984, was to take a selection of great sounding examples of Pre-EB StingRays, and measure everything, then standardise, and automate production according to those "ideal" specs.