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Stingray vs. Sterling
- Thread starter GrooveWarrior
- Start date
Not trying to talk you into anything,(wink wink...nudge nudge...) but there's three pages of them on reverb at this moment and I recently saw a few right here in the classifieds.....they are hiding.
Go get em! Lol
Hmmmmmm... I only saw 5 on Reverb just now and two of them were overseas (1 Japan, 1 Russia). Its a U.S. EBMM I'm looking for, not a Sterling brand import. I'll check out the classifieds here though, thanks!
Used 4 string. Just saw one here in the Classifieds now but I'm in Canada and I know its a hassle to ship out of country. I'll see if he is interested in selling though.
thanks for your help guy's!
There has been a decent size 'ball' dropped by EBMM in that respect. I would have expected a decent contract to stipulate how the brand's names could or could not be used.
Just to be clear, I'm not talking about the Sterling brand. I'm taking about an EBMM Sterling.
There's been a few instances in this thread already where people are associating the Sterling model with the licensed MM basses. Further evidence of the whole name debacle with the SBMM line.
Yeah, it's easy to confuse the EBMM Sterling and the models offered by SBMM. Why on earth the people involved allowed that branding disaster to occur is beyond me.
That said, I love my 2001 EBMM Sterling 4H (blue pearl with maple fingerboard). It feels and sounds fantastic and gets plenty of playtime.
For sure, it's not a criticism of the EBMM Sterling model at all. Those are by all accounts, great basses. I wonder if at this point they would just be better off renaming the EBMM Sterling model to something else. The SBMM line pretty much only offers Stingrays, Stingray5's, and short scale SR. At least the EBMM still has their own unique models like the Bongo and Sterling which have not been replicated.
Actually, now that I think about it, maybe they should rebrand the Sterling model with a new name, and give it some upgrades like they had done with the SR Specials.
It looks like they have given the Sterling a roasted maple neck and narrowed the body finish and fingerboard choices.
I do enjoy the roasted maple necks on the ray's that I have so that is not a bad thing IMO. The limited number of finishes is sad though. They should just offer the same finishes as the Stingrays. I would think they could do some batches of Sterlings at the same time that they do the SRs but without knowing for sure what the sales numbers are like, I am in no position to make any suggestions as to what they should do.
As someone who manages a business, it can be very frustrating when people criticize certain decisions that are made. Sometimes they might not make sense upon first glance, but if you dig deeper there is a reason why they are made. This response is not directed at you, selowitch, more of less just me ranting about recent experiences with people lately not understanding the consequences of COVID and lockdowns.
Wild speculation time....
could the reason for the Sterling retaining the old style bridge and tuning machines be that they're utilizing extra inventory left over from the old stingray models before the specials ?
they're certainly not offering many color options anymore.
it's safe to assume that EBMM is producing and selling many more stingray specials than sterlings these days and are not really pushing the sterling.
What would come next? The sterling being phased out ?
Or
The sterling will get a revamp down the road with the new appointments?
it's my completely uninformed opinion that the sterling's are on their way out and that's why they didn't get the new appointments that the stingray received .
I think they'll offer them in limited colors with no options until the parts run out
Which would be a shame because I think they're great instruments.
could the reason for the Sterling retaining the old style bridge and tuning machines be that they're utilizing extra inventory left over from the old stingray models before the specials ?
they're certainly not offering many color options anymore.
it's safe to assume that EBMM is producing and selling many more stingray specials than sterlings these days and are not really pushing the sterling.
What would come next? The sterling being phased out ?
Or
The sterling will get a revamp down the road with the new appointments?
it's my completely uninformed opinion that the sterling's are on their way out and that's why they didn't get the new appointments that the stingray received .
I think they'll offer them in limited colors with no options until the parts run out
Which would be a shame because I think they're great instruments.
"My two greatest regrets in life are not completing the Unified Field Theory and not being able to decipher MusicMan's naming conventions" - Albert Einstein
Musicman has been quick to discontinue instruments that don't justify their existence in terms of sales volume. I've had a suspicion for a while that the Sterling meets this criteria for being discontinued edit prevails because it bears Sterling Ball's name and because he was intimately involved in its design. And more so because it won an award upon its introduction in 1993. So I have a feeling that it's something of a point of pride as well as the flag ship model even if psychologically as it does offer something of an apples to apples alternative to the Stingray. I.e. something in the single H vernacular but with different enough specs that it offers some diversity to what EBMM is know for doing best.
Big fan of the Sterling Classics. They are the remedy for everything I did not like about the Stingray.
Also agree that naming the budget lineup Sterling by MusicMan was a bad decision.
Also agree that naming the budget lineup Sterling by MusicMan was a bad decision.
