US vs Asian stingray body and electronics

[maxoges]

I want a stingray with a status graphite neck.
Is there any point buying a US stingray when I'm discarding the neck?
Is the wood or electronics better than an asian built stingray?

 

[StayLow]

Better? Probably not empirically. Different? Slightly, it seems to me.

I have several US Stingrays and one Ray34, and wouldn't say I prefer one over the other.

Those necks are awesome. Good luck with the project.

 

[StuartV]

If you get a U.S. one, you can probably get good money for the neck. I would think not so much for an SBMM neck.

Also, you can possibly use the U.S. neck tuners on the Status neck? But, maybe the SBMM tuners aren't the same/won't fit? I don't know about that. It's just something I would check.

 

[maxoges]

Thank's for the advice guys!

 

[mikeswals]

Is the wood or electronics better than an asian built stingray?

Incase you didn't know one company doesn't own both models. The imports are owned and run by a different company. They use their own electronics not Musicman electronics.

 

[StayLow]

Incase you didn't know one company doesn't own both models. The imports are owned and run by a different company. They use their own electronics not Musicman electronics.

Sorta. The RAY34 uses a "Music Man® designed active 3-band preamp". I think the SUB series has an in-house design.

Whether Music Man designed the SBMM Ray34 preamp to sound identical or not is another question. Without confirmation by either company, or someone dropping one preamp into another bass and recording before & after at the exact same settings, we've only conjecture.

I can say that both sound excellent, however despite having both I can't compare reliably because the basses are different weights, pieces of wood, differetn strings, setup (fractions of an inch matter), etc. etc. etc. And I have no interest in performing the swap described above.

The tuners are slightly different in shape of the backing plate, however the screws might be in the exact same position. I can't say for sure and won't re&re tuners just to check.

The neck pocket dimensions and bolt placements might also differ. Here too fractions of an inch matter.