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What's the difference between stingrays and sterling stingrays?
- Thread starter djbass28
- Start date
The Sterling SUB Ray 4 & 5 are Indonesian. Their are many threads on here you can research. It all gets VERY confusing, EBMM, Sterling, Sterling Ray, on & on so be advised.
This
And don't kid yourself - Mr. Ball is a smart man. He named the off-shore brand Sterling for a reason - to CREATE Confusion.
Me, I see it as a bad move, but who am I. It's like Fender naming *yet another* low-cost labor line "Stratocaster". Goofy.
Except that the SBMM isn't his company. They are licensed copies, made and owned by a different company.
Let's be clear: There is no such thing as a Sterling Stingray.
There is a brand, named Sterling By Music Man (aka SBMM), which makes a bass called a Ray. That is an Asian-made copy of an Ernie Ball Music Man (aka EBMM) Stingray.
There is also a model of bass called a Sterling, which is made by Ernie Ball Music Man, which is made in the U.S.A., at the same place that EBMM makes Stingrays.
djbass28, to get a definitive answer to your question, you need to specify what "sterling" you're talking about. It SOUNDS like you're talking about the SBMM Ray - which I think is pretty much just the same as an EBMM Stingray, except that it's made overseas. But, even that answer is a bit ambiguous, because SBMM makes a Ray, a RayCA, and an SUB Ray, I think, so, as I said, to definitely answer your question, you need to specify exactly what you're talking about.
Or go do your own reading here:
http://www.music-man.com/
and here:
http://www.sterlingbymusicman.com/
If you just want to know which one is the best, that's easy: It's the EBMM Sterling bass.
http://www.music-man.com/instruments/basses/sterling.html
There is a brand, named Sterling By Music Man (aka SBMM), which makes a bass called a Ray. That is an Asian-made copy of an Ernie Ball Music Man (aka EBMM) Stingray.
There is also a model of bass called a Sterling, which is made by Ernie Ball Music Man, which is made in the U.S.A., at the same place that EBMM makes Stingrays.
djbass28, to get a definitive answer to your question, you need to specify what "sterling" you're talking about. It SOUNDS like you're talking about the SBMM Ray - which I think is pretty much just the same as an EBMM Stingray, except that it's made overseas. But, even that answer is a bit ambiguous, because SBMM makes a Ray, a RayCA, and an SUB Ray, I think, so, as I said, to definitely answer your question, you need to specify exactly what you're talking about.
Or go do your own reading here:
http://www.music-man.com/
and here:
http://www.sterlingbymusicman.com/
If you just want to know which one is the best, that's easy: It's the EBMM Sterling bass.
http://www.music-man.com/instruments/basses/sterling.html
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
You're thinking of OLP. Officially Licensed Products used to make EBMM clones but that deal expired and they moved everything in-house. Hence, Sterling by Music Man instead of Ernie Ball by Music Man.
Incorrect. SBMM is a separate company producing instruments under license from EBMM. The nomenclature has changed, but the principle remains the same.
SBMM comes up as Praxis Musical Instruments, not Ernie Ball/Music Man. Music Man never touches a SBMM instrument.
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
Well I'll be darned. I got some bad information.
Who owns Praxis? Is it just a puppet company? They are spitting distance from the EBMM HQ from the looks of it.
If you look in this thread at the EBMM forum, Sterling Ball refers to the owners as the "Park family".
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
How puppet-ish it is, I have no idea. I'm sure some of the EBMM diehards would be able to provide more information, as the extent of my knowledge is just knowing that it is in fact a separate company producing the basses under license.
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
Awesome thanks. And yeah, I have been on the EBMM forums... you cannot ask anything over there that might be slightly detrimental to EBMM's reputation. Bunch of crazy fanboys.
It seems to be totally independent. They also offer far more options than OLP did looking on their site, including JP70 knockoffs. I am guessing the quality is much higher than OLPs to warrant these prices. The OLP Stingrays I saw were total poopie.
IME, the quality of the SBMM instruments is very good. The Ray35s I've played in stores are pretty much indistinguishable from the EBMM SR5 I had for 20 years. Maybe if I bought one and took it home for a few weeks I'd notice a difference, but I still think the tone and playability are highly similar. The main reason I don't have an SBMM of some sort myself is the weight - for whatever reason they tend to be very heavy beasts, 10+ lbs. Also, I'm quite addicted to the oil finished neck of my EBMM Sterling, which is something that the SBMM line doesn't have. Those two things aside though, the SBMM basses appear to be outstanding instruments.
Never had a chance to play an OLP myself, but I've heard the rep on them isn't good.
OP said he was on EBBM website and could not find the difference. So I think he was talking about comparisons of Stingray EBMM vs Sterling EBBM.
I have tried them both at stores briefly and I think one difference is the Sterling has smaller spacing at the nut like a Jazz bass.
There may be others
I have tried them both at stores briefly and I think one difference is the Sterling has smaller spacing at the nut like a Jazz bass.
There may be others
We need a general "flagship vs discount brand" disambiguation page to help us sort out all of the confusion
Earnie Ball / Sterling
Fender / Squire
Gibson / Epiphone
G&L / Tribute
Lakland / Skyline
etc etc
Earnie Ball / Sterling
Fender / Squire
Gibson / Epiphone
G&L / Tribute
Lakland / Skyline
etc etc
They are definitely not made by the same company as others have stated. As far as differences, I own a EBMM Stingray 5 (the real deal) and a SBMM Ray35 (Indonesian knock off). My Ray35 is the nicer one, not the S.U.B. version. Honestly, SBMM did a great job copying the real Stingray. The Stingray does sound a little more "natural" to my ears. The tuners and pots on the Stingray are much higher quality also IMHO. The biggest difference is the Stingray's oiled neck versus the Ray's cleared neck. I'd take the feel of the Stingray every day when it comes down to the neck. But if you're only looking to spend about $700ish on a new bass, the Ray35 is a great choice. If you can save up to $1000ish, I'd suggest a used Stingray over it.
Okay, so if your looking at both US EBMM StingRay ans Sterling Bass:
The Ray is bigger, 21 fret neck, alnico pickup, and the single pickup version can be had with the 2 band or 3 band eq, and either 1-5/8" or 1-1/2" width nut.
The Sterling is a smaller body and smaller headstock, 22 fret neck, ceramic pickup, 3 band eq with coil switching, 1-1/2" nut width. These electronics tend to have a little more power.
Great info. I had just noticed on their website the SLO thin neck option for Stingray and the body width of 13.5 vs 12.5 but didn't know about the rest. Thanks
I did some digging - I can't find a source that says this Sterling by MM is not owned by EBMM. The Wiki page for Music Man suggests that SbMM is owned by EBMM, but is vague (and it's a wiki page, so we can only trust it so much).
Now I'm curious - do you have a definitive source on this?
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
I did some research and while I couldn't find the board of execs, it does appear to be a separate entity. SBMM is owned by Praxis. Does Praxis do anything but make SBMM? That would be a clue.
The Praxis link I clicked on sent me directly to SBMM... there are several other "Praxis" companies in the US, but this seems to be a wholly dedicated company for making MM clones. But even if this is a separate company, it's obvious that they are working hand in hand with EBMM to make these - even the font on the head stocks is the same. It seems like it's just a variation on Squier, tribute, skyline - all those other off-shored version of US products.
