Why aren't there Stingray/Sterling clones?

[Nephilymbass]

Here is Evan Brewer the solo artist and former bassist for the faceless playing the esp surveyor I mentioned. The esp versions typically run round $1100 but the ltd versions are nearly identical (different hardware ) and went for like $600 until they were discontinued and replaced by the Esp E-II AP series which mainly changed the emg mm and p pickups to two Duncan mm style pickups.



And here's the esp E-II AP which actually cost more than a stingray at like $1800

 

[Nephilymbass]

The dean is the guy from shinedowns signature. I might actually have to pick one up at that price. Even before knowing the price I thought it was a pretty good sounding bass but man for the money this bass seams like a steal.

 

[Chrisk-K]

It's difficult to improve upon the Stingray and the Sterling.

 

[hsech]

Would you go buy a MM clone??? The answer to your question is probably in there somewhere.

 

[Musky]

http://ebay.co.uk/itm/181714314267

Wesley is a UK brand but likely pop up under other names elsewhere in the world. I'm pretty sure that I've seen other cheap copies as well.

 

[JakobT]

There's also Fame in Poland and Vintage.

 

[Crystalman85]

There were a few stingray clones at one point, but probably due to copyright laws, they stop making them. I once owned a musicman clone made by a company called arbor and I would say it does sound pretty close to a sterling stingray considering that it's passive. fernandes made their version of a musicman stingray called the atlas. it's really a unique bass for those who like musicman styled basses. this bass is passive and it has 3 control. volume, tone, and a 3 way switch.

 

[delta7fred]

There's also Fame in Poland and Vintage.

I have a Vintage V96??? (honey coloured, pre Wilkinson), the neck profile is the best of any bass I have played. It cost me 60GBP.
The electronics however were rubbish and it now has a clone MM 2 band pre and much better pickup.

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[Blankandson]

Slammer by Hamer made Musicman knock offs at one point in time. I think Jay Turser made some too but the pickup had jazz bass like pole pieces. Samick made some too. But none of them had active pickups.

I had one for over two years but never played it. It was my 'loaner' bass for students. I used my WW and they sat next to me with the Slammer. I did think it felt heaver than it really was but as students usually sit during lessons no one complained. Sold it to a student who really wanted it.

 

[lfmn16]

Obviously plenty of options for high-end boutique jazz and precision basses but none for music man basses. Why?

Maybe because everybody and their brother wants to play a jazz and precision, but there is a limited market for MusicMan basses. I'm not a MusicMan hater, I've owned a couple over the years and they are very nice basses, but the reality is that they are a small percentage of the total market. If you are going to clone a bass, it's smarter to clone one that has a bigger share of the market. IMHO.

 

[Quilbert]

From a cost standpoint Music Man basses are fairly high end to begin with compared to the average Fender. There are certainly some high end basses out there that utilize a MM style pick-up but EB does a pretty good job supplying higher end versions of their platform(family reserve, etc).
Some consider MM basses to be much like a boutique Fender, in fact I thought that they adopted the 3+1 headstock to avoid copyright issues with Fender.

I think the 3+1 config was an attempt to avoid g string dead spots

 

[Quilbert]

I can explain, the P bass and J bass were around since the 1950s and were used by EVERYONE in the 50s-70s and are instantly recognizable. Stingrays didn't exist till the late 70s and they didn't have the market share that fender had. They're weren't as popular until the 90s. In addition the high end active bass market is flooded with similar basses, Fender basses are still considered classics where MusicMan was a late arrival to the party. Not worth ripping off.

 

[gabrielvv7]

S.U.B. (anywhere) and OLP (mostly online now).
Glen Burton had one called "music mayhem." idk if it's still around.

 

[decentbassbreh]

Ibanez atk... and Fender Dimension... the bass I own and use!!

 

[decentbassbreh]

oh and lakland 55s they are similar to musicmans

 

[raventepes]

The clones are everywhere! Just need to look. Heck...even Ibanez has its clones.

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The real question, is why haven't MM come out with a real 6-string Stingray? Bongo's are nice, but....

 

[friendlybass]

When I lived in Atlanta I saw a lot of knockoffs of their guitars under weird no name brand decals. No basses though.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

@/\/\3phist0 I actually don't see many cheapo knockoffs at all. I mean there were the OLP a while back, and you can find one or two on those Chinese Merchant/Nigerian Prince websites, but there's not SX or Jay Turser clone of a 'ray that I know of currently.

Currently, I do not think they make these. But Jay Turser did make a run of Rays a few years back.

 

[cdef]

The current Eko company has been offering the MM300 for several years. It has a 4-inline hs, though:

There's also Benson, Century Star, De Salvo, Dr. Tech, Green Music, Hardee, Java, Kraft, Maestro, SoundSation, etc. All are made in China or Indonesia.

 

[Awesome Sauce]

I think a lot of you are confusing the word "clone" with "similar." Neither pickup nor position does a clone make. A clone must look like the original, with the possible exception of the headstock. Sadowskys aren't clones because of the pickups; they're clones because of the body shape and the similar type and spacing of the pickups. Same with Nordy, Lull, LEJ, etc.

Having an MM pickup in a bass, regardless of position, doesn't make it a clone; just competition. Would anyone say that the Ibanez Premiums are jazz clones? They have 2 single coil pups in roughly '60s position...