Why so many more StingRays/Sterlings than G&Ls?

[FunkMetalBass]

Stingrays have a more modern look and feel as well as a very distinct sound.

If I wanted something that looked like a Fender, I'd grab a Fender.

Plus, I have yet to see G&L make a 6-string bass. Granted, the Stingray is not offered in a 6-string model, but MM has started to make 6-string basses.

YES! Finally! Thanks bassbenj - you said the magic words - and I can't believe nobody else in drawn-out thread said it - MMs are a one-trick pony. It's a good trick, but one, nonetheless.

(Summarizing a quote from the Poetic Eddas and applying it to the bass):

I'd rather have multiple instruments that each do one thing, but do them perfectly, than have one instrument that does everything, but is only satisfactory.

 

[jaywa]

Plus, I have yet to see G&L make a 6-string bass.

I suspect you'll be waiting quite awhile yet before you see that. Unless they do a limited custom run which will be outrageously expensive.

 

[FunkMetalBass]

I suspect you'll be waiting quite awhile yet before you see that. Unless they do a limited custom run which will be outrageously expensive.

Waiting implies that I'd ever consider buying a G&L...and I probably wouldn't, but to each his own. It's their right as a company to make what they want. I don't criticize Fender or Valenti for their 4/5-string only (with very few exceptions) policy.

It would probably be ridiculously expensive, you're right.

 

[chunkstyle]

Stingrays have a more modern look and feel as well as a very distinct sound.

If I wanted something that looked like a Fender, I'd grab a Fender.

ok, now i'm confused... which one was the modern looking one and which one doesn't look like a fender?

 

[bass4worship]

Three Rays later for a production instrument, you cannot beat MM for quality and down right PUNCH!!:scowl:

+1 to that.

 

[Freddels]

And the other problem is musicians. Many bass players have a philosophy of looking for "their" sound. When they find it, you can pull all the knobs off the bass (probably including the volume control). So these guys try basses as a unit. They either like it or they reject it. If they like the stingray "unit" they buy it and love it. The G&L is not a "unit". It is covered with knobs and switches that do very subtle things to the sound. It an instrument for a master who is looking for that last subtle tweek toward some mythical sound he/she has in their head. A bass player of the first type will soon produce a G&L like the Fretless L2500 I bought at GC. All the pots were loose and rotating as were the switches, and it hummed like mad in all but the passive mode.
How could the previous owner EVER had the nerve to play an instrument like that?

This is pretty much me. Don't twiddle my knobs once I've got it dialed in. Don't twiddle the knobs on my amp either. Once I had an amp dialed in just right. A friend came over and wanted to try the amp, he twiddled and twiddled. I could never get it dialed back in the way I had it so I just had to buy a new amp.

 

[KJung]

Per my original post earlier in this thread, there is a very clear, easily understandable reason why MM basses became classics and G&L's hardly became a blip in the industry.

There are two discussions going on here. Of course, those who love G&L's (great basses), and purchased them have their reasons, and love them. That's an uninteresting discussion, since every bass, from the largest wordwide brand to the smallest boutique, has its fans and fanatics (and haters). Uninteresting... some love the way a bass looks, others think they are ugly. Duh...

My understanding of the OP's question was, why is MM considered a 'classic' and continues to have huge market share, and G&L again, is rarely seen anywhere. There is a simple, clear answer to that IMO.

It doesn't mean one bass is 'better' than the other, just like a P Bass is not 'better' than a Stambaugh. However, asking 'why are there more guys still buying P Basses than Stambaugh's has a pretty simple answer. Not many are looking for that 'Stambaugh sound' (I'm a big fan of Stambaugh's by the way.. that would be another entirely different discussion).

 

[jaywa]

So, does it follow to reason that G&L simply has not produced as many basses as MusicMan/EB has? The fact that there appear to be many fewer G&Ls in circulation makes me believe that either:

1) Far fewer G&Ls have been built than MusicMans (either by the company's choice or due to market conditions), or
2) G&L has warehouses and warehouses full of unsold product, or
3) Some players are sitting on huge private stashes of G&L basses

Is there a 4th that I'm missing?

 

[chunkstyle]

jaywa-

i dunno if you're missing anything, but those fellers in category three really p*** me off!

 

[smcd]

I'd rather have multiple instruments that each do one thing, but do them perfectly, than have one instrument that does everything, but is only satisfactory.

You must have lots of money.

 

[FunkMetalBass]

ok, now i'm confused... which one was the modern looking one and which one doesn't look like a fender?

To be honest, I think the G&L looks more like a Fender than the Ray, but it could be due to the pickguard and plate. Still, aesthetics are aesthetics. G&L is definitely more modern than the Fender style, so that was a poor choice of adjectives.

After cruising through both catalogs, I'd say G&L produces more Fender-esque products than MM does.

I've also not ever achieved the same tone out of the couple G&L's I've tried as the MM's I've played, so that does it for me.

It really all just comes down to personal taste, though.

 

[jaywa]

You must have lots of money.

That's kind of my deal too. I play regularly in one cover band, sub in a couple of others and play at my church and because of that I play a large variety of styles ranging from old-school C&W to horn-band soul to modern rock to gospel to "electric bluegrass". My 78 P is a great bass but for certain material it's just not quite the right tool for the job. I don't have the money to buy 3 or 4 basses and I certainly don't want to haul them all to every gig and be messing around with instrument changes onstage. So a bass that does a wide variety of the most needed tones reasonably well has a lot more value -- to me, anyway -- than instruments that get one sound... no matter how great that one sound is.

 

[FunkMetalBass]

You must have lots of money.

I wish. My entire bass and guitar collection didn't even cost me what some people pay for a single Fodera. I'll probably be selling all but two basses and a guitar (down from 14) soon here to pay off some debt.

It's really all about the good deals, carefully trying out gear and realizing that music is a very expensive hobby. It also helps to take the time to research and buy "broken" instruments, give 'em a quick fix, and turn a profit on the sale.

They're investments, which means that it takes money to make money.


[anecdote]
Buddy of mine had been buying, doing a quick-fix, and flipping old beater cars for about two years. In that time (and I wont discuss how he escaped the Dealer's license), he was able to make enough profit from the cars alone to put 50% down on a new hybrid Tahoe. You just have to know what you're doing and how to spot deals.

 

[Steve!]

But the biggest factor is that G&L basses are just plain ugly.

I yelled at this post.

 

[Drucifer]

My 78 P is a great bass but for certain material it's just not quite the right tool for the job. I don't have the money to buy 3 or 4 basses and I certainly don't want to haul them all to every gig and be messing around with instrument changes onstage. So a bass that does a wide variety of the most needed tones reasonably well has a lot more value -- to me, anyway -- than instruments that get one sound... no matter how great that one sound is.

My main bass was a '78 Fender Precision (still is), and I bought a G&L L2500 for the trait that you are looking for: flexibility. It's got a unique sound that I noticed the first time I played it, but you can change that tone much more than on a P-bass or a Stingray. If I could only bring one bass, it would be the G&L. That being said, I recently bought a late-80's Stingray, and I love both basses. The finish on the Stingray didn't hold up worth crap, it's cracked and disbonded all over the place. And I think the round pickguards are butt-ugly compared to the G&L's. But I still love it. The Stingrays do have a certain cachet that the G&L's do not.

I had to order the G&L from the factory, which added a little to the cost (not as much discount from the store) but I got exactly the color I was looking for. And it's pretty heavy, too. But I still love it.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

G&Ls don't have great resale - so it creates incentive to hang on to them...
MM's DO have great resale... so folks sell them.

Both are good basses.

 

[curandero]

To be honest, I think the G&L looks more like a Fender than the Ray, but it could be due to the pickguard and plate. Still, aesthetics are aesthetics. G&L is definitely more modern than the Fender style, so that was a poor choice of adjectives.

Don't see what the big deal is about them looking similar. I mean, they are all Fender basses anyway.

 

[smcd]

G&Ls don't have great resale - so it creates incentive to hang on to them...
MM's DO have great resale... so folks sell them.

Both are good basses.

From what I have seen in the last few years, MM Stingray 4's have been going in the $700-$800 range. The same range G&L's L2000's are selling for.

 

[metron]

There are two discussions going on here. Of course, those who love G&L's (great basses), and purchased them have their reasons, and love them. That's an uninteresting discussion, since every bass, from the largest wordwide brand to the smallest boutique, has its fans and fanatics (and haters). Uninteresting... some love the way a bass looks, others think they are ugly. Duh...

It's interesting that you find others discussion about basses they like uninteresting since you have over 22,000 posts on talkbass. Seriously though most threads take tangents on and off the subject as part of the natural progression of discussion.

 

[smcd]

Don't see what the big deal is about them looking similar. I mean, they are all Fender basses anyway.

There's no big deal about them looking the same. The issue is some posters early on were claiming that G&L's were "ugly", while MM's were not.