Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray 4 string Reviews

On 2002-06-09, Alex Landry rated this Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray 4 string a 5...(2263)


Purchase: I was looking for a bass that would stand up for many many years and good for slap funk, finger rock, and perhaps some jazz here and their.I had saved up some cash doing odd jobs and the Musicman was my first choice. I went to the local guitar center and saw a beautiful burnt apple stingray(its like a sparkle red-burst not sun burst though) And so i started slapping it. It played really good and sounded even better. Lucky for me my friend also was looking for a guitar. He decided to buy an american deluxe telecaster. We talked them down real low because we were buying two expensive guitars. So i managed to get this stingray for $900.
Pros: The best thing i like about this bass is its feel. It is heavy so it doesnt feel cheap, the neck is buttah, and its very proportional to your body making it very easy to stand with for long gigs. Then, the sound is just amazing. I use it with the mid half way and bass and treble all way up. It gets that pulling away tight sound. Also it looks so cool with the 3-1 headstock and the egg shaped pick gaurd. If you want to see it go to ernie ball.com and build an instrument(rosewood, 3 eq, black pickgaurd, burnt apple). Another good thing is the huge fret markers and string spacing.
Cons: Well, the perfect bass does have one major flaw. The pickup. It has large polepieces that get in the way and are rather sharp. Not only that but they rust too(not really bad rust but still rust). So to fix this problem i turned to Bartolini. They have music man pickups without any polepieces. So for $150(approx) i got a Bartolini MMX and got it put in. Now it sounds even better and no sharp rusty crap to get in the way.
Quality: Ahhh yes. The famous musicman quality. They only thing thats has gone wrong is one of the wires on the battery came off($15 fix) and the pickup. Neck is so solid you could use it as a baseball bat. Awsome tuners that always stay in tune.

Review Summary: This bass should be bought to a person who will use it. Its not one of those basses you buy and dont play.I bought this bass hoping it will last me the rest of my life(im 16 years old). Maybe in the future i will get a black perliod pick gaurd($50) and a graphite neck ($500) Then that will be in my opinion, the perfect bass. If you experiance the same pickup problems the bartolini is an excelent solution. With out the bartolini i would give this bass a 4. But with the bartolini its a definate 5.

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