• Ernie Ball
  • MusicMan
  • Sterling by MusicMan

dsobieralski

New member
Joined
Apr 5, 2017
Messages
1
Greetings,

This is my first post. First, I want to tell each and every Stingray 4 string owner out there that I envy you. I have been a bassist for over twenty years, but I have never had the pleasure of owning a Stingray 4 String although I had a friend that would let me play on their custom Stringray (SR) often. With that being said, I recently purchased a S.U.B. bass and I have noticed that when I have put it up my friend's SR that there is a definite reason why the SR is what it is and a SUB is what it is. The answer is in the quality of the materials that are put into some of the SUB's components, Notably, the first thing that I noticed when I played the SR is that the 3 band EQ offers a lot more flexibility in tone control than the 2 band EQ that is available with the SUB. Secondly, I feel as if my friend's brass but was far superior to the plastic nut that the SUB bass comes equipped with. One may think, "What would a nut have to do with the overall resonance of a bass?". To them, I say, " A lot". I noticed that my friend's brass nut gave more of an industrial sound than my SUB-equipped plastic nut. By industrial I mean the quality and performance standards of the brass nut-equipped SR to really resonate the slaps and pops of playing slap bass. For slap bass, you could hear the resonating of the slap and the pop coming through the nut. It sounded as if it was somehow mechanical; fused with some metallic undertones that resonated from the nut through the head-stock. These nuances were picked up astutely through the '79's pickup; however, I digress and would rather get to the heart of the matter:
In my demoing of a '79 U.S. Stingray I would like to point out what I would like to incorporate into my S.U.B. bass to make it a budget-minded SR (In no particular order)
1) Brass Nut - My friend's but just resonated that yummy warm, and slightly metallic, snap and pop with slap bass.
2) The stock SR pickup - This is something that I would like to work on with my SUB as I continue to build it. Proto Guitars are doing some interesting things with their Proto-Pickups for the MusicMan so I know between that and the 3 band EQ I need to upgrade.
3) The bridge. The bridge on the '77-'81 SR is as much of a work of art as it is a technological marvel. It is more robust than some of the bridges that were put on other SR basses. If you look at the SUB bass bridge you will see that it is a standard metal-pressed bridge. This is not to say that it is a bad bridge, just an inferior bridge to that of the '77-81 bridge. I won't get into the specifics, because honestly I lack the expertise and terminology to go into depth about the bridge; however, I will say this: The '77-'81 bridge has more surface area and is more sturdily built. This is an improvement on two fronts: 1st, the surface area of the bridge helps with the resonance of the sound through the body that, ultimately, is picked up by the pickup. One would think that this resonance is negligible, but taking into consideration the overall tone of the SR one can see that there are many factors that make up the unique and desired sound. With that being said, a few hundred words into my post, I am IN SEARCH OF A '77-83 BRIDGE. I have already got the brass nut, have looked at Proto-Guitar's pickup and 3 band EQ options, but I lack finding a bridge. YouTube is to no avail, and it seems as if it is a coveted commodity; understandably so. So, I am going to attempt to link a picture of the bridge style that I am looking for. If you have this bridge and are wiling to part with it via sale/trade I would be very interested in hearing from you.


Bridges I am looking for:

9sf85j.jpg


io24ud.jpg



The style I am NOT looking for:

22z0ic.jpg



If you can help me by providing one, or pointing me in the right direction other than eBay, CraigsList, OfferUp, LetGo, or any of those sites I would appreciate it. I would rather buy from a MM lover that knows that their piece is going to a great home that will be appreciated for years to come. Please feel free to reply to this post if you have one for sale or may know someone that does.
 
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