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Chrispdekker

Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2020
Messages
5
Hi guys!

I'm new to MM so I wanted to introduce myself. It's a long story, I would fall asleep reading it myself, so you can also just scroll down to the pics and save yourself two precious minutes of your life.

My name is Chris and I'm editor of a Dutch bass magazine, print and digital. I interviewed quite some Music Man players over the years, also for a guitar mag, like Gail Ann Dorsey, St. Vincent, Louis Johnson, etc. I also wrote a big StingRay special, but strange enough I only reviewed a SUB by Sterling by MM and a Sterling by MM. Mind you: we have other reviewers, so USA MM basses came by in the mag. But I never really played Music Mans, just on trade shows, like the NAMM.

When I started bass 25 years ago, I had no idea about basses, so I listened to my 'expert' friends, but of course I loved the looks of some of 'm. My local shop had a powder blue Squier Musicmaster with matching headstock and I loved it. But it was short scale and my expert friends told me short scales are for children, women and guitar players. The horror. My second choice was the Danelectro Longhorn reissue. Too ugly, according to my friends, and there would be no place in the band to be if I bought that. The third bass I loved had a symmetrical oval pickguard, a smiling quarter moon control plate and a different 3+1 headstock. It was not only too expensive, but my expert friends told me active basses were for funk. Period.

So I bought a black Squier P.

Later, when I quit that band, I bought a copperburst Dano Longhorn reissue and much later I found the powder blue short scale Squier, which was my first love. I play short scales a lot nowadays: Höfner, Fender, Gibson, and Danelectro. Many basses came and went and I have quite a nice collection with Gibson, Fender, Rickenbacker, Höfner, Warwick, … I even bought a double MM Warwick Streamer but never a StingRay. Why? I don't know.

After writing that StingRay Special some years ago I got interested more and I start looking, reading, gathering info. I'm a big Queen fan and after watching some footage of Deacon again, I decided I needed one. First I bought a cheap Sub by Sterling by MM. The EQ is limited but it's a great little bass, which stands up to some of my more expensive basses. I got used to the pickup position and I liked it. So last week a real US StingRay followed me home. A Honey Burst, with rosewood – suits my fingerstyle pop/rock playing better – and a 3band: I like to push some mids. This bass is a 2011 model, but it was still new in the shop, with even the protective plastic on the pickguard. 9 years of drying wood. I installed a new Duracell battery, I still have to put on new strings, but it rocks!

It's in for less than a week, but I like it! Great neck, great looks, great sound! Glad I'm in the family after 25 years of GAS.

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danny-79

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 6, 2009
Messages
2,507
Location
England U.K
Welcome to the forum and happy NBD !
Thanks for the post good read. The early SUBS are getting pretty collectible and hold their value.
What’s the name of the magazine you write for?
 

Chrispdekker

Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2020
Messages
5
It isn't a USA SUB but just a cheap SUB by Sterling By Music Man. But great value for money!

The magazine is Dutch language only and called De Bassist. Yes, we chose it with a lot of fantasy;) I guess you can imagine it means The Bassist in Dutch;) DeBassist.nl
 

five7

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 24, 2008
Messages
4,292
Welcome! Great choice, my favorite color. Cool strap too!
 

Chrispdekker

Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2020
Messages
5
Thanks y'all! Yeah, I would like to try the new short scale StingRay or the short scale Sterling by MM SR!
 

Monahan

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 25, 2013
Messages
85
Location
Olympia, WA.
Welcome Chris!
Thanks for taking the time to tell your story :) it's always fun learning how people find their way to the Stingray.

Also like hearing from our Dutch friends too; back in the late 1980s I had the good fortune of living in the Netherlands (Utrecht Province) for a few years-- some of my fondest memories :D

Congrats on the finding such a beautiful bass! That rosewood fingerboard and honey colored finish go together so nicely!
 

Golem

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 30, 2005
Messages
2,214
Location
My Place
Welcome home, Pilgrim.

Don’t let any “expert friends” tell you what kind of basses are for what kind of music. I’m sure those fine friends would have insisted that EBMM basses are NOT for my style. So I guess I love to “do the wrong thing” over and over and over, becuz now I’ve got a dozen+ such “wrong basses” on hand.
 
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