My new Stingray

[Mill road barn]

Traded in my 2022 Music Man Stingray 4 HH for a new 2025 Stingray Special H in Hot Honey. I decided I didn’t like the two humbuckers (always had it switched to the bridge pickup anyway). My question is does anybody know what type of wood the body is? I haven’t weighed it but my HH felt heavier.

Also, I totally get the difference between parallel and series pickups now. I’m never letting this one go!

 

[DrKev]

I would think that's ash. It's what they usually use for trans finishes. Looks amazing! Personally I love it with the pickguard.

 

[tbonesullivan]

That is 100% ash. As for the H vs HH, it's always going to be a tossup. As long as I have the bridge pickup in parallel, it doesn't really matter. The HH does give you some options closer to a traditional "jazz bass" sound that many like, and also the neck HB can be really good for slap. All depends on how you use it.

Any reason you have the pickguard off besides seeing the grain?

 

[Mill road barn]

That is 100% ash. As for the H vs HH, it's always going to be a tossup. As long as I have the bridge pickup in parallel, it doesn't really matter. The HH does give you some options closer to a traditional "jazz bass" sound that many like, and also the neck HB can be really good for slap. All depends on how you use it.

Any reason you have the pickguard off besides seeing the grain?

I took it off just so you could see the wood grain. I thought HH pickups were always in series because of the way the switch works? My H sounds a lot brighter than my HH.

 

[tbonesullivan]

I took it off just so you could see the wood grain. I thought HH pickups were always in series because of the way the switch works? My H sounds a lot brighter than my HH.

If you go to the website the wiring diagram shows you which coils are active and how they are wired. With the Stingray 4, pretty much everything is always in parallel. With a Stingray 5H, you actually do get the option of series wiring, but with the 5HH its also all parallel. There's an interesting history relating to the Stingray 4, Stingray 5, and Sterling 4, which was originally created ion 1992 almost as a 4 string version of the Stingray 5, utilizing ceramic magnet pickups, and often series wiring. At that point the Stingray 5 also used series wiring in a lot of the positions as well.

Around 2008 Music Man released the Sterling 5H, HS, and HH basses, which actually used the same exact electronics as the Stingray 5 series had been using, based on Ceramic magnetic pickups. That same year the Stingray 5 basses switched to Alnico magnet pickups like the 4 string stingray, and parallel wiring.

I have a Stingray 5HS from the ceramic era, and honesty I'm probably going to sell it soon as I miss the parallel bridge sound that much.