• Ernie Ball
  • MusicMan
  • Sterling by MusicMan
Status
Not open for further replies.

jzucker

New member
Joined
May 18, 2007
Messages
2
Many stingrays are neck heavy. With the smaller body of the bongo, it's a concern.
 

Jazzbassman23

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 29, 2003
Messages
538
Location
Maryland
Jeez, what is it with these 1-2 post guys coming in making blanket statements that those of us who've been around the block a time or two know to be patently false. Warped necks; neck heavy. Where do these guys come up with this stuff? But more importantly, why?
 

andynpeters

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 28, 2004
Messages
1,378
Location
Wonderland
Jeez, what is it with these 1-2 post guys coming in making blanket statements that those of us who've been around the block a time or two know to be patently false. Warped necks; neck heavy. Where do these guys come up with this stuff? But more importantly, why?

I'm not sure the number of times anyone has or hasn't posted on a forum makes any difference to the validity of an opinion.......Paul McCartney would be a "newbie" but still probably worth listening to.

If jzucker thinks "most Stingrays are neck heavy" perhaps he should tell us on what he bases this opinion, since it seems contrary to almost everyone else's experience.
 

Strangeglow

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
369
Location
Austin, TX.
It also depends a great deal on the weight of the instrument and the strap material. I have a bass from another manufacturer that weighs 5lbs. It is most definitely neck heavy. Of course with a 5lb bass, the combination of minor forearm pressure and a suede strap means I never even notice. On a 13lb bass, neck heavy might mean something else.

Similar thing with the strap. Something with more grab is going to make the problem less obvious than recently oiled leather.

And I agree on the number of posts being largely irrelevant. I can think of lots of places where the post count of some people seems to be inversely related to their IQ. Not here, of course...
 

PeteDuBaldo

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2004
Messages
10,202
Location
Central Connecticut (Manchester) USA
Many stingrays are neck heavy. With the smaller body of the bongo, it's a concern.

Only the left-handed StingRays are neck heavy. Everyone knows that lefty instruments are unbalanced - just look at the way they point - it's all wrong! Also, an important thing to remember is that left-handed necks weigh more. The bodies are about the same, but the left handed wood for the necks weighs LOTS more than the body does. The extra mass of the left-hand thread tuners is negligible. If the 6-string Bongo is offered in a lefty, then and only then will you need to worry about balance.

Welcome to the forum!

Jeez, what is it with these 1-2 post guys coming in making blanket statements that those of us who've been around the block a time or two know to be patently false. Warped necks; neck heavy. Where do these guys come up with this stuff? But more importantly, why?

It's gotta be true if you heard it on the internet!
 

KennethB

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 9, 2006
Messages
929
Location
Stavanger, Norway
Many stingrays are neck heavy. With the smaller body of the bongo, it's a concern.

Both my Stingrays are perfectly balanced, maybe I've just been lucky?

They do think about it, read the rest of the thread before you respond to a picture:
For instance the body size has already been increased a little: (Big Poppa is Sterling Ball)

All of our stuff is balanced and the thought behind the increase is to visually make sure it is in proportion and possible to balance the weight

Have a little faith, jzucker. They have designed instruments before. And welcome to the forum!;)
 
Last edited:

bovinehost

Administrator
Joined
Jan 16, 2003
Messages
18,200
Location
Dall-Ass, TX
This thread has been created to keep the Bongo 6 thread clean.

Here's your statement to discuss:

"Many stingrays are neck heavy. With the smaller body of the bongo, it's a concern."


Both my Stingrays are perfectly balanced, maybe I've just been lucky?

It is just luck that every Stingray ever built is not neck heavy.

Just pure, dumb luck.

Seriously, everyone is welcome to an opinion here, but...."Many stingrays are neck heavy." That sounds like a statement of fact, and as such deserves to be examined more closely as something that should be capable of observation and authentication.

How many? Every other one? Every fifth one? I know I've owned about thirty or so SR4s over the years and haven't experienced this phenomenon, so it must be every 31 SR4s? Wait, that won't work, because I've played a boatload of other SR4s owned by other people, so the number has to go way up.

I'm willing to listen to other opinions. We sometimes catch flak for being so single-minded and unwilling to entertain "negative" comments (hey, it's the Ernie Ball Music Man Forum, go figure) but as long as no one gets twisted up, I'm going to leave this open for discussion.

My blanket statement is this: I've never had a neck-heavy Stingray. I've never had a neck-heavy Bongo. I'd like to know where this belief comes from.

Jack
 

silverburst

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 10, 2006
Messages
1,917
Location
Long Beach, CA
My Stingrays and Bongos are well-balanced. My Alembic is horribly neck-heavy and that is a crime against nature for what they charge.
 

Big Poppa

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2005
Messages
18,598
Location
Coachella & SLO, California
OK first off the concern of the bongo 6 being neck heavy is valid. It is called a design challenge/objective. The photos you saw were a bass that was head heavy because we arent concerned with that right now....soon but not now. The bongo six will probably have smaller and lighter tuning keys, will proabably be made of something other than bass wood and most likely have a mahong tone block.

I do question the intentions of a persons first or second post that is inciting and wrong. It may not be the persons intention but it makes me smell burning troll. These two are on the heels of the whole DD/Pit fiasco so Im on red alert.
 

Disquieter

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 23, 2004
Messages
791
Location
WA
my stingray is neck heavy.....


It's packed with 37 pounds of pure unmitigated tone...

so i guess that would be tone heavy?

oi.
 

n!k

Well-known member
Joined
May 3, 2007
Messages
83
Location
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Speaking as someone who grew up on Gibson basses, it would take a helluva neck dive to make me notice a balance issue on another bass ;)
 

Jazzbassman23

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 29, 2003
Messages
538
Location
Maryland
I do question the intentions of a persons first or second post that is inciting and wrong. It may not be the persons intention but it makes me smell burning troll. These two are on the heels of the whole DD/Pit fiasco so Im on red alert.

My point exactly. Maybe I watched too much X-Files back in the day, but something doesn't seem on the up and up.
 

Aussie Mark

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 9, 2003
Messages
5,646
Location
Sydney, Australia
Speaking as someone who grew up on Gibson basses, it would take a helluva neck dive to make me notice a balance issue on another bass ;)

+1

A 14lb long scale Les Paul bass is neck heavy, but still I managed without whining to my Mummy. EBMM basses are an ergonomic dream in comparison.
 

Disquieter

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 23, 2004
Messages
791
Location
WA
so, what would a regular bongo sound like with a mahog tone block?


hmmm..


if you are wondering what im doing up at 4am pst, i just stopped playing my new dd sr4HH because i noticed what time it was, and i remember how much bass playing I have to do tomorrow, and figured I should get up early to get started! :D


When I was in elementary school, the teacher wouldn't let me play any of the real instruments, so i got to play the "tone block" it's that wood block that you hit with a stick and it makes a noise. I don't know if it was mahogany or not...
 

Seer-o

Member
Joined
May 18, 2007
Messages
20
Location
Finland, Europe
When I was in elementary school, the teacher wouldn't let me play any of the real instruments, so i got to play the "tone block" it's that wood block that you hit with a stick and it makes a noise. I don't know if it was mahogany or not...

I bet it was well balanced though! :D
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom