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bovinehost

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Jan 16, 2003
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Dall-Ass, TX
first off i love my musicman sterling 4 string, made lovingly in 1993 according to the database, but you guys are over the top with the pickup thing.

Well, I personally am not 'over the top' (exception: Bongos) but you have to understand a couple of simple points here.

1. Most of us really like the Music Man electronics.
2. This is not the Seymour Duncan forum.

That really is the explanation. I can repeat it ad nauseum but no one wants that. I'm boring enough at present.

if they didn't wear out or sound worse over time then ppl wouldn't even be asking you questions about replacements!

Funny thing how all those vintage Fenders lose value if the pickups have been replaced. And some of those pickups have been working since the 1950s. You think they sound worse? Worse than what?

This is rhetorical, by the way. There's no good answer to that.

if you don't want ppl to buy from other mfgrs then MAKE A REPLACEMENT that ppl can buy when they want to!

Actually, Music Man will replace your pickup.


The sound comes from the body of the instrument more than anything regardless of what you think.

I'm not sure you know what everyone else thinks, frankly. If you want a fight, please go find one elsewhere. We can have the discussion without tossing out a Great Big Truth That Is Really Only One Opinion, I believe.

i've never seen such snobbery as this. ban me block me whatever you want but i call it like i see it. my MM with SD Alnico 3 coil pups kicks major assage in case you care.

I'm not going to ban you, but understand that your idea of 'snobbery' has never been to, say, the Rickenbacker forum or a number of others I'm familiar with. We're enthusiasts. We like Music Man gear. It's the Music Man forum. This isn't rocket science.

Jack
 

Big Poppa

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Feb 9, 2005
Messages
18,601
Location
Coachella & SLO, California
I dont think pickups wear out. You may have more experience than me....

If you want a new pickup send us your bass and we will swap it for a new one

If you dont want to send us the bass send your pickup and we will swap it

There may be a day in the future when we sell replacement pickups...we have a hard time making enough for us as it is.

If you want to talk about any brand of bass other than music man then I guess we are snobs. There are many great forums where people pay band width to pay homage to everything. This is for our stuff.

If you like the Seymour Duncan good on you....I love choices.

I do think that with your 3rd post to come crashing pretty aggressive is like barging into a party and re arranging the furniture. If you want to talk about Music Man products stick around ..there are actually some pretty fun people here...especially if you dont start by attacking.

Play bass and have fun
 

Shaun's Bass

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Messages
5
my point

the thing that has made me mad the most is that i came to this forum looking for help and answers and got NONE. Every post i searched regarding replacing a pickup was ended shortly by some user telling the frustrated person asking why they were wrong for even suggesting that they might want to change the pup they bought when they bought the bass. my point in even looking here was to buy a MM replacement and get options to make my MM better not to change basses! if not i would have gone elsewhere in the first place, but seeing the treatment ppl recieved from other senior users makes me glad i ordered elsewhere. every time someone walks away from here with no answers to their question and buys from another mfgr a part you don't sell for a problem you don't think exists, you lose money and the companies rep takes a hit. ( if you will replace them then why not make that known to ppl when they ask questions about replacing them instead of making it seem stupid that they might actually want to put a new one in and that they are made of gold straight from the hand of god.)
i love my bass as stated earlier. i only own ONE bass and have for 16 years. every note i have played in my playing career has been played on this bass. i don't want another one, i want this one to sound (and Look for that matter) like it did when i bought it.when i look at the pictures of these basses posted here i wonder if any of them get played... you really think this hasn't affected my sound? i can tell a difference in my tone throughout the years. if you want to hear some then hit my site and have at it. EVERYTHING on this site has been played with my EBMM Sterling 1993.

Shaun Ritchie Bass.com
 
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Big Poppa

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Feb 9, 2005
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Coachella & SLO, California
How about not getting mad....there are things that truly are worth getting mad but someone who pays for a forum and asks that it be based on the stuff they make isnt a good one in my book. ALso if you want objectivity on the internet you may be disappointed. THe internet is a collection of bias. You read all the perspectives and then make your choice. Our forum really has to be about our stuff otherwise it looses purpose and focus. Also there are so many non commercial forums out there that are totally open that what would be the point? I think that this should be pretty clear...if you want recommendations on other stuff you will be better served at the other stuff site..

I have taken the time to tell you that you can get a new pickup...two different ways.
I dont think that is what you want. If you want to change the forum it may take more than three posts and some of them acually may have to be friendly.

Lets talk about your bass......If I entered those photos in a 16 year old bass contest most would guess it was 50 years old. Im glad it has been a workhorse but if you wanted things to last longer you might have considered taking a little better care of it.
Really this is a musical instrument and allowing it to reach the state you have and then bitching to us is a little silly. IF there was a bass abuse hotline it would be calling.

So now lets talk about your sound.....Have you ever changed brand or gauge or alloy of strings in the last 16 years? How about amp? Same amp for 16 years? Same settings? Same effects? Same recording rig and exact set up? Same attack? Same preamp setting s on the bass? Every player I know of sound changes of the years....
If nothing has changed with yours then you belong in the guiness book of world records.... BTW that was meant to lighten the situation....

On your bass the actual magnet and is ceramic and is underneath the coils and not subject to the neglect the corrosion of the large magnet looking pieces are a cosmetic problem and can be fixed but does not affect the tone in any way since they arent actual magnets.

If you change to someone elses pickup please save the old one....
 
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Freddels

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Apr 23, 2006
Messages
875
Location
Near Wistah
Funny but the 25th that everybody is raving about assumes it is alnico...it is ceramic....

It is a bongo bobbin and cover and ceramic magnet wound to a stingray 4 spec

Aha!! That's the secret!! :)

I've played a Big Al and it sounded great. I can't wait to try out one of the 25th's.
 

drTStingray

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Aug 25, 2007
Messages
1,833
Location
Kent, United Kingdom
Hi all,

..........but I am looking for advice here as to how you all think I should try and mimic the tone of my old SR4.

Help!!!

Steve - the SR5 ceramic in parallel mode (switch position nearest bridge) is designed to, and I think gets the closest to an SR4 sound, including slap. Not sure how an alnico might sound but people here say they're good.

My SR5 has a maple neck and listening to another player AB it against a maple neck Stingray 4 it gave a reasonably close match - but when ABd against my rosewood board SR4HH with bridge pick up selected only my SR4 sounded more different - a bit less aggressive - guess that's the maple v rosewood perhaps :confused:

Shaun - your bass does look somewhat beaten up - no doubt it sounds grest though - I think you can clean up the magnet heads (which aren't magnets on the Sterling) with some fine flatting paper (car body repair stuff) - think you'll need some new screws though if you want it to look as new?? Interestingly, my son has a maple board SR4 and was accused by one of his bandmates of having the dirtiest fretboard ever - and it was pretty bad - he said no I haven't - have you ever seen George Porter Jnr's Precision!! It does seem there is a fashion of having dirty and beaten up looking instruments these days.....not my thing though I'm afraid.
 

Basscake

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Joined
Oct 23, 2008
Messages
149
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@ home
I didn't read the whole lot thoroughly, but I certainly saw that tempers were rather high.
So sorry for stiring al this up again, but I need to know.
Just to get the facts straight:

Stingray4: Alnico. always was, ever will be...

Sterling 4s and 5s: Ceramic. always was...

Stingray5: (and here's the twist!) From its introduction to the release of the Sterling5 Ceramic and from then on Alnico.

Is that right?

So the PU in my '99 Stingray5 is actually .... a ceramic? I never knew that. Not that I ever really cared...

But that may be the reason why I always felt that my '99 SR5 is soundwise closer related to the Sterling 4s than to the Stingray 4s. Even if i switch it in parallel mode...

Comprehension is dawning on me....

Could somebody just nod to confirm all that?
Or shake the head if absolutely necessary. :rolleyes:
 

Grand Wazoo

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Oct 20, 2008
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Planet Remulak :)
wrong, the Stingray went ceramic only from 2000 to 2008 so yours is alnico, after 2008 it went back to alnico.

I didin't make it up I've learn it here too.
 

Freddels

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Apr 23, 2006
Messages
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Near Wistah
I went to GC today to try out a Stingray HH and they also had a Stingray 5 hanging way up high on the wall. I had them take both down. The SR5 was covered in so much dust and dirt it wasn't even funny. I plugged it in and nothing so I figured the battery was dead. I told the sales guy and he changed the battery and wiped it down. It was in a desperate need of a truss rod tweaking as I couldn't play it from the 5th fret down. However, the rest of the neck was fine and I got to hear it. The neck is very comfortable and the string spacing felt natural. I liked it. I got a very nice tone from that bass. My favorite setting was with the blade toward the bridge. I'm assuming that's both coils in parallel. I don't know if the pickup was ceramic or alnico. Is there a way to tell by looking at them? I didn't get the serial #.

The SRHH sounded great too. The extra pickup definitely adds a lot of tonal options.
 

sloshep

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Dec 31, 2006
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784
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111 miles NE of San Luis Obispo, Ca
I don't know if the pickup was ceramic or alnico. Is there a way to tell by looking at them? I didn't get the serial #.

The SRHH sounded great too. The extra pickup definitely adds a lot of tonal options.
Yes there is. Someone else here told me here how to tell. Ceramic tend to have shiny pole pieces when new. Alnico are a flat gray in color. Next time at GC look at the pole pieces on a Sterling (ceramic) and compare them to a Stingray(alnico). You should be able to see the difference. Hope that helps.
 

mynan

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Feb 25, 2007
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Location
Spring Lake, MI
wrong, the Stingray went ceramic only from 2000 to 2008 so yours is alnico, after 2008 it went back to alnico.

I didin't make it up I've learn it here too.

Actually, the SR5 pickups were alnico from 87-92, then ceramic from 92-08, then alnico from 08-present.
 

tobias

New member
Joined
Aug 25, 2009
Messages
1
Hi all! I just registered and want to add my opinion to the question alnico or ceramic.
A few years ago I bought a second hand SR5 `92 (alnico, rosewood fingerboard), it was a bit beaten up and had corrosion on the pole pieces and had problems with the pickup poles etc. so shortly later I ordered a brand new SR5 built around 2000 (ceramic, maple f.board). Comparing the two to each other I definetly noticed a difference in tone. The old SR5 had more lower mids to it and was therefore cutting through the mix better and had more growl. To cut it short, I sold the new one and held on to the 92`SR5 (pu fixed). I believe the difference came not only from the fingerboard, but from the ceramic pickups and the different electronics. The old one doesn't have the phantom coil though, so you get hum in the single coil setting. Also the neck position (series mode) is a bit louder than the other two. This was more in balance on the ceramic one. So after all you have to die one death! :)
 

lowendgrowl

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Joined
Nov 22, 2006
Messages
47
I'm not one to modify any of my basses..... I think that if you buy gear after you test it, then you bought it based on the sound you heard when you took it for a test drive. For the record.... One of the old SR5's I bought back in 2005 was loaded with the SD and the guy included the factory pickup that he took swapped out on the bass. With the SD it was lacking the tone that a Stingray should have, so within the first 24 hours I was putting the MM pickup back in.
 

aphekgreg

Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2009
Messages
5
Location
Australia
Hi guys. First post here.

I have a '93 Stingray and a '04 SR5. I changed the pickup in the SR5 to an alnico model. It definitely does give more of the traditional SR flavour. Having seen this thread last week, I tried changing back to the original ceramic one and it is very different. Doesn't have the growl or bite of the alnico. Much more refined and polite. I think I'm going to leave it that way for now at least. Somewhere in between the the two would be perfect.
 
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bovinehost

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....tried changing back to the original ceramic one and it is very different. Doesn't have the growl or bite of the alnico. Much more refined and polite.

People are going to like what they like - and that's always been perfectly okay with me. I feel no need, for example, to argue the ceramic versus alnico issue with the hope of reaching a consensus. It won't ever happen, as nearly as I can tell. The consensus, I mean.

If my experience, subjective as it's bound to be, is different from yours, then am I right? Are you wrong? No, not at all.

I've had a ton of SR5s with ceramic pickups, including Heinz the Wonder Bass. Even strung with flats, I wouldn't have described any of them as "polite". (You don't have to try to convince me that yours WAS - I believe you.) I've also had more than a handful of Sterlings, which TO ME were more aggressive, across the board, than Stingrays (alnico).

Jack
 
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