2009 HS Stingray at last receiving some upkeeping.

[LSR]

My 2009 HS in Ice Blue, purchased it new in 2009, stupidly traded it for another Stingray in 2019 and fortunately recovered it from the one who had it in 2023. Possibly this idiot who had it, at some point exposed it to sunlight, but anyway it is my fault for being stupid and letting it go. Just wanted to share some pictures because I had never cleaned it thoroughly, and also wanted to see what was in the pocket and in the neck. Interestingly, the EBMM site cites this bass' birthdate as July 20th, 2009. But as I see the data under the hood, the body has a "June 17 2009" rubber stamp, and the neck, most interestingly, shows a rubber stamp with a "April 27 2009" date, a pencil written stamp with a "AAM July 16 2009" date and an interesting "M" (or "W"?) red stamp in the back. So:
Neck finished April 27 (?)
Body finished June 17 (?)
Neck prepared, I guess? July 16
Bass assembled July 20...all of these dates in 2009.
3 month parts bin for a bass? Any ideas as to what those markings on the neck, pick up cavities and body might mean? Just as an additional nugget, this thing is weird. Remove the battery and the bass will still work, albeit no preamp, you will modify the sound on the amp. No other Musicman I have had works the same way, apparently either a quirk from the HS configurated Stingray or some kind of anomaly.
Either way, watching it now that it has been cleaned and newly stringed, it looks wonderful. (Don´t worry, no setup or intonation has been done, waiting a couple of days for new strings to settle.

 

[LSR]

And the pick up cavities.

 

[tbonesullivan]

Definitely looks like it saw a lot of use, possibly in smokey bars! Probably also outdoors. Could also be heat related, as the finish inside the pickup cavities has also yellowed a bit.

 

[LSR]

Definitely looks like it saw a lot of use, possibly in smokey bars! Probably also outdoors. Could also be heat related, as the finish inside the pickup cavities has also yellowed a bit.

Thank you for the input. You should had seen it when new (attached photo), and the strange thing is that I never played it outdoors and never exposed it to the sun, but the pickguard began changing, from the intense blue pearl color to something with a greenish hue. And the color definitely changed when this fellow had it, and I am not aware in what conditions of usage or storage it was. Interesting part is also that the color beneath the pickguard has kept fairly original, so possibly, as you said, some exposure to sun might have been done (damn).

 

[loocnmad]

As long as it plays well, I say, lean into it. Too many people these days would pay stupid amounts of money for a "light relic" job like that.