Back with a Ball. New (to me) StingRay 5

[hankSRay]

Hey all,

It's been a long time since I posted over here, but I'm happy to say that I finally have a new (to me) Ball in the arsenal.

I just picked this up from GC.



Sorry for the small stock pic, I'll have to snap a few shots of it on my own.

Anyway it's a '91 StingRay 5 in Blueburst. I absolutely couldn't resist buying it because of its color.

It plays absolutely great, and the B sounds terrific even with the dead strings that it came with. This is currently my only 5 string, but I've owned several in the past, and from my experiences the StingRay 5 is the best exectution of a 5 string bass out there. The pickup placement really just makes that B string speak, and the quality construction makes it feel solid.

Glad to be back on the Ball side of things. I also have this little gem, a '78 PreEB StingRay that rocks equally as hard as my new 5er:

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

Congrats! I love those BlueBurst basses from that period.

 

[liverbird]

Bluebursts sometimes seem to develop a slightly green hue - could be a combination of the ageing finish and the poplar body. Mine was like that. Great looking finish, an EBMM classic!

 

[jlepre]

WOW! Beautiful! I'm sure she will be with you for a long time, but if you ever change your mind let me know. We're practically neighbors.

 

[hankSRay]

Here's a few more pics:

 

[liverbird]

Looks great! Finish appears to be in very good nick. Gloss neck? Weight?

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

Great finish !!!

 

[hankSRay]

Thanks for all the kind words guys!

The bass is in pretty good shape, but was definitely a player. Theres a few nicks in the body paint, but nothing too terrible. She's around 10lbs. Definitely heavier than I normally like (my '78 StingRay pictures is only 8.5lbs!) but it balances great on a 3" strap, so I'll manage.

The worst of it is that the upper strap peg screw was broken off into the body, and someone just re-drilled a new one right next to it. When I have some spare time I'll use my screw extractor to get that old screw out, then probably drill out and plug the 2 holes with a poplar plug, then just shape it, and do a little finish fix, and re-drill the hole in the right spot. It will be as good as new.

The neck is gloss finished but as you can see from my pic above, it is worn down to raw wood between frets 2-5. I dig it though so no biggie.

The strings on her now are just about dead, but I have some fresh nickel rounds on order.

This one buzzes a little bit in the first two positions, but luckily for me, I like the tone the best with the switch to the bridge, which is hum free.

 

[fretno]

Beautiful bass !

 

[jlepre]

I didn't know that EBMM made gloss necks...

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

If I am not mistaken, they had a finish on them until somewhere around '92.

 

[jlepre]

Was it GLOSS? I thought it was more of a satin feel.

 

[liverbird]

They were lacquered. My March 92 sunburst SR4 (bought from new) has one. I guess it must have changed soon afterwards.