Here is a rambling story. When I was just getting out of high school I would go up to Fullerton and beta test for Leo. My godfather Tom Walker was pretty impressed that I hooked up Eric Clapton with Music Man amps while still in High School, so he hooked me up with Leo. Leo was a secret partner of Music Man because when he sold fender to CBS in 1965 he signed a ten year non compete clause so he couldn't actively compete with Fender until the ten years was up.
A couple of things that people dont know; Leo did not design the Music Man preamps in the instruments and did not design any of the Music Man amps Tommy Walker did. Don't listen to anyone else I was there.
You could not make an instrument bright enough for Leo as he was hard of hearing. He would plug in a stingray guitar and have me play this horribly bright guitar and sit make and say "that's like honey". Most of Leo's design was centered around the bridge with the Music man stuff. He would make you put a phillips head screw driver on the stainless rollers and have you put your ear bone on the other end of the
screwdriver and feel the vibrations
Most of the beta tests involved me and Tommy Walker and Leo and some old local country players. The extra fret on the Stingray was added by Dennis Kovarik a Detroit bass player that had relocated to LA and we were friends and I got him involved .I also got Freebo, Bonnie Raitt's old bass player involved and he has a sub 20 serial number Sting Ray. He wanted to be able to hit a high E on the G so thats why that fret was added. Since much of Leo's work was unplugged I had to convince him that pole pieces were affecting the string vibration and that the pick up and preamp were so hot that they would override the input of most amps. I have I think number 3 somewhere, but number 26's pickup was hand made for me by Leo and is the only one ever made. Leo called it "Old Smoothie". This was my main bass for a long time. The finish is a very bad goopy polyester sunburst.
Dargin could you post a close up of the pickup?
)