Design team, MM Stingray Special battery compartment.

[Moose]

Hi the design team at MM. Are you choosing to fit these 18v twin Gotoh battery compartments into your instruments to deliberately channel our anger away from politics?

I have recently replaced my battery compartment as the soft plastic holding the retaining clips inside, had simply deteriorated and crumbled away like a mangy old cookie (getting my Americanisms in here). My poor bass is just 5 years old.

Now when it comes to changing the batteries you are faced with flimsy plastic opener that snaps off just trying to to open the thing. I've tried sweet talking it to open nicely for me, (I once had success using this tactic, but have since paid the price over and over for that) and have tried using a plectrum and other soft materials, but end up resorting to use a screwdriver to open up the compartment, and viola the plastic snaps off again just to spite me and ruin my day. Your instruments are of a high quality but this simple matter really is frustrating for us aspiring musicians as it seriously messes with our delicate but creative brains, plus after forking out an extra $50 to buy a replacement unit which is designed to fail, it tends to make us go into mega prima donna mode and makes my dog think it's all his fault.

I'd be more than happy to fly over first class from the UK and stay in a 5 star hotel at your expense if you'd like some ideas of using a different unit guys, just saying?...

 

[mynan]

Are the new ones different than the ones that came on the 2005-2010 Bongos? I had a couple of those and never had a problem. My Sterling is a 9V, but I've had that for 15yrs without any problems.

I've heard that not all 9V batteries are the same size, so it could be that. I've also heard that putting the battery in the wrong way with the terminals flip-flopped and cause problems. If it's neither of those, then it might be time to switch to decaf.

 

[Moose]

Hi Mynan,

I'm referring to the 18V battery compartment, as opposed to wrong battery size, see enclosed pic. The simple act of just opening the battery case to change the battery causes the plastic at the top to fracture and snap as can be seen. This on a brand new battery compartment too!

The actual plastic of the whole casing itself as well, is in my experience, not particularly robust either. The single 9V compartments such as the one you probably have in your Sterling are usually fine, it's just these newer one's that have been problematic for me. Unless there is some special secret way of opening them that I'm not privy too?

 

[DrKev]

Hi Moose! Welcome to the forum!

Are you the first owner?
Did you contact Music Man customer service directly?
Did you contact the dealer you bought the bass from?

Music Man keep careful customer service records to identify and correct recurring issues. As this is a user forum and not a customer service portal it would be most useful if you could report your issue to them directly.

Remember, in the UK you have consumer rights up to *6 years* after you bought the instrument. If the dealer agrees that this is a fault in materials and not due to normal wear and tear they may help you with the cost of replacement parts.

K.

 

[Moose]

Hello Dr Kev, thanks for your advice I'll contact customer services instead, my apologies for posting this on wrong the platform.

 

[mynan]

Hi Mynan,

I'm referring to the 18V battery compartment, as opposed to wrong battery size, see enclosed pic. The simple act of just opening the battery case to change the battery causes the plastic at the top to fracture and snap as can be seen. This on a brand new battery compartment too!

The actual plastic of the whole casing itself as well, is in my experience, not particularly robust either. The single 9V compartments such as the one you probably have in your Sterling are usually fine, it's just these newer one's that have been problematic for me. Unless there is some special secret way of opening them that I'm not privy too?

I suppose as long as you are pressing the little tab toward the slot and not away from it, then there's no special secret. That's basically the same unit that was on the Bongos I had and it works the same as the one on my Sterling.

The reason I mentioned battery size is that if the 9V is a little fatter it might cause a some friction when trying to open the compartment.