Thanks to everyone for the kind words. I spent some time on Saturday getting things dialed in, then played at church on Sunday and rediscovered the reason that I will never own another bass that doesn't say "Made in SLO" on the back of the headstock.
I've owned some really nice EBMM basses, but came to realize that I was always chasing the tone that I got with my first EBMM...an SR5 HH with ceramic pickups. And I'm thrilled to say that this Sterling5 delivers.