Introducing Sterling by Music Man

[Jack FFR1846]

Jack, what do you mean it was ID'd? meaning they determined the source of the part?

For my money, that thing looks like a dead ringer for the gotoh floyd, which is what I believe (and please correct me if I'm wrong) OEM on the EBMM axis....

which I have to say, I actually prefer over the OFR...

If it is indeed the gotoh floyd that's on the ax40, it's in my oh so humble opinion, the best floyd licensed trems out there...

But again, I'm only going by what I see in the pictures...

-Frank

No, no.....they had pictures to show examples of the different trems they were talking about (the whole article is about whammy bars). The fact that the picture of the floyd was on the SBMM guitar (and the caption identified the guitar as such) was a big plus for SBMM in my mind. If someone asked me what guitar I'd expect them to show with a floyd on it, my first answer would be either an EVH of some kind or a Jackson (maybe because those are what I've owned with a floyd before my Axis).....

Just saying that it's showing some respect to a new guitar company to feature it in this way.

jack

 

[strangegrey]

Oh, I follow you....thanks for the clarification.

I still stand by my visual observation. The appearance of this trem looks like the gotoh floyd...and I've build a ton of frankenstrat style guitars with the gotoh floyd. IMHO, it's as good as the OFR.

There's been alot of talk on the various forums about the fact that the OFR's are the only way to go, probably because there have been some very bad Floyd licensed trems out there....but the fact remains that Schaller and Gotoh both make a darn good floyd tremolo.....and at 100 bucks less than the OFR, it's a far better value.

 

[OLPlayer]

Had the opportunity to play a Sterling Silo20 yesterday in Cardiff Guitars. Neck profile was awesome. Only played it clean but tone was top notch. Tonality in all pickup positions better than expected. Action and set up off the shelf seemed very good. Obviously not an EBMM, but for the price, IMHO, a worthwhile purchase. So much so that I am considering one myself. Mrs OLPlayer - are you reading this my dear??!

 

[strangegrey]

man, I'm going to have a hard time holding back from pulling the trigger on both the ax40 and the jp50....

 

[ShaneV]

I just bought a Silo20 from musiciansfriend, it was considered a "scratch and dent" so it was 25% off ($299 delivered). Just opened the box and neither my girlfriend or I can find anything that would consider it damaged, its about perfect. Looking forward to playing it!

Could just be a returned item. Not sure how MF defines S & D,

 

[bkrumme]

I just bought a Silo20 from musiciansfriend, it was considered a "scratch and dent" so it was 25% off ($299 delivered). Just opened the box and neither my girlfriend or I can find anything that would consider it damaged, its about perfect. Looking forward to playing it!

Good call. Most of their S&D stuff just has a small blemish somewhere. A lot of times you can't find it. Great snag!

 

[Pugwash]

Just bought the Sterling JP50

I bought the Sterling JP50 yesterday and all i can say is wow. The quality of the materials used are very high and the finnish is superb. The neck is very comfortable and fast. I have tried to put this thing out of tune but simply can't, the tremolo is very stable and there is no 'wobble' with the whammy bar even when adjusting the allan screw so the trem arm is free to swing in the hole, making the tremlolo extremely responsive. The tuners are fantastic and hold the tuning very well. The pickups seem pretty average and the gutar has a 3 way switch with the middle position putting out a little less output than the pickups on thier own giving a nice middle Stratocaster pickup sound.
I decided to try out and buy this guitar after my Ibanez RG370's tremolo started playing up. I wanted a 24 fret guitar with a 2 pivot trem. I bought it at Cardiff Guitars and they threw in a free set up and hard case. Overall i think this is a very good guitar for the price and the build quality is very high.
I im trying to put together a full review and demo on youtube.
All the best.

 

[twinrider]

New Sterling by MM or used OLP?

I'm in the market for a mid priced, re-entry guitar. After not picking up a guitar of over 25 years, I'm very suprised at whats available out there in this mid priced range.
After looking at all of the offerings I could find in this mid price range, these new Sterlings by MM are pretty impressive. Looking deeper, I ran across the OLP line of guitars and I've been noticing quite a few used OLP's out there in nice shape for reasonable prices.
My question is, is the OLP line worth considering or should I just spend a bit more for a new Sterling by MM?
I know the opinions will be all over the map on this, but I figure it had to be asked by someone.
It would be nice to get a new top of the line EBMM guitar, but you don't give a Ferrari to a new driver do you?
So, I figured this was the place to ask. Any and all comments will be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[the24thfret]

I'm in the market for a mid priced, re-entry guitar. After not picking up a guitar of over 25 years, I'm very suprised at whats available out there in this mid priced range.
After looking at all of the offerings I could find in this mid price range, these new Sterlings by MM are pretty impressive. Looking deeper, I ran across the OLP line of guitars and I've been noticing quite a few used OLP's out there in nice shape for reasonable prices.
My question is, is the OLP line worth considering or should I just spend a bit more for a new Sterling by MM?
I know the opinions will be all over the map on this, but I figure it had to be asked by someone.
It would be nice to get a new top of the line EBMM guitar, but you don't give a Ferrari to a new driver do you?
So, I figured this was the place to ask. Any and all comments will be appreciated.
Thanks

I'd recommend staying away from OLPs. I've heard much better things about these Sterlings (though never played one myself). The price difference isn't going to be that big anyway.

To me at least, "mid-price" range is $600-800, so I think the Sterlings are sub-mid or even just plain cheap.

Think about it this way: You'll be getting a brand new instrument (huge huge plus) that has what Big Poppa called exceptional quality for the price range.

If I was in your position and drawn specifically to EBMM, it'd be a no brainer for the Sterling.

Best of luck.

 

[Sweat]

I'm in the market for a mid priced, re-entry guitar. After not picking up a guitar of over 25 years, I'm very suprised at whats available out there in this mid priced range.
After looking at all of the offerings I could find in this mid price range, these new Sterlings by MM are pretty impressive. Looking deeper, I ran across the OLP line of guitars and I've been noticing quite a few used OLP's out there in nice shape for reasonable prices.
My question is, is the OLP line worth considering or should I just spend a bit more for a new Sterling by MM?
I know the opinions will be all over the map on this, but I figure it had to be asked by someone.
It would be nice to get a new top of the line EBMM guitar, but you don't give a Ferrari to a new driver do you?
So, I figured this was the place to ask. Any and all comments will be appreciated.
Thanks

Hey welcome and since this is an old thread people might ignore it but to answer your question stay away from the OLP and by the Sterling by Musicman.

Superior in every way, first its new and has a warranty, build quality is very good plus comes with a killer gig bag.

i have played the Axis model, Silo model and the JP model all played great and if I was in the market for mid level guitars would buy them in a heartbeat.
hope this helps your decision.

 

[twinrider]

Thanks for the welcome and answers. Your probably right about this being in the wrong thread. I only posted up a reply because it was the first thing I found while searching for information on the OLP and Sterling lines.
I'll repost the question as it's own thread to see if I get more replies from folks who have bought and used 'em(not that your responces weren't worth reading!).
It does seem that your thoughts on the OLP line are correct from what I've found while searching online. Plus the merits of buying a new guitar can't be denied.
Thanks guy's.

 

[redeleon]

ok, so now Im really GASSING up for the JP50!
looks preety sweeeet!

by any chance that those can get here in Philippines?
I want to order but the customs and shipping fees
are such a pain in the ***!

 

[jamminjim]

Why not contact a Sterling byMM dealer in Malaysia or Hong Kong or even Australia.

Sterling by MUSIC MAN - INTERNATIONAL

 

[shagga]

Hi guys,
this is my first post here, as i have a rather specific question regarding the Sterling by Music Man JP50:
I want to put the DiMarzio Crunch Lab and Liquifire humbuckers in this wonderful guitar (just for the sake of it), and i need to know if i need to order the F-spaced version(s) of the pups or not? (I have not yet received the JP50, so i can't measure anything..)

My guess is, that i need the Crunch Lab (bridge position) as F-spaced version, and the Liquifire (neck position) as normal version. Is that right? Or would i also need the neck pup in F-spaced version for some reason?

Would be awesome, if someone could shed a little light on this for me..

Thank you very much,
shagga

 

[bovinehost]

Lads, I'm going to close this thread until I have time tomorrow to get in and clean it up. We've been through this manufacture/distribution EU vs US discussion about a half a gajillion times and not a single thing has changed since the last time it was talked to death.

If you want to talk about the instruments, talk about the instruments. If you want to talk business practices that most of us don't understand anyway, this ain't the place.

I'll re-open this once I'm done editing, but expect it to be a much thinner thread.

Thanks for understanding.

Jack

 

[beej]

Guys-

We're going to re-wind this thread a day or two. This is NOT the place to bitch about pricing.

Pat Park and the SBMM guys have done a great job with this product. Remember, it's not EBMM, this is a separate company. Let's show them the respect they deserve.

If you want to know why product costs more overseas, do a search ... it's been discussed to death here on many occasions and we're not going to do it again.

Back at it.

 

[johnnymac2201]

Sorry, didn't mean to offend anyone. I'm new on this forum, and didn't realize this is such a touchy subject.

I think they've done a great job in developing this bass, whoever did it. I played an SB14 last week and was more than impressed, and almost bought one right away, but thought I'd shop around first. That's how this started with me. I really didn't even realize at first that this was anything but a new model from MusicMan, never crossed my mind that it wasn't made in the states and was actually shocked, at first, at such a low price for a new MusicMan.

 

[beej]

It's ok man. This issue just comes up a lot and it's like beating a dead horse. Often the chatter about pricing overshadows the initial topics, and in this case we really don't want to do that. SBMM is a great product and we want to keep the discussion focused on that.

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

 

[Big Poppa]

THe Sterling by Music Man is made in indonesia and sent to california for set up and quality cointrol then it is sent to a distributor and then a dealer. case closed. Please we cannot continue to explain the global business.

 

[Smellybum]

Blimey didn't realise they were sent to califonia, that's pretty good then - I might check em out - I fancy a JP - but don't know if I'd want to keep it long terms, sterling could be a winner.

A+ on the quality control - -I know of other companies that ship their far east ranges straight to stores, no setup or anything, pretty good going.