Help! Is my bass a fake?

[Williamrds]

Hello, i’ve recently acquired an used stingray 5 and i am wondering if it’s a fake Cuz the headstock logo is kinda throwing me off. Every single SR5 headstock i’ve seen has a bit of spacing between the tunning machine and the actual logo, but mine has not. Even if everything else checks out this is driving me crazy. Can some1 make a counterfeit so perfect that it actually matches the specs at the serial number? or can it be that some1 just attached a fake neck to the bass? it seems like some wood is glued between the neck and the fretboard

 

[Tollywood]

Welcome to the forum. That looks real to me. The neck plate and the bridge look legit.

I think the plain stripe on the neck is just the way the wood is. The plain area is pretty flat and as the carve goes deeper into the board it shows the funky grain more.

 

[DrKev]

Looks fine to me too. There is a 2012 Stingray5 on reverb and the headstock logos look identical. Positioning can vary a little from bass to bass so a little more or less space to the tuner is if no consequence. And nobody fakes a silk screened logo, it would be a water slide decal.

 

[Williamrds]

yeah it looks legit and it sounds very legit as well rofl, the logo is kinda bugging me but i imagine it can happen sometimes when they're being manufactured. Some1 would have to actually check the serial number and make a fake matching all the specs on EB's database... that's a LOT of trouble for a fake rofl

thanks for the replies guys!!! appreciate it <3

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

Your logo positioning looks ok to me. Positioning can vary.

Above is a 1991 logo. It will be slightly different to yours but its positioning is similar.

 

[danny-79]

the photos all look good to me, decals are all genuine and the stripe on the neck is just part of the wood.
nice bass, enjoy it

 

[Williamrds]

I've made a video so you can check the controls if you have the time, they are very responsive... i also recorded the battery compartment and other details on the bass as well (at 2:41 you can see a joint between the headstock and the neck, dunno if it's a red flag). The strings are trash btw, the previous owner bought one of the worst brands, i live in Brazil and things are VERY expensive here (strings usually cost 3-5x what you normally pay in the US). Also it was not set perfectly, i feel there's a bit of rattling in the 1-5 region of the fretboard, i'm trying to improve it.

 

[Bert]

According to the grain there are two layers, one maple one rosewood?
Strange...

 

[kevins]

According to the grain there are two layers, one maple one rosewood?
Strange...
View attachment 41695

Standard on a composite neck, even the maple/maple necks in the 2000s are joined fretboards to necks

 

[kevins]

Fakes are less about deception and more about tributes, the guys faking instruments in china are shop workers at factories who make these kinds tributes for fun. They more or less make these basses as a side hustle to demonstrate their skill. Similar fakes existed in America, the guitarist slash actually plays an American made fake copy of a Gibson.

But as a result of the creators of these instruments being Chinese factory workers, they typically only put Chinese parts on them available to them from the factories they work at, typically you see a SBMM style bridge on the musicman copies and typically you see an epiphone style bridge on the Gibson copies. Counterfitting guitars isn’t a lucrative enough industry to spend the time it takes putting real parts on a fake instrument.

One time I had to track down the entire electronics set to a bass I got because it got gutted and the seller didn’t realize it. It takes a lot of work to get authentic musicman parts, the company won’t sell you parts unless you send in the same part. So obtaining a whole bridge is going to be extremely difficult for someone trying to flip a fake, not to mention musicman players don’t typically swap out bridges

 

[Williamrds]

UPDATE: I’ve reached ernie ball via e-mail and they were very helpful. I sent them some pics and they told me yes, the Neck appears to be an original music man bass. Also i removed it from the body and there it was, a stamp indicating the day it left the factory. So there we go, the bass is indeed legit and these variations can occur from time to time.
Thanks everyone for the help, you guys are awesome.

 

[DrKev]

And thank you for getting back to us with that info. That's the kind of thing that makes the forum useful repository of info for people in the future!

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

UPDATE: I’ve reached ernie ball via e-mail and they were very helpful. I sent them some pics and they told me yes, the Neck appears to be an original music man bass. Also i removed it from the body and there it was, a stamp indicating the day it left the factory. So there we go, the bass is indeed legit and these variations can occur from time to time.
Thanks everyone for the help, you guys are awesome.

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