Maple bodies on Stingray?

[albantromp]

Hi all,

recently, I got into an interesting conversation on FB about the body woods that are used on Stingrays.

To my knowledge, 90% of all Stingrays are ash, with some alder and poplar here and there. However, another Stingray owner insists that his 2001 Ray 5 is in fact a custom order maple body. Looking at the pic of his bass, I am pretty certain that it is “just” ash.
Was/is it possible to do a custom order for a full solid maple body at all at MMEB? Never seen one, and as stated before, it looks like ash to me. What do you think?

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[tbonesullivan]

Hi all,

recently, I got into an interesting conversation on FB about the body woods that are used on Stingrays.

To my knowledge, 90% of all Stingrays are ash, with some alder and poplar here and there. However, another Stingray owner insists that his 2001 Ray 5 is in fact a custom order maple body. Looking at the pic of his bass, I am pretty certain that it is “just” ash.
Was/is it possible to do a custom order for a full solid maple body at all at MMEB? Never seen one, and as stated before, it looks like ash to me. What do you think?

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That is 100% ash. Maple does not have that type of grain pattern. The open clearly defined grain is a hallmark of ash, particularly the type used for guitars.

 

[DrKev]

Agree 100%. That's Ash.

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

Another Agree here...Ash.

 

[Golem]

Maple looks nothing like ash. This is a solid maple body, looks the same both front and back. The pattern is quite strong on this example but almost all maple shows it to some degree . When this distinct its "tiger" maple. The other common pattern is "curly" maple.


Pattern here is much more distinct than usual as its from a limited run, but most maple instruments use somewhat patterned wood.

Heres maple without the colored finish, and also without any special or premium patterning, possibly because it wasnt made by any guitar company or a luthier shop but was built as a passtime by a custom cabinet maker.