MusicMan consistency in the last 10-15 years?

[Swiss Frank]

I played a new MusicMan in a store and loved it: bolt-on neck StingRay 5 HS.

Should I be confident in buying a used identical model sounding and playing pretty much the same?

In my experience (mostly with electric and acoustic guitars) that'd be a NO, and I'd personally refrain from buying a guitar unplayed. (Though I've done so once and loved it.) Especially, Gibson acoustics seem to be VERY variable. In contrast, say, the higher-buck Fender Deluxe's seem to be all identically good.

 

[nhbassguitar]

IMO you should make sure you have the option to return it in case what you get isn't what you expected, and make note of what the return costs will actually be (shipping, insurance, and restocking fee if applicable).

When you get the instrument, give it a good setup, including loosening all the strings and snugging up the neck bolts. (Don't sock them down with a torque wrench, just gently snug them up with a screwdriver.) Every, and I mean EVERY, bolt-on instrument I've done a setup on has had neck bolts not tight enough to properly mate the neck heel to the neck pocket.

Also, remove the pickguard and the cavity cover in back to make sure no one's done any funky s__t under there.

And make sure the battery compartment access works properly if it's one of those hinged deals.

With all that out of the way, my simple answer to your question is "probably." But that's assuming the instruments are of similar weight. I have a SR NT that weighs almost 11 pounds. I've seen SR bolt-ons online under 9 -- though rarely, I admit. A 10-pounder and a sub-9-pounder will probably sound a little different, even though they both have bolt-on necks, and will balance a little differently as well. (I remember those Precisions back in the 1970s that came through with heavy maple bodies; they sounded more like pianos than Precisions. I owned one for a week and brought it back.)

 

[Golem]

What NHB said.

Consistency is quite high, but weight does vary
and is your main possible tonal variable. OTOH,
any two or twenty MMs that weigh the same are
very much gonna sound the same ... at least in
my experience with the active EQ models. Some
new models are passive, and passive bass tone
is somewhat more reflective of build/structure.

Also re: consistency .... about the weight thing:
Altho a given model may weigh under 9lb or up
to 11lb, the vast majority do NOT inhabit such a
wide spread. Roughly 90 to 95% will inhabit the
very center of that spread, at about 9.6 to 10.4
lb for the 4-stringers.

I had a pre-EB Sabre made of Northern Ash, not
Swamp Ash. Northern Ash is what they make the
Louisville Slugger out of. Hadda weigh over 12lb.
It sounded like the Creaking of the Gates of Hell
according to my colorful imagination. Regardless
of your imagination, it was a Sonic Assassin >:-}

 

[Thegrandwazoo]

10-15 years is as long as I've been playing, and toward the '10' end is about how long ago I encountered my first MM (a pre-EB Stingray, which quite frankly was kind of a hunk-o-junk. I'm sure its care and feeding had been neglected for most/all of its life, and it remains the only early MM I've ever felt up). I loved how it sounded, and sought them out in shops to drool over as a snot-nosed 20-year-old with no money ever since. I can say that any well-cared-for (and set up!) EBMM I've handled has played like a zillion semolians, bar none. I've only ever owned one, and therefore gotten to know its intricacies, but they all pretty much sounded alike, too.

To echo NHB again, I say buy with impunity so long as you can change your mind in the unlikely event of your dissatisfaction. These things pretty universally rock, I'd think it'd be pretty rare to happen upon a bad one. Incidentally, my Sterling HS weighs exactly 9 pounds, 10.4 ounces.