My 1st MM Ever. New/Used EB Stingray w Pic

[Dusty Case]

Here's my new early '90's EB Stingray 3eq.
It sounds great. Plays pretty decent with RotoSound 45-105 rounds.
The odd color "sunburst" and even with the gray percoid guard, are actually growing on me.
The big difference between the pickup pole piece height is kind of an issue. Especially on the G.
No matter how I have futzed with the pickup height, the G has noticeably much less low end and volume than the others.
Sadly, I am kind of a freak about at least TRYING to get all notes to sound close, in tone and vol.
It's one of my many curses.
Certainly NOT bummed about the purchase at all. But might look for an alternative pickup.
It's a keeper.

 

[OldManMusic]

Congrats, that's a beauty. Have you tried a new set of strings to see if the current G string is the issue, not the PU height?

 

[Dusty Case]

This is the 2nd (new of course) set o strings I've tried. Issue is there with both sets.
It's not horrifying. But it does kind of bug.

 

[Edmang]

Beautiful bass! Congrats

 

[nhbassguitar]

Yikes. The string alignment is way off -- red flag. String alignment the first thing I look at whenever I'm thinking of buying a bass. Something's wrong with that instrument. First thing I'd do is pull the strings, pop the neck off, and take a look at that neck pocket. See how much lateral play there is when the neck heel's inside the pocket but the screws aren't in. See if either the pocket or the neck heel has had material sanded off it. Could be any number of things. Could be something as simple as a neck that's shifted due to loose neck screws, or as serious as a neck swap that went bad. Tough to say. Since this is a MM SR, not some $400 GC Special, it might be worth a trip back to the service department at Headquarters. PITA to do that, yeah, but they have all the jigs and they'll be able to tell you which piece of the instrument isn't in the correct location.

 

[Dusty Case]

nhbassguitar
I forgot to mention that I had been playing the bass just prior to taking the pics. And I'm not sure how, but when I played it again AFTER the pic was taken, I noticed that somehow I had managed to pop the E out of the saddle trough (?), to the left, or toward the top of the neck. So that could sure make it look like the E is not in the right place on the neck. If THAT is what you're talking about, that could sure be the culprit.
If you are talking about string alignment over the pole pieces. That is not perfect when the strings are in the right places. Nor has it been perfect with other basses that I've had with exposed pole pieces.
I have an '06 US Bob Glaub that I bought new that just NEVER sounded right to me. Consequently I seldom played her. After it sat in the case for several years, I started messing with the setup again and ended up switching out pickups. From the Fralens, to Lollars, to Aguilar. I finally decided that the some of the strings were just way off of being centered between their respective pole piece pairs. So I put in a set of Barden P Bass pups (rails like the guitar pups) and never looked back. It sounds amazing to me now. Have an older set of those in a Tele and love 'em there.
So I can't be THAT MUCH of a psycho, I hope. Certainly I am not the 1st person to take issue with this pole position issue on a StingRay.
Maybe I ate something long ago, or had a head injury that gave me this super psycho acoustic hearing. It IS a curse.
If you can tell me where you see the misalignment, that would be helpful. If you're seeing a misaligned E, then the popped out string could be the thing.
And to me, it's no coincidence that the E and the G on this bass both have slightly less volume and considerably less low end than the A and D and both have lower pole pieces.
Here is a cropped pic of the bass as it looked when I took the pic of the whole instrument (above). With the popped out E.
While I really appreciate that you wanted to let me know that you might see something that isn't right....I HOPE that you are wrong. That popped out E is something that no one could EVER have seen in that orig pic. So this is the NCIS blowup shot.

 

[nhbassguitar]

Thanks for the close-up pic. Yeah, that one string was the one that caught my eye and raised the red flag. Although the rest of the strings aren't perfectly centered (check the original pic and see how the relationship between the middle two strings and the fretboard dot markers is off), it's probably ok as long as it doesn't cause playability problems.

One thing you can do to sidestep the problem is run the pickup height as low as you can without sapping all its tone and dynamics. When lowering the pickup, push it down to where you want it, then turn the screws to they hold it in that spot. FWIW, I've always run my pickups as low as possible, way below "spec." I've found it gives a much smoother tone. The other thing it does is reduce the percentage difference in string-to-polepiece distance when, say, a fret 1 note is played versus a fret 13 note. This makes the volume of the instrument a lot more consistent as you work up and down the neck. Anyway, one nice thing about MM man basses is that those screws are machine screws that operate inside anchors set into the wood body, versus... well...

If your technique is what pulled that string out of its saddle groove, then that's something you should definitely work on. (No offense intended.) One contributing factor, though, is that the saddle is cocked to one side, which you can tell by the saddle screws' different exposed lengths. Adjust the screws so the saddle body is parallel to the bridge plate like the other saddles, and that string my never pop out again.

I would still give the instrument a once-over on your own. Check for neck bow, see what you have, and make a note of it. Then completely loosen the strings and then make sure the neck and bridge screws are snugged up. (Don't sock them down tight so you risk stripping the wood, just make sure they're reasonably well snugged up.) While the strings are loose, you can attend to any neck bow you found while the instrument was tuned up. I don't like to go more than 1/8 of a turn at a time, before tuning back up and letting things sit and settle in for several hours.

Good to see another Rotosound user on here. Sounds like you use the 66LD set. I use the next lower gauge: the LC set.

 

[Golem]

You can adjust the two saddle height screws
differently to each other, to tilt the saddle a
bit toward the treble side, to better resist a
tendency of the string to jump outa the slot
toward the bass side.

If the slot is rounded over so it doesn't keep
the string in place roll the saddle 180 degree
around its own axis and put the allen screws
back in from the opposite end of their holes.

You can't just flip a saddle over while it's on
the drive screw cuz that hole is not centered.

And acoarst maybe all you hafta do is loosen
the strings and neck screws, and then angle
the neck a bit more toward the treble side. A
MM neck does not normally shift in its socket
but maybe this one does [regardless of why].

`

 

[Dusty Case]

No, it plays pretty good. I like a bit o' fret buzz and I have that for sure. Just a bit though, up through the 7th fret.

That was a good suggestion for putting the pickup height down low. I run the pickups on my elec guitars lower than most and stands to reason that it would be better here as well. Lowers the mathematical chances that the pole piece disparity is going to make an overall difference. Thanks for sharing that.

So now it's WAY down low. Would start to worry about breaking the heads off of the adj screws if I went any more.
That made the issue I have with the G (and really slightly with the E as well) seem better.
I think there is a sort of dead spot on the neck around the 6th-8th frets. Vol and low end really drop out there on the G. Not so noticeable on low and high frets. And that adds to my concern for sure.

Sadly I think I spend more time trying to get the perfect combination of string, pickup, truss and saddle adjust, amp sound than I do my playing.
But I am what I am.
This weird constant striving for as close to a perfect sound on each instrument as I can achieve, has really only started since I retired and stopped playing out.
So I'm dealing with a potentially loud old school rig in a smallish room. Who knows how THAT affects the sound I hear. I know it must.

Just for grins I would like to at least try another pickup with less of a dramatic pole piece height difference.

Having said all of that.....the bass JUST SOUNDS GREAT as it is.

Thanks again for passing on your 'sperience w MM's.

 

[nhbassguitar]

So I'm dealing with a potentially loud old school rig in a smallish room. Who knows how THAT affects the sound I hear. I know it must.

Ah. I went through that. I thought I had a couple of dead spots on my SR... until I walked to a different part of the room. At that different location, all the "dead spots" sprang to life, and the ones that sounded great before almost disappeared.

Standing Waves 101, Week 1, Day 1, morning session, lol...........

Now I check all that stuff with headphones.

Does your pickup have raised D and A pole pieces to account for the neck radius? If so, that might explain the lacking G. I think EB stopped doing that. I just don't know when. My '15 SR's pole pieces are even straight across. My G and E were loud, so I dropped the pickups down (not as much as you did, though), and I raised those strings' bridge saddles so the strings no longer follow the neck radius but instead lie in a flat plane. Problem solved. The point being, you can make individual string volume adjustments by playing with saddle height -- within reason of course. Just don't forget to re-intonate for the tension difference(s) when fretting.

Side note: If you were worried about breaking off the pickup cover screw heads, IMO you went overboard on the pickup lowering. Unless those pole pieces are so magnetized that the fields are still reasonably strong at those distances. I'd go try it on mine except I need some pickup cover present above the pickguard 'cause I play with an anchored thumb, not floating thumb.

 

[Jakka1]

I remember seeing a youtube video where a dude with the weak G problem took the pickup cover off and physically pushed down the pole pieces slightly on the A & D string leaving the G up higher. I can't endorse this method as my basses don't have this problem.

 

[nhbassguitar]

I remember seeing a youtube video where a dude with the weak G problem took the pickup cover off and physically pushed down the pole pieces slightly on the A & D string leaving the G up higher. I can't endorse this method as my basses don't have this problem.

Yeah, that was here: Musicman Stingray Bass weak G string fix - YouTube

I'd want to make real sure, however, that the pole pieces are enclosed in protective bobbins so there's no direct contact between them and the windings. (If that's not the case, then moving the pole pieces would tear the s__t out of the windings they're in direct contact with, and that'd be the end of the pickup.) Whether the OP's pickup pole pieces are in fact enclosed in bobbins, well, that's way above my pay grade WRT knowledge of SR internals and how they may or may not have changed over the years.

 

[Dusty Case]

Thanks Jakka1 and nhbg

You can push down on the pole pieces as they sit, with the pickup in place. They all do down (and back up) together.
Makes me think that even with taking the pup out, you wouldn't be able to move the pieces individually.
I'll check the YT clip.
I play through a compressor and that helps the issue somewhat. At this point I am not all that worried about this, just
curious really.
Always striving for "perfection," however elusive it is.
Thanks for your replies.

 

[steevo]

Its important to not over EQ your bass too, keep it as flat as you can.

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