My new Stingray Pt. 2

[C. Scrutinizer]

Well I posted a few months ago that I had just bought a '96 Stingray on Ebay. I don't think I ever followed up after I got it. I was all excited and couldn't wait to get it. I was just positive I was going to fall in love with it. But I didn't. I mean I liked it and all. But it wasn't... you know... moving me. It came with a fresh set of Super Slinky's and the seller said he just had a pro set up done.

Well the first thing that had to go was the strings. I pulled the DR Low Riders off of my Warwick and put those on. Much better, but still not magic. I was hesitant to fiddle with the adjustment since the seller really seemed to know his stuff and it just had the pro set up. But after a few days I knew something had to be done. So after a quick lesson I adjusted the truss rod. Little by little things got better. So I kept going, bringing the strings down lower and lower.

Oh my! I got an awesome action and the bass actually seemed to sound better. Then I put a new set of RotoSounds on. Now we were getting somewhere! I was pretty happy overall. But I still noticed that the whole fret board after the 12th fret seemed like one big dead spot.

So a couple days ago I removed the neck. There was a shim in it! Just a little strip of cover stock paper. I took that out, cleaned the whole thing real good, and soaked the current set of DR High Beams in some warm water and dishwasher detergent. I rinsed the strings, put the whole thing back together and...

Dear sweet Lords of P-Funk!! I can't believe how great this thing sounds now! The dead spots are gone and it just plays like a dream. To round out the package I recently bought an SWR Baby Blue 1x10 combo. This is without a doubt the sweetest, tightest, funkiest sounding rig I have ever played.

I'm now a true believer. And that Warwick is going up on Ebay!

 

[C. Scrutinizer]

Hey, so where can I find those EB straplocks? I've looked all over the place and can't find them!

 

[Beth]

Hi Scrutinizer,

Welcome to the forum! I'm sure you'll love it here! I'm happy to hear you love the bass so much and that the other one's going on Ebay. The strap locks are not on the shelves yet, but you will see an announcement on the forums as soon as they begin shipping.

-Beth

 

[Big Poppa]

poppa nadhing and gnashin his teeth...used drs taking the shim rotos...bites tongue too hard kicks office chair breaks toe smashed desk lamp over his mark bass rig the locks himself out of office.....feel better now.......didnt really happen but I feel better thinking about my virtual throbbing toe....

 

[bovinehost]

poppa nadhing and gnashin his teeth...used drs taking the shim rotos...bites tongue too hard kicks office chair breaks toe smashed desk lamp over his mark bass rig the locks himself out of office.....feel better now.......didnt really happen but I feel better thinking about my virtual throbbing toe....

I enjoyed that WAY too much!

Another happy customer, Biff!

Jack

PS: Central Scroot, glad you got things figured out.

 

[soniq]

Man I don't know how people can play DRs...they feel like rat-tail files to my fingers .

 

[b-unit]

I put a set of acme strings on my SR5 ( I know, I know) and the B string has never been the same. I am going back to Slinkies as they truly seem to be made for my bass.

 

[rhythmCity944]

i wish there was a neck tilt option on the newer stingray basses...it would save a lot of time in guessing how many pieces of shimming metal do i need when doing a set up when i could just turn a little screw...

 

[Big Poppa]

great and we can make you a bass with 25% less stability in the neck joint.....

 

[tkarter]

BP do you know what that Bongo 5 H goes through here in Kansas to get the gig done?

Crappy weather, less than good player.

It is built just right and the longer it is around the better it gets.


But i am all for trying out strings. Until you get to the flats then you should know.


tk

 

[C. Scrutinizer]

Sorry Big Poppa. I didn't mean to raise your blood pressure.

I didn't mean any disrespect either. In all honesty the Supers were probably just fine. It likely was the crappy set up that turned me off. But I have been favoring very light gauge strings lately. I'll have to try some Extra Slinky's. But I'll have to get them online as I can't seem to find them locally.

I'm glad to see you seemed to disapprove of the shim as well. That shim destroyed this bass IMO. It's funny. The guy I bought this bass from spent weeks picking it out and then sold it after just 3 weeks. I really think it's because of that shim. I kinda want to email the seller and tell him to dump his tech.

 

[strummer]

I'm glad to see you seemed to disapprove of the shim as well. That shim destroyed this bass IMO. It's funny.

Well, imho there must have been something else wrong with the way the neck was bolted to the bass, because as far as I know every EBMM bass has that one shim. And, I tried removing it on one of my basses, the only result being I got to lower the bridge a bit.
But as long as you are happy, everything's cool

 

[Big Poppa]

it was a opportunity for humor shim cant hurt but if it played better for you than it would sound better also

 

[maddog]

...the only result being I got to lower the bridge a bit.

better watch them masts.

 

[C. Scrutinizer]

"as far as I know every EBMM bass has that one shim."

Interesting. I didn't know that. Well I doubt this one was from the factory. Like I said, it was just little piece of paper. And removing it improved the ring and the sustain of everything past the 12th fret dramaticly.

 

[rhythmCity944]

great and we can make you a bass with 25% less stability in the neck joint.....

good point that I haven't thought of...

 

[bovinehost]

The pre-EBs had that tilt-o-matic thing and I hated it.

Back when I had Fenders with the same 'feature', I occasionally would look at it and think, "WTF?"

 

[Big Poppa]

sometimes I look at life and say WTF

 

[WillPlay4Food]

Well, imho there must have been something else wrong with the way the neck was bolted to the bass, because as far as I know every EBMM bass has that one shim. And, I tried removing it on one of my basses, the only result being I got to lower the bridge a bit.
But as long as you are happy, everything's cool

Weird. I called EBMM last week because I found a shim in the neck pocket of my Bongo and wanted to know if these basses shipped from the factory with shims in them (I am the (at least) 3rd owner). The guy I spoke with said he couldn't recall ever using shims in the neck pocket back when he worked in setup.

I removed the shim and have been able to get a bit better setup than I had while the shim was still in the neck pocket. I still have the shim (pink rectangular shaped plastic with two circular/elliptical holes to allow screws through) just in case it was actually put in by the factory.

 

[Surly]

Wanted to add my $.02 about neck shimming since I had this done on another bass. It seems like it would be the way to go to make the strings "straighter". To make a long story short, I got my bass back with buzzing and had to go back to the tech, so he adjusted the truss rod, raising the action a bit and lessening the buzz. I'm not sure exactly but this may have put the string height back (or close to) the factory setup. Was really a waste for me. I am since learning to setup my 'Ray and am anti-neck shimming. I figure if this setup was ideal the neck would be setup differently from the factory. The strings need to be higher by the bottom to prevent buzzing and I don't really mind since I don't play much down there.